Guitar cable question

francer

Hi, can someone advise me please. I just bought some Van Damme pro grade classic XKE instrument cable to make up a couple of guitar leads.

I got the plugs attached and both cables massively attenuate the signal compared to my regular guitar cables, so much so at first I thought they weren’t working, but if I turn up the amp I get a clean signal. I’m using Neutrik plugs 90deg and a straight, both of which I’ve used before on other cables. I can’t see what I’ve done wrong, I have a meter, there are no short circuits and full continuity in both cables. Is this something to do with the type of cable, have I bought the wrong stuff?

ZenOvertone

Did you strip back the black insulation over the inner core, leaving the white exposed?  The black stuff is a conductive layer to the screen so you may have a partial short circuit

ICBM

What ZenOvertone said - there is a partial short at one or both ends from the solder joint to the black semi-conducting layer on the outside of the core insulator - the resistance isn't low enough to measure as a full short but it's low enough to totally suck the tone. If you just cut this back carefully with a scalpel it will fix it, without having to resolder the joint.

francer

Yay! Thanks so much both, that was exactly the problem, all sorted now. 

Thanks again

ICBM

I think everyone who’s ever used this type of cable has discovered this in the first few times they’ve made one .

ZenOvertone

Indeed we have @ICBM ;

Fez

Yes I had the same problem first time I used itw

donbot

The question now is; do you notice any improvement or change in tone over previous cables, assuming they were lower quality?