What guitar cables do you use?

  • Thread starter Thread starter nukeitout
  • Start date Start date
nukeitout

nukeitout

New member
What guitar cables do you use and why? I just use whatever cables I can get my hands on at the time; I usually don't even know what brand they are. I do have a few heavy duty Radio Shack instrument cables that have lasted through several gigs, but they have plastic shields on the jacks making them susceptible to breaking. What do you think?
 
I make my own. Canare cable and neutrik connectors. Best cables and cheapest
 
Could you cite a good source for the bulk cable and connectors? I have some soldering experience :).
 
monster studio 1000...but before the flaming begins, it's only because I work at an audio store and get them at cost. That means a one hundred dollar cable is about $7.50
 
rgraves said:
monster studio 1000...but before the flaming begins, it's only because I work at an audio store and get them at cost. That means a one hundred dollar cable is about $7.50
Click to expand...

Which audio store is that? I want to know so that I'll never go there and thereby avoid the over 1200% markup they put on their merchandise.
 
I wouldn't use Monster Cables if they were free. Those guys are jerks for hauling into litigation anyone they can find using the word "monster" commercially.
 
ggunn said:
Which audio store is that? I want to know so that I'll never go there and thereby avoid the over 1200% markup they put on their merchandise.
Click to expand...

Umm, every audio store. All cable products are marked up over 1000%. Any kind of accessory or power conditioner (for example furman products) are all marked up around 1000%.

That's where the money is made gentlemen...
 
rgraves said:
Umm, every audio store. All cable products are marked up over 1000%.
Click to expand...

I doubt that. I don't think that a guitar cable I buy for $20 cost the retailer less than a buck fifty.
 
ggunn said:
I doubt that. I don't think that a guitar cable I buy for $20 cost the retailer less than a buck fifty.
Click to expand...

Haha, well believe as you wish. It's the simple truth. Do you think that a $1500 HDTV costs Best Buy $1000? No way, it's about $500. But 1000% mark up isn't as extreme as it might seem, after all, the $7.50 cable also has the costs of the people who sell it, the costs of keeping it in inventory, and the cost of displaying monster cable all over the store instead of other (better) cables. So it's not really 1000% mark up when you calculate all the costs. Also, the only cables that are marked up that high are the higher end cables.

Look at these prices for this cable

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Studi...1_1/002-4695776-3631254?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

http://www.frontendaudio.com/Monster_Studio_Pro_1000_21_Foot_Instrument_Cable_p/2639.htm

http://www.monstercable.com/pro_audio/productPagePro.asp?pin=2324&LastPage=Instument Cables


I mean, do you really think that there is $120 more stuff in that 21 foot cable than there is in another brand's cable? You can get another 21 foot cable for twenty bucks. And even that one has mark up, otherwise how would they make money??

So, it is quite logically true if you think about it, and if you don't believe it, then Monster Cable will sue you. And that's not a joke.
 
rgraves said:
Umm, every audio store. All cable products are marked up over 1000%. Any kind of accessory or power conditioner (for example furman products) are all marked up around 1000%.
Click to expand...

Am I the only one who fins this impossible to believe? How exactly do you know the mark up on every cable?
 
Because I'm a manager at the store and we give employees cost plus 10%. It's the same at most audio stores, best buy, soundtrack, guitar center. We know the cost and we also know how much leeway we have to give price breaks to customers. That's why when you go into guitar center and want a guitar, you can barter for the price, because we know exactly what the mark up is on the product and how low we can go and still make money...I mean, you don't think the employees are actually taking a loss for the company when you get a guitar for $100 or $200 less than the price tag, do you?
 
rgraves said:
Because I'm a manager at the store and we give employees cost plus 10%. It's the same at most audio stores, best buy, soundtrack, guitar center. We know the cost and we also know how much leeway we have to give price breaks to customers. That's why when you go into guitar center and want a guitar, you can barter for the price, because we know exactly what the mark up is on the product and how low we can go and still make money...I mean, you don't think the employees are actually taking a loss for the company when you get a guitar for $100 or $200 less than the price tag, do you?
Click to expand...

Being a business student, I understand the concept of list price and RRP versus actual selling price. I also know about economies of scale, and why you can sell a home computer with $500 worth of free software pre-installed and still yield a profit.

I just find it hard to believe that a €10 15 ft guitar cable can be sourced, manufactured and shipped for €1.
 
No, you are right about that...see here's the thing: The $20 cables cost about $4 at cost. The $50 cables cost about $5 at cost, $75 cables at $6, $100 cables $10 and so on. Really it doesnt cost any more for monster cable to add 3 layers of cable inside the shielding than it does for them to do the single layer of cheap cable. It's almost the same amount of material involved in either a $20 cable or $100 cable. With the large factories making huge amounts of cable, the difference in cost to manufactor a cable in a particular way is nearly nothing.
They use the same wiring for all the cables, the only difference in cost is just the nicer connectors and thicker shielding.

Most of the cost you pay for is branding costs, which in Monster's case they have a huge reputation with the less than knowledgable and they will fight to the death to keep their name, and so far they have won almost always (I think monster.com is the only place that has thwarted their lawsuits.)
 
rgraves said:
So, it is quite logically true if you think about it, and if you don't believe it, then Monster Cable will sue you. And that's not a joke.
Click to expand...

I'm hip. I expect to be sued by them for using the word "monster" in a forum post.
 
rgraves said:
No, you are right about that...see here's the thing: The $20 cables cost about $4 at cost. The $50 cables cost about $5 at cost, $75 cables at $6, $100 cables $10 and so on. Really it doesnt cost any more for monster cable to add 3 layers of cable inside the shielding than it does for them to do the single layer of cheap cable. It's almost the same amount of material involved in either a $20 cable or $100 cable. With the large factories making huge amounts of cable, the difference in cost to manufactor a cable in a particular way is nearly nothing.
They use the same wiring for all the cables, the only difference in cost is just the nicer connectors and thicker shielding.

Most of the cost you pay for is branding costs, which in Monster's case they have a huge reputation with the less than knowledgable and they will fight to the death to keep their name, and so far they have won almost always (I think monster.com is the only place that has thwarted their lawsuits.)
Click to expand...

It seems the market is perfectly suited to a low cost alternative...do Monster guard against selling closer to cost?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top