Measuring Cables


	A word of advice from Jim about short cables (less than 1 metre): People often under-estimate the length of cable they require. You might think you only need 6 inches, but you may be amazed to find you actually need more like 24 inches! Really, the shortest possible usable cable is 12 inches - that's why our standard ones are at 18 inches.
	Do remember: Every bend, curve or loop adds several inches. If the cable has to curve at all before it goes into the back of the plug, that's about another 3 inches. A good way to think of this is to remember your old school maths lessons about Pi which, as I am sure you will recall, equals 3.142 - hence your 3 inches for every curve. Bingo! Basically, you need your cable to be about three times as long as you first thought.
	The cost of mistakes: If you ask me for a certain length, only to find it is too short, there is no way I can actually make it longer! If you've got it wrong and want me to make it longer, please consider what is involved, ie: dismantling the plugs and rebuilding the whole thing. My cables are works of art and as I have said on the main Cables page, every joint is individually heat-shrunk. Consequently, having to rebuild a cable means before I can start all that heat-shrink has to be removed, as do all the solder joints. It actually takes longer to dismantle a plug than it does to build it. This means that if I have to do this it will cost you the time it takes me to undo all my original work (of art!) and then the time to remake it all. Apart from being pretty soul-destroying for me to have to do this, it makes the cable hellish expensive for you - probably the cost will be even more than if you just order another new cable to the correct length, if you add the price you paid for the original one in the first place.
	Sorry, but... ...my beautifully made cable ain't elastic. It don't stretch! Nor is it a willy that will grow if you stick on one of those patches that you can buy via all those spam Emails you keep getting!
	The moral of this story is: Please, please, please - do measure before you order. If you are not absolutely sure, use a bit of string - wind the string around all the bends and curves (especially if you are measuring for a microphone in a suspension), and make sure you allow for it to go into plugs, which have to go into sockets, and measure it all carefully before you call me.
	And another important thing to remember: When I talk about measuring the length of a cable, what I mean is measuring the cable from the end of the plug - where the pins are - to the end of the plug on the other. (Not, as is commonly presumed, from where the cables goes into the plug). Just to illustrate my point, an XLR lead will give you a 4 inch difference, depending on how you measure it.
	Thank you for reading this! Now go and do as you are told ....