Guitar Leads... Simple Question

revsorg

The high streets are not only being destroyed by online shopping. As a shopper you have to contend with punitive parking regimes, traffic, unhelpful shop assistants, poor choice of stock, out of date stock, depending where you go - other shoppers who can be unpleasant, a rates system that seems hell-bent on making shops financially unviable.

ICBM

revsorg said:

The high streets are not only being destroyed by online shopping. As a shopper you have to contend with punitive parking regimes, traffic, unhelpful shop assistants, poor choice of stock, out of date stock, depending where you go - other shoppers who can be unpleasant, a rates system that seems hell-bent on making shops financially unviable.

If councils are serious about saving the high streets, the current business rates system of high rates for town centres and low for out of town needs to be reversed. But that's an argument for a different thread really...

crunchman

Rocker said:

What have people against calling to a music shop and buying a cable or a few cables after having looked at the stock in the shop?  It is not as if guitars and amps/FX pedals have strange or unusual connection sockets at each end. Standard quarter inch jacks will be found at each end of every guitar cable in the shop.

Don't have any good music shops near me any more.

Even if I did, I'd probably still make my own or buy online.  If I make my own, I can make it the exact length I want, I can put a right angled or straight jack on it, and it will last a lot longer than those horrible Planet Waves leads that most shops seem to sell.  If it does break, it's easily fixable, unlike those sealed moulded jacks.

If I buy online from someone like Award-Session, at least I'm supporting a UK business.  It's not just something imported from China.

When they still existed, some of the shops did sell nice leads made from good cable with good jacks, but they were twice the price (at least) of getting something similar from Award-Session or making my own.  I'm not against buying nice things, but I'm not going to overpay for them if I can get the same thing for (less than) half the price.

fretfinder

revsorg said:

Thanks to whoever bought the 5 metre white cable - I was suffering an almost overwhelming urge to buy that which was why I distracted myself by telling everyone else about it

You’re welcome! 

thegummy

SNAKEBITE said:

thegummy said:

 

Also your option takes several hours and takes traveling to a shop compared to a minute or two to buy one online.

Sorry, but have to call you out on this one.

Whilst I agree with supporting forum members and their businesses I really do hate the obsession with buying everything online.

Support your local shop (whatever hobby you have) and that shop will always be there, everybody has needed something quickly and had to pop to their local emporium. Once the high street has been destroyed because of online shopping it's over.

That's not calling me out - what I said is a fact.

Some people have the luxury of having the free time and money to be able to shop based on ideology.

I wish I had a few hours of time spare every time I needed a cable. Also wish I was rich enough to choose to pay more for something as an act of charity towards a business. (If I could afford to give away money for that kind of reasons I'd rather give it to the poor than to the owners of shops/chains anyway).

But it's all a moot point really since the normal brand name cables sold in shops are inferior quality. If they sell obnoxious luxury ones (like audiophiles would buy) then they may well be good quality, I wouldn't know, but are many times the price of the good ones that can be bought online.

Don't really know why people are so keen to "save the highstreet" to be honest. Nostalgia? But, as has been said, that's a completely separate political discussion.

robgilmo

I buy from shops so I cant talk to the person selling me things face to face and I can see the item before I buy it, way way too many times ive bought online only to be disappointed, and thats from huge retail chain outlets!

fretfinder

The High Street doesn’t need saving, it is perfectly safe in the hands of coffee/food places, hairdressers, and phone shops. 

Gassage

I have to say, Evidence leads are just the best things I've ever bought in terms of tonal diff to anything else. Hellishly good.

Musicwolf

thegummy said:

 
Don't really know why people are so keen to "save the highstreet" to be honest. Nostalgia? But, as has been said, that's a completely separate political discussion.

I agree.  The High Street is a commercial enterprise, not a public service.  Buying habits change, the High Street will evolve probably to become something centred around eating / entertainment.  The numbers employed in High St retail will dwindle whilst the numbers working for online retailers will grow, but over all the numbers / wages will decrease (lost to automation in the same way that manufacturing has gone).

