Guitar cord maintenance

[GuitarJonz]

I've tinkered with guitars ad nauseum, but never even opened up a guitar cord, since they always worked...till now. I have a standard 15' cord with plugs that have the screw off covers. Inside, the solder joints all look fine, but a bit of white, calcium-like deposits growing around the solder. I scraped that off. The signal goes in & out, one end of the cord seems bad, when you wiggle it, it cuts in & out. Since the solder joints look good, what could it be below the plug causing the problem? Any tips to fix these, or just go new?
Thanks

 

[Nathan]

I'm a metallurgy student at McGill university, and it really sounds like simple oxidation you have there. I would resolder the connections myself, having first passed some fine sandpaper over the metal contact points. It may not cure the problem, but if you have had the cord for a while, you know that the quality is OK, so you could cut say a quarter inch off each end and resolder. It's pretty easy! (oh, but don't let any solder run down into the plug if it has "sleeves". This happened to me once, and it ruined the plug cuz there's no way to get that out!)

 

[davidmenke]

In my years of using cords ... I found that once it starts to have problems, it is time for the round file cabinnet. I spent 5 to $10 to replace the switchcraft plugs and still was having problem s with mulitple cord.. $10 to 20 for a new cord is worth the lack of headache and hastle of trying to fix a cord.

 

[Bob Rogers]

I spent 5 to $10 to replace the switchcraft plugs and still was having problems ...

I'm with you on this all the way. Too many bad experiences. A bad cable goes on the workbench, the bedroom amp, or the trash can. I guess I'll try to repair my George L's a few times, but they've never failed me yet.

 

[Ringo]

re cords

Sounds like a short in the cable itself to me, I'd try desoldering the plug , cut off a few inches on the troublesome cable end, and reattaching the plug, if it don't go away after that, I'd get another cable.

I've been using the George L's, and just bought some of the "new" Bill Lawrence cable, they are solderless, and pretty much trouble free for me, if you do have a problem VERY easy to repair !

Now if they could make some good speaker cables that were as easy as the George L / Lawrence ... :idea: