How To Fix a Guitar Cable

Tools Required:

Wire Cutters
Soldering Iron
Solder
Solder Wick (or de-soldering tool)
Electrical Tape
Needle-nose Pliers
Ohmmeter

Guitar Cable Repair 101

Where to Begin:

AND FIX

guitar cable repair

Whichever you choose, you are probably making a good choice. My choice is usually based on how bad the cable really is. I can inspect a connector, for example, and quickly tell if it is re-usable or not. The actual cable is a bit trickier to tell what is wrong.

My Cable Repair Project:

(that have served me well for about 25 years)

Pile Of Old Cables 2 Complete Patch Cables

What to Look For:

The most common problem with a cable is usually at or very near the connector. You will want to start by inspecting the entire length of the cable, looking for the obvious. You might see cuts, tears, pinches, kinks, scuffs, scrapes, and so on... These are possible bad spots, and should be noted for future reference.

The next step is to remove the connector casing by unscrewing it. If you have a sealed or molded casing, um... you're SOL. Well, not really... We'll talk about this a bit later.

Slide back the casing and see what you're dealing with. You could have a factory cable, or a hand-made cable. You might see a cardboard or plastic sleeve that looks like a piece of non-conductive tubing, or you might see some wraps of electrical tape that act as insulation. If you don't see any shielding, you could be looking right at the problem. It is important to isolate the wires to prevent them from inadvertently touching one another when you're jumping up and down, slamming out that rockin' rhythm.

Slide back the sleeve, or remove the tape, and inspect the wire-to-connector connections. You could see some pitting, cracking, exposed copper, or even a clean break. I've seen all of these, including the lack of insulation...

Make your Plan:

The Process:

guitar cable repair

Plan The Cable Repair - For my project, I only needed to replace one end on two lengths of cable. So, I measured the length I needed (about 3'), and cut each cable with my wire cutters. I also determined all the pieces I would be using and laid them out.
Prepare Connectors - Then, I de-soldered the old wires from the connections and inspected the used cable connectors. Not necessary with new connectors.
Outer Insulation and Braid - Carefully cut around the outer insulation making sure you don't nick any of the shield braid. Slip the casing off the cable. Using a pointy instrument like a small screwdriver, unbraid the shield wire and pull the braid all around to one side. Give that a few firm twists to create a single length of braid. Repeat for all the cables you'll be making.
Center Conductor - Strip, twist, and tin the center conductor wires. Also tin the braid at this time.
Assemble Loose Parts - Remember the connector parts? You have the connector itself, the insulation sleeve, possibly a strain-relief grommet, and the outside connector cover. Assemble the parts in the reverse order, by placing the cover on with the threads facing the end you are working on, the grommet in the correct direction, the sleeve, and slide them as far back on the cable as you can to allow for soldering without having them fall off or be in the way.
Solder Braid Wire - Solder the braid wire to the sleeve (ground) connection. Be sure to flow solder into the braid, and onto the sleeve/ground connector.
Solder Center Conductor - Solder the center conductor to the tip (hot) connection. I usually slip the wire through the hole, bend and lightly crimp it, and then tip it with a bit of solder. The light bend and crimp process just holds the wire in place until I can solder it.
Strain Relief - Crimp the strain relief around the outer insulation lightly, to hold the cable in place.
Insulate Conductors - Slide the sleeve over the connections, or wrap the connections with a small amount of electrical tape. Slide the strain-relief in place, or put a couple of wraps of electrical tape where the cable will come out of the end of the connector cover. Then Slide the cover over all that and twist it hand-tight.
Check Your Work - Here I go again... Check your work. I always use an ohm meter to verify the cable is correct. I check tip to tip, sleeve to sleeve, expecting a near-zero reading. Then I check from tip to sleeve to determine if there is a short between them. Here, I expect to see an open indication. Wouldn't want a short there!