Guitar cable & solder

[fretboard12]

hello, what is the best solder to use for guitar cables ?



thx fret

[defaced]

I would go for a standard lead/tin rosin core electrical solder. Probably 0.032 to 0.062in diameter. Your local RadioShack should have it in small quantities.

[MWJB]

...and remember to physically stake the shield/ground conductor to the plug's ground tang when soldering, don't just let it rest there under it's own weight.

[guitician]

Here's another tip.....leave some slack on the center conductor wire. If you run it straight to the tip connection it will eventually break from stress.

[CraigW]

Good information,

I recently worked with a cord that was part straight and part coiled. It had a break 18" from the plug in the straight portion. I removed a section and did a pretty nice looking splice & used 2 metal 1/4" phone plug covers/ferrules to shield and cover

It had some of the strangest wire I have ever dealt with in 30 years of messing around with electronics, never seen anything so strange. Hard to get the wire clean enough to solder, had some sort of coating.

[fretboard12]

thx for the response,

i seen a guy use liquid flux, is this bought or do you think he liquefies the regular flux? thought it was useful to soak into the wire for pre-tinning?

[CraigW]

thx for the response,

i seen a guy use liquid flux, is this bought or do you think he liquefies the regular flux? thought it was useful to soak into the wire for pre-tinning?

We have some Kester All Purpose Soldering Flux that is liquid (pink) I have used it to soak poor quality solder wick before and it helps it work much better.