Fender California series cable

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EggmanEggman Frets: 43
Are these any good? I've used the same old Fender cables for decades, but I like that these are in nice colours. Are these good quality despite the low price?
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  • John_PJohn_P Frets: 2744
    They are “ok”.   The performer series with the white heat shrink are better imo and the custom shop braided cables are junk.  

    I would suggest you can do way way better by getting someone like @robinbowes or @danny1969 from here to make whatever cables you need.  
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  • EggmanEggman Frets: 43
    I've always used the performer series (or whatever the old equivalent was called).
    Thank you for the recommendations, but actually I don't really need any new cables; just caught my eye. I might consider that option in the future.  :)
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    John_P said:

    the custom shop braided cables are junk.
    I have another two here just now for customers. Easily the most unreliable cables currently available!

    The actual *cable* is fine though, in fact very good - it’s the plugs that are total junk. It’s worth replacing them with Neutrik NP2Cs - straight NP2Xs don’t fit, although the right-angle ones do.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • fretfinderfretfinder Frets: 4978
    edited January 2019
    ICBM said:
    John_P said:

    the custom shop braided cables are junk.
    I have another two here just now for customers. Easily the most unreliable cables currently available!

    The actual *cable* is fine though, in fact very good - it’s the plugs that are total junk. It’s worth replacing them with Neutrik NP2Cs - straight NP2Xs don’t fit, although the right-angle ones do.
    I’ve got a couple of CS cables and have thought about fitting new jacks. What decent quality straight jacks will fit, if the Neutrik ones won’t? Thanks.

    Edit: think I misread that, do you mean that NP2Cs will fit, either straight or right-angled, but with NP2Xs only the right angled ones will fit?
    250+ positive trading feedbacks: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57830/
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    edited January 2019
    fretfinder said:

    I’ve got a couple of CS cables and have thought about fitting new jacks. What decent quality straight jacks will fit, if the Neutrik ones won’t? Thanks.
    NP2Cs will, it's only the Xs which won't - or to be accurate, they actually will, but you have to modify the cable clamp slightly and it's still a real struggle.

    Switchcrafts should fit, although I haven't tried it.


    Edit: think I misread that, do you mean that NP2Cs will fit, either straight or right-angled, but with NP2Xs only the right angled ones will fit?
    Yes, that's correct.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • fandangofandango Frets: 2204
    edited January 2019
    ICBM said:
    John_P said:

    the custom shop braided cables are junk.
    I have another two here just now for customers. Easily the most unreliable cables currently available!

    The actual *cable* is fine though, in fact very good - it’s the plugs that are total junk. It’s worth replacing them with Neutrik NP2Cs - straight NP2Xs don’t fit, although the right-angle ones do.
    Agree with ICBM and the Fender Custom cables. I have had 3 plugs on two cables fail. I got them repaired with Neutrik plugs because I can’t bring myself to throw stuff away if it’s fixable.

    As an aside I’ve taken a liking to the D’Addario American Stage cables. Got a few of these and like the low profile plug design compared to the Neutriks.
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  • ICBM said:
    fretfinder said:

    I’ve got a couple of CS cables and have thought about fitting new jacks. What decent quality straight jacks will fit, if the Neutrik ones won’t? Thanks.
    NP2Cs will, it's only the Xs which won't - or to be accurate, they actually will, but you have to modify the cable clamp slightly and it's still a real struggle.

    Switchcrafts should fit, although I haven't tried it.

    I've tried with Switchcrafts and they don't fit.
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  • zepp76zepp76 Frets: 2534
    I've also had a few CS cables break, as @ICBM says they're junk. I now use a Lava vintage cable and it's great although hard to get hold of now for some reason. I've also started using Ernie ball cables and they are fine and not too expensive.
    Tomorrow will be a good day.
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  • grungebobgrungebob Frets: 3299
    Not related specifically to the original question but I’ve got two whirlwind cables that I’ve had for over 20 years and their still going strong. They’ve done plenty of gigs and been to both sides of the Atlantic and never let me down. 
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  • I've had 4 Cs fender cables for over 5 years now. 
    I used to gig them twice a week for a year and a half and use them at practices etc etc

    All of them are still fine
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    edited January 2019
    I've had 4 Cs fender cables for over 5 years now. 
    I used to gig them twice a week for a year and a half and use them at practices etc etc

    All of them are still fine
    Remarkable...

