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straightening cords / leads

#3
The inner wires have a "memory", they tend to hold any kinks or twists that they are stuck in for a while. What you do first is let the cable drape loosely uncoiled on the floor or in the air, and then untwist any parts where it seems not to lay flat. There's an over-under technique for properly coiling a cable, and you can find a how-to video on Youtube just by searching on something like "proper cable coiling method". So use that technique, and while doing that, gently untwist and unkink the cable with one hand as you go.
 
#4
Sometimes the cable jacket is a bit less than flexible. What I do with those is lay them out across my driveway or draped on my backyard fence all day long on a hot day. There's no shortage of those here in Texas. After heating up like that the kinks in the jacket tend to come out or at least be less pronounced. You do need to roll them properly to keep the individual wires inside from twisting up, though. Another thing...don't cool cables around themselves for storage. I see people do that and it drives me nuts. Go to Lowes, spend $5 and get a roll of 50 Velcro cable ties. They work much better and keep your cables happy.
 
#7
My sound man gave me a little trick. On a warm sunny day I take the cables and lay them full lengthwise on my driveway. After they have been out for a period of time I roll them up and it seems the kinks are out. It does work. Cable ties are recommended. We use the velcro ones.
 
#8
tech21nyc said:
My sound man gave me a little trick. On a warm sunny day I take the cables and lay them full lengthwise on my driveway. After they have been out for a period of time I roll them up and it seems the kinks are out. It does work. Cable ties are recommended. We use the velcro ones.
Click to expand...

Hey! That's what I said!!!^^^^
 
#11
bongomania said:
The inner wires have a "memory", they tend to hold any kinks or twists that they are stuck in for a while. What you do first is let the cable drape loosely uncoiled on the floor or in the air, and then untwist any parts where it seems not to lay flat. There's an over-under technique for properly coiling a cable, and you can find a how-to video on Youtube just by searching on something like "proper cable coiling method". So use that technique, and while doing that, gently untwist and unkink the cable with one hand as you go.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I don't use the roadie (over-under) wrap for storing cables. It doesn't hurt a cable to be wrapped with the single twist method as long as you shake the twists out when you unwrap it, and it won't tie itself in knots if an end falls through the loop in your gig box. I use the over-under wrap when I am dressing cables onstage that are already connected; it works great for that. Some folks also tie one end in an overhand knot around the coil to keep it together; I don't recommend that. Get some Velcro cable ties. Wrapping palm to elbow is right out.

YMMV, of course.
 
#20
iiipopes said:
The trick, as you coil up a cord, is to give each coil a quarter turn with the wrist as it is being coiled to keep it coiling smoothly without kinking.
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How careful do you need to be? Is it enough to just make sure you're holding the cord loosely so you're not forcing it into coils? Just letting it rotate naturally?
 

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