Ok here's the soldering sequence.
Here's the other end of the cable after crimping the lugs and prepping it for soldering:
First the iron is positioned
under the center post where the center conductor is snaked through the mounting hole:
The solder is positioned from above, right where the metal from the center post and the wire from the center conductor meet:
The joint is then heated until solder starts to flow into the joint. You will see the solder be 'sucked' down into the hole and you'll keep on feeding solder until the joint is essentially filled. This joint should be bright and shiny, like this:
Next the braid is soldered: hold the iron
under the strap of metal that contains the cable crimps, and the solder should be fed into the braid from above, like this:
It should be shiny too, and there should be solder soaking up most of the braid:
After this you are done!
Here's a pic of my other favorite cable, ProEL. It's constructed mostly the same as the Canare cable, however the jacket is made from a different material which is much thicker (and seems
much more durable). The braids and center conductors are also tinned OFC:
In terms of cables with foil shields: I like them, but not for instrument cable that will be used on stage. I think it's perfect for permanent installations (like studio routing in the walls, etc), but it doesn't hold up to flexing IMHO.
Braided shields are a necessary evil for stage use, and you give up flexibility when you go to a foil-shielded cable, so the cable just doesn't
feel right when you are walking around with it plugged in to your bass: it's just too stiff and it feels like you are anchored down when you walk around.
That's just my opinion however. Foil shielded cables (in general) have better shielding properties and tend to have more constant capacitance per unit length.
As for using mic cable and using the two center conductors for signal: I don't see the benefit. The whole point of the twisted pair with differential signals is to maximum the noise cancellation (by making the cable 'see' the same noise field when averaged over the length of the cable). If you switch from differential to single ended then that benefit is lost. To me it seems the cable reduces down to one 'virtual' center conductor and it should be exactly the same (from the point of view of the bass).
I could be convinced otherwise, if the difference in capacitance per unit length could be measured definitively, taking into account the different materials used in the two different cables. In fact I would hazard to guess that the insulation material plays a far greater role in this than one conductor versus two in a twisted pair.
I would just like to add that if you have no experience with terminating cables, practice makes perfect! You can go from hardly knowing what you're doing, to being able to do it with your eyes closed with just a little bit of practice and patience.
