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Topic: Curly cords coming back?? |
Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
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Posted 14 Mar 2007 9:08 am |
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| I thought I was through with those telephone wire curly guitar cords, but Hosa, Fender, Core, and some other folks are making some high-end curlies again. I just got a new Vox, and it does not color the tone of my six-string, and it looks WAAAAAY cool! Whattya y'all think? |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 14 Mar 2007 9:38 am
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| They may look "cool" but that is not the measure of a good quality guitar cord. The Electrical specs is what is important. When I was in the amp repair business, if someone brought a coiled cord to be repaired I would refuse to work on them - every one that I did try was not "repairable". |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 14 Mar 2007 9:55 am
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Yup. Those curly cords had some of the worst capacitance specs of any guitar cord ever. Real high frequency suckers. But, some argue that those cords were part of Jimi's live tone. Maybe true. Funny stuff. Maybe the new ones will have better audio specs.
Brad |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 14 Mar 2007 1:45 pm
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And - they put a constant, moving strain on the instrument and amp jacks!
So, be advised...sometimes, "way cool" looking is just dumb.  |
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Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
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Posted 14 Mar 2007 5:21 pm
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Yeah, I guess Buck and them looked as dumb with their curly cords as with the rhinestone suits.
I fully realize that a 20' curled cord is an inductor waiting to happen, but go to the Vox website and read the specs on their cord. I'm 52 years old, and I don't need to worry about looking "cool," since my "cool" days passed 30-some years ago. But the cords are neater onstage, and as I said in my initial post, the cord does not color the tone of my guitars. Don't worry, I'll still use the George L's for my steel  ! Am I cool again? |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 14 Mar 2007 6:11 pm
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| Stephen Gambrell wrote: |
| ...the cords are neater onstage... |
Neater? No, I think they're a pain in the tookus, swinging around like a slinky, and staying off the floor so you're playing jump-rope to get across the stage when everyone's using them.[/quote]
No. But go "wireless", and we'll consider re-instating you!
However, if you really feel you must use them, then I guess you have my blessing.
(Except, I should inform you those coil-cords are made by winding straight wire around a hot metal rod, which gives them their particular curly shape. Soooo...you're also contributing to global-warming by using them!  ) |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 1:25 am
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Using a coil cord dropped the mid frequency of Jimi Hendrix's guitar from around 2K to 800 Hz, a key component of taming his live Strat sound (studios have knobs to do the same thing?). A few - very few - people also intentionally use crappy cords for that specific effect once in a while, Eric Johnson & Julien Kasper among them. I don't think it has to be coiled, just crappy, leaky and poorly-constructed. 
(I got this info from Bill Lawrence, boy if you ever want to get your ear talked off about the good old days, inductance, and who's not really using their endorsed products, call him and ask about wiring a pickup sometime.) |
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Tony Harris
From:
England
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 5:01 am
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I see Fender are making coily cords again but they say with better properties than those from the Sixties - but they don't give a figure for the capacitance. They also make special cords for acoustic and bass(??)
Tony. |
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Klaus Caprani
From:
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 6:04 am Coily cords?
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I used a couple or three back in the day. The two cheap ones lasted approx two weeks before they died, and the last one (An, at the time, very expensive Schaller) lasted a couple of months before it went as well.
I switched to straight cords that lasted waaaaaay longer, no matter how crappy they were, and never went back.
I admit they looked somewhat cool though 
_________________
Klaus Caprani
MCI RangeXpander S-10 3x4
www.klauscaprani.com |
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Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 6:24 am
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Well, Donny, I DO have a wireless---only I call it a dobro .
Maybe I'm just being nostalgic... |
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 8:24 am
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| I thought Curly Chalker's chords were great. I don't understand all this bad mouthing of his style. I sure never knew Hendrix used Curly's chords. |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 9:11 am
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| I have always preferred the Moe cords, over the Curly cords. |
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ajm
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 16 Mar 2007 11:26 am
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"...you're playing jump-rope to get across the stage when everyone's using them."
I see this all the time in small bars with small stages. Guys running back and forth from one side of the stage to the other reminiscent of Van Halen some 25 years ago. Especially steel players; they're the most active of the lot. I saw one climax a song the other night by jumping off of his Nashville 400 at the end. ;>))
I do agree that they look cooler, and would look dy-no-mite with an old Kustom tuck and roll. But they are probably more fragile and probably suck a little tone. Depending on your style and effects, you may or may not notice. I'm willing to bet that nobody in the audience would ever notice a difference in sound.
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Artie McEwan |
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Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2007 11:36 am
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They are NOISY,too...I worked with a guy the other day on a session who had one...he was having big time rf problems and the older,wiser steel player(me)told him if he replaced that cord,his noise problem would be solved...and it was...
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http://www.myspace.com/stevehinsonnashville |
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Micky Byrne
From:
United Kingdom (deceased)
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Posted 19 Mar 2007 11:11 am Re: Curly cords coming back??
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Hi Guys, I started playing pedal steel in 1970, the curled leads were in fashion then and I was very naive as a steel player. I had a curled lead from my p/p Emmons to the volume pedal, and another from the pedal to my Fender twin. Total around 40 feet of curly leads. Now I wonder why the tone was so dull....Lol...live and learn huh??? George L's all the time now 
Micky Byrne United Kingdom www.mickybyrne.com |
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