Cable question

[rain_dog]

I was reading up on pickups and I read that the cable used to connect a guitar makes a huge difference in the types of highs the guitar outputs because the cable has its own capacitance which contributes to the final output. I also read that the ideal cable length is 20'  

Do any of you know if this is true? and what kind of cables are you using, and their length?

thanks

[Dennis]

Well, for instrument cables it sure makes a difference, but I don't know anything about electrotechnical stuff, so I can't explain why and how, but after using spectraflex cables for years I tried Monster cables, and that made a noticeable difference in sound..not as much as an other amp or an other guitar.
I also have a guitar with EMG's and for some reason the difference with those pickups is not as large as with other pickups (passive).

[HTH AMPS]

there is certainly a difference with different types of cables but it all depends on what you want - Albert Collins used a 100foot cable because of the treble rolloff it gave to his BRIGHT Tele tone (also meant he could do his trademark 'play guitar IN the audience' trick (heh).

 :twisted:

[Philly Q]

I also have a guitar with EMG's and for some reason the difference with those pickups is not as large as with other pickups (passive).

I can't explain the physics, but it's because the EMGs are low impedance.  EMG claim:

"You can run a cable for up to 100 feet (30 meters) without losing high frequency response. You'll also be able to get the same tone with a wireless unit as you do with a cable."

[rain_dog]

there is certainly a difference with different types of cables but it all depends on what you want - Albert Collins used a 100foot cable because of the treble rolloff it gave to his BRIGHT Tele tone (also meant he could do his trademark 'play guitar IN the audience' trick (heh).

 :twisted:

Haha that interesting indeed. This seems like a science.  There are so many variables involved with this stuff that you almost have to be a mad scientist to deal with it.

[deg0ey]

"You can run a cable for up to 100 feet (30 meters) without losing high frequency response. You'll also be able to get the same tone with a wireless unit as you do with a cable."

Getting the same tone is all well and good, but it's not exactly a great tone to start with...I'd prolly rather put up with the minimal drop in quality from using a long cable with BKPs than sacrifice the awesomeness for EMG tone all the time, but maybe that's just me

[_tom_]

Why dont people who use long cables for treble roll off just turn down their treble or guitar tone a bit and use a more convenient sized cable?  :?

[hunter]

What I am wondering: Why spend 100$ on a highend guitar cable if in the guitar everything is wired with 10cent spagetti wire and then connected through cheap jack plugs?

Shouldn't the guitar guts also be wired with the highend cable then?

[rain_dog]

What I am wondering: Why spend 100$ on a highend guitar cable if in the guitar everything is wired with 10cent spagetti wire and then connected through cheap jack plugs?

Shouldn't the guitar guts also be wired with the highend cable then?

I think its a big difference. This is what the kinman site says about cables.

" Pickups have 2 loads - volume pot resistance and guitar cable capacitance. The volume pot forms a Low Pass Filter (LPF) with the pickup inductance and the cable sets the resonant frequency (Rz) of the pickup. The LPF formula is freq=R/2piL 1. for Fender Strat R=250K L=2.4Henrys Rz=16.57KHz 2. for Gibson P-90 R=500K L= 5.7Henrys Rz=13.95KHz It can be seen that both pickups start to roll off highs at the upper limit of our hearing at about 14Khz. Given the frequency response of the average amp and speaker this won't be heard! Now let's connect a 250k pot to our P90 pickup to see the effect of pot load- R=250K L=5.7Henrys Rz=6.98KHz!!!!! An Rz of 7Khz would definitely be heard as a loss of brightness compared to the Rz with 500K"

So if the cable sets the resonant frequency of the of the pickup, it really has no bearing on the output jack or internal pot wiring as that is so minimal in the signal path vs the cable.

[Woogie]

Hendrix used the cheap curly ones alot because of the warmer tone they give.

[deg0ey]

What I am wondering: Why spend 100$ on a highend guitar cable if in the guitar everything is wired with 10cent spagetti wire and then connected through cheap jack plugs?

Shouldn't the guitar guts also be wired with the highend cable then?

 :lol: I did something almost criminal when putting my BKPs in - I ran out of wire, and couldn't be arsed going to a shop, so I cut up some old headphones and used the wire from those...I really should get round to re-wiring that at some point :P

[Antag]

What I am wondering: Why spend 100$ on a highend guitar cable if in the guitar everything is wired with 10cent spagetti wire and then connected through cheap jack plugs?

Simple - 2 wrongs don't make a right.

The short length of cable used in a guitar might degrade the signal quality a little bit, but 20ft of cr@ppy £2 budget cable from guitar to amp will degrade it even more.

At least if you're using a good quality cable from guitar to amp, you're making the most of the signal you have coming out of the guitar.

Shouldn't the guitar guts also be wired with the highend cable then?

Ideally, yes :-)

[Afghan Dave]

Shouldn't the guitar guts also be wired with the highend cable then?

Ideally, yes :-)

That's why ALL my guitars have been rewired from BKP pickup -> thru pots to jack by Feline.

 :twisted: