Guitar Cables Guide: All You Need To Know About

The quality of the tone that your guitar produces is not the same as when your guitar was new. Well, this is not a problem you should panic about, because this doesn’t mean that you should buy a new guitar. To improve the tone of your guitar the first thing that you need to do is to check your guitar cable. After all, the experienced guitarists say that the cable is one of the most important factors that can make all the difference in the production of the sound. In fact, the guitar cable is an instrument cable that transfers the electrical signals from the guitar to the amplifier.

Guitar Cable

If this is your first time to buy a guitar cable now you probably don’t know from where to start in order to choose the right guitar cable. What might confuse you since the very beginning is the fact that there are more different cables that range in price between $10 and $100. Hence the main question many guitarists ask themselves: What is the difference between the cables that cost $10 and those that cost $100?

You don’t need to be an expert in this type of electronic accessories to be able to choose a guitar cable. You just need to dedicate some time to make a good research to learn more about these cables. As an initial step, you can begin with understanding the anatomy of the guitar cable.

A typical guitar cable consists of five main parts:

  • Center Conductor – the core wire that with the use of electric power transfers the audio signal;
  • Insulation – the part that contains the current and prevents the current from coming to touch with the other parts of the cable;
  • Electrostatic Shield – the purpose of this part is to reduce the noise that is often produced in situations when the cable is compressed or flexed;
  • Braided Copper Shield – this part of the guitar cable block the interference that comes from the outer environment;
  • Outer Jacket – this is the part that gives the finished appearance of the cable and serves as a protection for the inner parts of the cable.

Factors that Influence the Performance of The Cable

Although the different types of guitar cables share the same construction features, not all of the cables are made the same. The main difference among different guitar cables is the quality of the materials they are made from. Below, here’s a list of the seven most important factors that influence the quality and the performance of the guitar cable.

  • Length;
  • Conductor material;
  • Conductor design;
  • Connector quality;
  • Shielding;
  • Electrostatic shielding;
  • Insulation material;

Reference: Best Guitar Cable For The Money

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