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Cable soldering tutorial for beginners: How to repair and build cables
Bild:
"Kkkkzzzschhhh...," "Bzzzzz..."—if you're hearing these noises, it's clear: The cable is broken. Musicians know this situation well. Suddenly the guitar or microphone cable just cracks and hums and you fervently hope that you still have one left so that the rehearsal can continue. There are many good reasons for learning to solder cables—sustainability being chiefly among them. It's also easier on the wallet when you can simply repair broken cables instead of having to buy new ones. Yet another benefit is being able to permanently install audio equipment (such as guitar pedals or 19" rack units).
Have you always wanted to learn how to do that? Then let's get started! From now on, no more cables will be thrown away, but instead repaired. Your fellow musicians will look enviously at your perfectly installed pedalboards and racks in the future. Because now it's finally time to reach the next level of musical evolution: Audio Nerd. Because audio nerds have the license to solder.
Table of contents
- What is soldering anyway?
- The structure of audio cables
- Symmetrical cables
- Unbalanced cables
- The soldering equipment
- Soldering cables - this is how it's done!
- Repairing cables
- Nothing to solder? Then take a look around on mukken!
What is soldering anyway?
By "soldering" we mean the permanent connection of components or cables with the aid of solder. Cables consist of several small copper wires running inside. In addition to the inner conductors, which in our case "transport" the audio signal (in the audio sector usually one or two), there is also what's referred to as "shielding." This has the purpose of shielding the cable against electromagnetic influence from the outside. The whole thing looks like this from the inside:
A soldering iron is basically nothing more than a hot piece of metal with which we can melt solder (a metal alloy usually made of tin and lead). When the solder is then soft and flowing, we can use it to join metals. Once it cools down again and becomes hard, it creates a permanent bond between the components we solder. In the simplest case, we simply solder two cables together, making one long cable from two shorter cables. Or we simply solder a connector to the front and back of one cable. This is really not very difficult. The smaller the component, the more skill is required. But with a little dexterity, soldering plugs and cables is a skill quickly learned.
The structure of audio cables
To understand which cables we need to solder and how, let's first look at the basics. This includes understanding how a cable actually works and where the differences are. The two most common cables in a musician's daily life are balanced cables and unbalanced cables. You may have previously heard them (mistakenly) referred to as "stereo cables" and "mono cables."
Symmetrical cables
Balanced cables can be recognized by their three-pin connectors. The classic examples are XLR cables and balanced jack cables. These three poles are usually assigned like this:
- Plus Phase (Signal)
- Minus phase (180º phase inverted signal)
- Shielding (the ground connection)
Don't be confused by the pinout if you don't know yet what it means. For soldering it is enough to know that there are three wires in the balanced cables and that they are called plus, minus, and ground. These three wires in the cable are connected to the three poles on the connectors, which in turn have the corresponding pinout. If you want to solder balanced audio cables, I recommend these cables. Cables are always supplied in meter-long intervals. So if you want a three meter long cable, you have to put three of them in the shopping cart:
You also need two plugs. XLR or jack, depending on the application. I myself use these:
Unbalanced cables
Unbalanced cables can be recognized by the two-pin connectors. They simply have one fewer wire and do without the negative phase. A classic example are guitar cables. There the assignment is like this:
- Plus Phase (Signal)
- Shielding (The ground connection)
For example, here's an unbalanced cable from Sommer Cable:
And an unbalanced connector from Neutrik:
So all we have to do is solder the wires of the cables to the corresponding poles of the connectors. To clearly identify the poles, the connectors on most plugs have numbers. Even without numbers, however, this is quite easy. We just need to know the respective connector pinout and then solder the wires of the cable to the right places. If you are still a little unsure and want more information and pictures about the pin assignments, just Google "pin assignment XLR cable" or "pin assignment jack cable."
The soldering equipment
The basic equipment you need to solder cables is:
- a soldering iron
- solder
- a carpet knife
- a small pair of pliers
However, I recommend you not to buy these things individually, but rather invest in a soldering set. These are now available on Amazon for around 20 euros. That's enough for a beginner. By the way, it makes soldering much easier if you have a "third hand" to help you. With the help of these clamps you can fix the cables and connectors while you solder. Especially for beginners, working freehand can be tricky and even dangerous. That's because holding a 400º C soldering iron, a cable, a connector and solder in only two hands is not easy. Go figure. So please leave your precious musician fingers whole and invest ten euros for a third hand.
Disclaimer: Don't worry, soldering cables is not witchcraft. But please be very careful when handling the soldering iron. This soldering iron can get twice as hot as a stove top and you are holding it in your hands. Only put it in a stand and don't set it down anywhere else. And, of course, only work with concentration and focus.
Soldering cables - this is how it's done!
Now let's get down to the nitty gritty. Since soldering is difficult to explain in writing and it makes much more sense if you watch it once, I have picked out a few YouTube videos for you. This way you can learn a few tricks of the trade and see exactly what's important. The best thing to do is to grab an old broken cable, cut it off and try soldering it yourself. As long as you're careful and don't touch anything with the soldering iron, you can't really go wrong.
First try to connect two cables with the help of solder. Once you have done that, you can try it with one connector. For soldering audio cables to plugs you usually don't need heat shrink tubing. But you can see how to use heat shrink tubing in these videos. This will certainly be helpful for future projects.
Now that you know how a soldering iron works practically, it's time to take a look at soldering audio connectors. Take a look at the following videos:
Repairing cables
Now you know how cable soldering works. But what about repairing broken cables? There is quite a logical procedure. First of all, we try to find out exactly where the fault lies.
Does the cable crack and make noise when you move it? If the cable generally works, but makes noises when you move it, it's almost certainly a break somewhere in the cable. So it's time to find out where exactly the break is. We're going to move the cable around in a few places until we figure out exactly where the broken part is. Then we pinch off the cable a little bit further inside and solder the connector back on there. By the way, the cable can make noise even if it's already clipped off, but the break is still in the connected cable. As soon as it doesn't make any noise when you move it (when it's disconnected), we've hit the spot. You should pay attention to that, because you don't want to solder it twice. Now it's shorter, but it works again.
If the cable simply does not work anymore, it is probably a damaged or torn solder joint. Unscrew the connectors and look at the solder joints, then you can usually see the problem directly. Now you have to either re-solder or - if the cable is torn off - shorten it minimally and re-solder it. There are also relatively inexpensive cable testers. If you want to test and repair cables regularly from now on, this small investment might be worth it.
Nothing to solder? Then take a look around on mukken!
Which project are you usually soldering cables for? For a solo project? In the studio? With your band? If you don't have an active project at the moment, but are looking for one, you should take a closer look at mukken. We even have an app where you can find everything from the mukken universe. Don't forget the rest of our blog with many helpful articles, or the musician search, the brand new mukken Podcast and much more.
Originally published on February 10, 2023, updated on February 10, 2023
Main topic: Belting - a singing technique with two medal sides
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