    One of my customers bought six - five failed, which I repaired for him last year.

    One of the two I'm doing this week is the remaining one. So that's six out of six. I can't think of any other cables, not even the first Planet Waves ones, which had anything like that failure rate. (It's not just this one customer, in case you might think he's abusing them in some way.)

    Unless yours have different plugs from the ones they're using now?

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • SassafrasSassafras Frets: 30273
    Most custom shop cables I've seen have been broken. Puts me off buying any Fender cables.
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  • FishguyFishguy Frets: 31
    ICBM said:
    John_P said:

    the custom shop braided cables are junk.
    I have another two here just now for customers. Easily the most unreliable cables currently available!

    The actual *cable* is fine though, in fact very good - it’s the plugs that are total junk. It’s worth replacing them with Neutrik NP2Cs - straight NP2Xs don’t fit, although the right-angle ones do.
    I have a very crackly set too, want sure if it was trying to replace the jack. Already resoldered both ends which worked for a while.
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10357
    edited January 2019
    One fault I've noticed with the Fender Custom braided cables is to do with the way they have soldered them ..... basically you should have a small amount of extra length on the hot wire so a sharp jerk on the cable won't place tension on it and break contact ..... almost all the one's I've repaired have been soldered with no give on the hot wire at all so a tug on the cable will break it due to the shit strain relief design

    A band member broke his Fender braided cable right in front of me .... it was plugged in his guitar and he trod on the cable which jerked the strain relief and due to the above instantly snapped the hot wire off the centre contact. 


    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • timmysofttimmysoft Frets: 1962
    I’ve got a custom shop braided one that Fender sent me after I broke 4 of the standard ones in the space of a two week tour.

    its been fine now for 5 years, it’s probably done 100 rehearsals and about 20 gigs.

    the custom shop ones don’t sound as good as the standard ones though.
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  • robinbowesrobinbowes Frets: 3021
    ICBM said:

    The actual *cable* is fine though, in fact very good - it’s the plugs that are total junk. It’s worth replacing them with Neutrik NP2Cs - straight NP2Xs don’t fit, although the right-angle ones do.
    I found that NP2X plugs fit OK with the BPX-L oversize boots:



    You can also simply snip out the rubber end of the regular boot.

    End result:



    R.
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  • HoofHoof Frets: 491
    I had a couple of California series cables which I bought due to needing some new leads at short notice. Within a year they were noisy, crackling and didn't coil up well. 

    Absolute dogshit. Avoid.

    Fender aren't a cable company, why would they be good? They are everywhere due to branding and supply chains for guitar shops where they are given pretty POS stands to make them stand out. They are sold on the strength of the Fender brand name and not their quality.  They are priced quite keenly, to be fair.

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  • mbembe Frets: 1840
    Hoof said:
    I had a couple of California series cables which I bought due to needing some new leads at short notice. Within a year they were noisy, crackling and didn't coil up well. 

    Absolute dogshit. Avoid.

    Fender aren't a cable company, why would they be good? They are everywhere due to branding and supply chains for guitar shops where they are given pretty POS stands to make them stand out. They are sold on the strength of the Fender brand name and not their quality.  They are priced quite keenly, to be fair.

    Keenly priced dogshit then. That and the brand is probably what suckers the punters in.

    Planet Waves are another brand I avoid going by previous experience. 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    mbe said:

    Planet Waves are another brand I avoid going by previous experience. 
    I used to say the same, but I'll have to admit that since they revamped the range a few years ago, the failure rate I've seen has dropped of to near enough zero. The old ones were absolutely terrible though, especially the ones with those 'concertina' bits on the plugs which tended to damage jacks as well.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • kt66kt66 Frets: 315
    I don't like the weight of the Fender cables, they put stress on jack inputs. I've had great success with Planet Waves, but now get mine made up by some bloke on Ebay with Van Damme Cable (in pretty, bright colours) and neutrik plugs, they are my favourites. 

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