I had a small pile of bad cables and sat down to solder up some new 1/4 plugs (NEUTRIK NP2x). Most of them were older LiveWire cables with molded plugs that I stepped on and broke. Fixed a bunch of 'em at $2.50 a pop ... great. But one was a cable I bought from the bargain stack at GC. Looked OK when I bought it; thick cable, neatly done plugs with strain relief, and cheap. When I cut it to put on a new plug I found out why GC sells 'em so cheap ... they ain't no copper in 'em! Well, there is of course, but I'd be surprised if the conductors are more than 28ga (if that!). That thick cable is just insulation. Essentially a throw-away ... and not wanting to piss away a whole $2.50 on a loser that's just what I did with it. Another bargain that wasn't ... 
