How to fix an instrument cable in 10 easy steps

There are few things more annoying than a bad instrument cable. One minute you’re playing along with the only thing on your mind being the music, and the next minute your axe disappears from the monitor…or worse, your sound begins a game of “now you hear me, now you don’t”. If the gremlins are really active, a rude crackling sound accompanies your slightest move…which can make for a long, frustrating session.

The first lesson in this is to carry a spare. But at the end of the day, you still have a bad cable. What now?

While I like to tinker, I like to play music more. With even very good cables being relatively inexpensive, the “buy vs. build” decision is skewed toward “buy” by default. But when a good cable goes bad, it’s difficult for me to just pitch it into the trash can and replace it with another. It seems a waste of money and resources, and it cuts into my budget.

In most cases, the cable is fine; it’s a connector that has failed. If you’re handy with a multimeter, you can quickly verify this. For the purposes of this discussion, let’s address those troublesome connectors.

The folks over at Instructables have a good-but-extremely-detailed how-to for making custom guitar cables. It has far more information than you really need, but it’s a good reference. To quote the great Inigo Montoya, “let me sum up”:

1. Buy a couple of new, quality end plugs. Cost will range from $2-$6 each, but these can be re-used. New connectors aren’t absolutely necessary if the originals are removable, but I find the peace of mind that comes from a quality connector to be worth the additional cost.
2. Determine which connector you wish to replace. If your “bad cable” has connectors that are fully sealed, you’ll have to play around a bit with the instrument amplified, moving the connectors to see when the problem occurs; otherwise, unscrew the ends and visually determine where the connections are problematic (or use a multimeter!).
3. Remove the bad connector. This is most easily accomplished by using wire cutters to cut the cable just below the connector itself.
4. Strip the outer insulation from the cable.
5. Take the mesh outer conductor wire, unwrap it from around the inner conductor, and twist it together to form a wire.
6. Strip the end of the inner conductor’s insulation. You should now have two wires exposed, ready to connect.
7. Optional step. Using your soldering iron, tin the wires. This is easily done, just by applying a bit of paste flux to the wires, then touching the soldering iron and solder to the wire. The heated solder wicks up the twisted wires. A little goes a long way, so you don’t need to feed much solder.
8. Slide the new connector cover over the cable. If you miss this step, you’ll have to repeat steps 3-7. 
9. Lay the prepared cable in the new connector and solder the wires to the terminals; firmly crimp the tabs at the end of the connector to the cable to hold it in place. Take care to avoid crushing the cable while crimping the tabs.
10. Slide the cover over the connector and tighten. I use a drop of thread compound to help keep the connector from coming unscrewed.

You can use Heat Shrink Tubing (HST) or black tape to help isolate connections, and there are other variations as well…but the ten simple steps above will get you back in business quickly and inexpensively!

Let’s review. The pros of repairing your bad cables/connectors are:

• Economy. More money for other things.
• Less waste. Your cable is usable again.
• Repeatability. If a connection fails again (bad solder joints and accidents happen), you just redo it. It takes only a few minutes, and you can reuse the same connector by removing the old solder with a wicking braid.
• Usefulness. If you can quickly fix your cables, you’ll soon be getting requests (and maybe even bribes) from your buddies. Who would have thought a quick cable fix would qualify you as a hero? 

The next time you get that sinking, “failing cable” feeling, just grab your extra cable and smile…knowing that once you get back home, you’ll be able to fix your other one in a matter of minutes. Once you do, drop us a line or leave a comment and share the good news. We’d love to hear from you.

Keep playing!
Mark

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