Governments will need to recognise that the revenue generated by business rates and other corporate taxes are disappearing and so levies will need to be applied to these online outfits.  At the moment the likes of Amazon are exploiting gaps, but this will change.

AlexC

Also, it’s all well and good to say that it’s jolly nice to visit our local retailer but - this is my personal situation - my nearest music shop and sizeable town is an 80 mile round drive. This costs fuel. Burning up fuel is bad for the environment. It would take three hours of my life to ‘pop in’ and buy a lead.
Therefore - online shopping is not only a ‘convenience’ but an absolute necessity for me and my family.

crunchman

AlexC said:

Also, it’s all well and good to say that it’s jolly nice to visit our local retailer but - this is my personal situation - my nearest music shop and sizeable town is an 80 mile round drive. This costs fuel. Burning up fuel is bad for the environment. It would take three hours of my life to ‘pop in’ and buy a lead.
Therefore - online shopping is not only a ‘convenience’ but an absolute necessity for me and my family.

I don't disagree, but if you were going to the sizable town, you wouldn't just go for one guitar lead.

I grew up in Devon, and we had to go to Exeter for a lot of things that weren't available locally.  When we did go, we would often go for a large chunk of the day, and go in several shops while we were there.

That doesn't alter the fact that there are other reasons to buy online.  When Chandler's were still around, they used to sell some nice leads as well as the Planet Waves fall apart unfixable stuff, but you could buy similar stuff online for half the price.  I miss having Chandlers two miles from home, but I couldn't justify spending £30 or more for a lead in there that I could get online for £15.  Would me buying the odd lead have made much difference?  I did my bit over the years though.  I probably got into 5 figures on what I spent in there.

robgilmo

Ive just been to my local shop, guy told me most of their business is online, I was in town so called in anyway, so, their prices are pretty much online prices anyway and they will price match.

Simon_M

Just buy Van Damme or Klotz cable and some Neutrik connectors and practice soldering. 

robinbowes

Simon_M said:

EDIT: I’ve gone off topic. Just buy Van Damme or Klotz cable and some Neutrik connectors and practice soldering. 

Or ask me to build your cables

R.

Simon_M

robinbowes said:

Simon_M said:

EDIT: I’ve gone off topic. Just buy Van Damme or Klotz cable and some Neutrik connectors and practice soldering. 

Or ask me to build your cables

R.

Or get @robinbowes to build them. 

robinbowes

Simon_M said:

robinbowes said:

Simon_M said:

EDIT: I’ve gone off topic. Just buy Van Damme or Klotz cable and some Neutrik connectors and practice soldering. 

Or ask me to build your cables

R.

Or get @robinbowes to build them. 

thegummy

Small rant re: leads:

As a bassist and guitarist I love no instruments more than the Fender Precision and Strat.

But whether you use a right angled connector or a straight one, one of those instruments will take the connection awkwardly!

revsorg

Isn't that a reason to buy a lead with both types of jack?

thegummy

revsorg said:

Isn't that a reason to buy a lead with both types of jack?

Aye so if I put the straight end in the pedal/amp, the other end will fit perfectly in to the front-facing output of the Precision but sits awkwardly in the unique Strat socket.

And if I put the right angled one in the pedal/amp then the other end will go perfectly in to the Strat but will stick right out the front of the Precision!

I'm aware it's very much of a First World problem by any standard but I suppose in the same way that I get a kick out of attention to detail on very nicely designed streamlined gear, it annoys me that this difference is a mild nuisance.

Can't see any downsides of all guitars and basses just having the jack where it is on the Les Paul.

revsorg

thegummy said:

Can't see any downsides of all guitars and basses just having the jack where it is on the Les Paul.

Plugging a straight jack into the side of the guitar and looping the cable over your strap pin feels akin to nursing an unwanted erection.