Guitar cords, patch cables, or patch cords. A very important link between your guitar and your audiences ears!

Guitar cords, not guitar chords(well, maybe them too!), are the life line from your musical expression to the audiences ears. You can barely hear an electric guitar without amplification. The guitar and the amp are both useless without the connection of metal and rubber.

What is a guitar cord or patch cord? A traditional cable is made of copper wire (industry standard) and 1/4" phone jack connectors. All it does is connect the guitar to the amp. Longer cables are generally thicker than shorter ones due to signal decay.(also more expensive)

Guitar cords, patch cords, or guitar cables have evolved over the years. The coil cord was popular during the 1960's and 1970's.

The trouble was you could pull a small amp over or the cord would disconnect from the guitar when it was stretched too far. Also they were easily tripped over.

Another problem arose when the guitarist twisted and turned his body around the cord. It soon developed strange kinks and had a habit of curling up on itself.

Here's another well made straight cord. Notice the knurled sleeve that can be unscrewed to repair the cord.

Some straight cords back in the day (and even now)...

• Cheaply made
• Not many lengths were available
• Usually only one color (black)
• Lousy solder points
• No stress relievers (usually plastic or metal springs)
• Thin and prone to internal breakage

Basically, stay away from these as your sound will suffer!

Stick with the well made (expensive) guitar cables. They will last and your sound will shine.

When a cord stopped working, I would take my multimeter tester and find where the break in the wire was.

I would set the tester on the ohm setting. The display would read "0" or "1". Touch one lead on the tip of the phone plug and touch the other lead on the other end of the cable's phone plug. Make sure your are testing on the exact same spot on each plug. If the displays numbers jump around, the connection is good. If the display does not change after you touch each end with the tester's leads, the connection is broken.

Usually this is at the solder point on the plug. Rarely is the wire broken somewhere in the middle. The solder point is the weak link on these guitar cords. If your mechanically inclined, you could cut off the wire at the solder points with wire cutters, skin back the insulation on the cord and re-solder the wire to the plug. Easy enough. I fixed many cords in this manner. You can still do this on cords that have the plugs that unscrew.

A number of guitar cords nowadays have molded plugs. These you cannot fix. You're pretty much stuck buying a new cord. The good news is the modern cord is very well made. Some even have lifetime warranties.

Some guitarist swear the cord they use sounds different when plugged into another amp or even when using different pick ups. I don't know about that. I have never noticed a sound change. Then again, I never thought of it!

So, what would you rather play through and be seen with?

This beautiful, well made guitar cable?

Or this cheap, worn out and kinked cord?

So, if you want to preserve your sound from one amp to the next...

1. Keep the cord as short as possible. The longer the cable the greater the signal loss
2. Stay away from coil cords and keep your volume control on your guitar as high up as possible
3. Be leery about "audiophile cords." They may or may not make a difference. If you don't hear any difference with your setup, stay with the cheaper straight guitar cords

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