# DIY Patch (or Guitar) Cables



## keto (May 23, 2006)

So, I've been sitting on about 4-5 meters of leftover cable from my Planet Waves solderless kits I had built up. And, as I was doing up my board last night, I realized I could use some different length patch cables. I also happened to be at Electronic Connections store today, and it popped into my mind to ask if they have 1/4" pancake style jacks. Indeed so, $1 ea, so I bought a bag full. I wasn't 100% sure if the PW cable would work, turns out it's perfect.

















When you pop open the jacks prior to assembly, a) don't lose the little friggen screws, b) don't lose the little friggen paper insulators that go back in later and c) DO rough up the interior surface where you're going to solder in the ground later (on the jack side, not the cover side).









OK so cut your cable to length, aprox 1" on each end is how much you'll need to fit in the neck of the jack. The cable consists of 5 layers:
-outer insulation
-ground wire, woven and surrounding the rest of the core
-foil wrap, as shielding
-inner insulation
-center conductor wire

So, gently run your VERY SHARP knife around the wire. Be as concentric as possible. I trimmed all the way back to the outer edge of the neck of the jack, to here.

















It doesn't take much pressure to cut it at all. Then remove/peel off the insulation you have cut...









Leaving you with this, where you can see 4 out of 5 layers:









Then expose just a very short <1cm piece of the center conductor wire, my wire strippers worked perfectly for this:









Twist up the loose outer ground wire so it becomes essentially 1 piece. Also twist up the center conductor wire. I always pre-tin wires before soldering them into the jack (or a guitar or a pedal or whatever), which is just heating up the exposed wire and adding solder to it. Does a couple of things, keeps it from fraying and having loose ends go where you don't want them (bad grounds) and also makes the wire easier to manage if you have to poke it thru a hole, or bend it to get to a connection.









I was doing this for the first time, so I sorta made up a couple of steps - particularly, I took the ground wire and folded it back along the shielding, as I'm going to solder the ground to the inside of the case of the jack, and I want that to be as far away from the center conductor as I can reasonably get it:


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

(Continued)

NOW: PUT YOUR HEATSHRINK LOOSE ON THE WIRE. YOU'LL SEE WHY IN A MINUTE!!

OK time to solder. Here you can see I've already soldered in the center conductor thru the small hole at the center of the head of the jack, and am soldering the ground wire to the body of the jack. Remember I said to roughen up the surface where you're going to solder in the ground wire? Yeah, just a little light sanding will do it, and makes the solder adhere to the body of the jack much more easily - same way you rough up the back of a pot if you're doing a guitar circuit.









Jack gets FREAKING HOT so don't handle it for a couple minutes after doing the ground wire. Wanna see my blisters? Anyways, lousy photo shows the ground wire now soldered in.









Now zip up the jacks, you're almost done. The little screws are a pain to deal with, but get em in there good and tight and don't stab yourself with the screwdriver! Don't forget to put the little paper insulator back in, and watch out because they can slip out if you're not careful.









OK so now you want to heatshrink the ends, partly for strain relief and partly to keep the electrical connection away from the elements. Left end has been done, right end is ready to be flamed. Recommended procedure is use a heat gun (even a hair dryer will work) but I just Bic or Zippo them.

















And, if you forget to put the heatshrink on first, you will be standing there like a dumbass while your daughter laughs at you and takes a picture...









But, you can use electricians tape. It's not as good, won't last as long, isn't as strong. But it's something.









DO ONE CABLE AT A TIME AND GO TEST IT BEFORE YOU DO THE NEXT ONE, OR AT LEAST TEST THEM ALL BEFORE YOU DO UP YOUR PEDAL BOARD. Having your board not work, and trying to hunt down a single bad patch cable is a massively frustrating experience. Ask me how I know.

This is not a pro guide, just a photoessay of my first try doing this.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Excellent thread keto!

I've seen guys drill holes in a 2x4 that the male end of the jack fits into.
It just makes it easier to deal with and not have to hold onto anything.

Thanks for the tutorial.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Great tutorial! And good on you for remembering to use heat shrink tubing for strain relief. VERY important for long cable lifespan.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

keto said:


> And, if you forget to put the heatshrink on first, you will be standing there like a dumbass while your daughter laughs at you and takes a picture...


Fantastic thread Keto !!...Thanks 

Your daughter could qualify as a professional photographer after watching me work at my electronics bench for a few hours and photographing my blunders !! 

I made 3 speaker cables the other day and an A/B box for speaker cabs.
A laugh on me now....I decided to try insulated solid 14 gauge wire (i.e., the insulated wires in 14/3 house wire) in the box as the speaker cable wires were 14 gauge AWG. So much for that idea..it is really hard to get short lengths (i.e., 2 -3 inches) of that stuff to behave !! 

Cheers

Dave


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

Kent, you forgot the last and most important step: Sit back and enjoy your spoils with a brew of your choice...

Great thread! I've been using those cables to run from my guitar to pedalboard, pedalboard to amp for about a year now and I really like them. They're strong and sound great.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Nicely done Kent!


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## ElectricMojo (May 19, 2011)

Cool thread. Nicely done.


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