Instrument Cables: Why Some Might Not Work Quite Right with Your Specific Pickup

So, it’s a weird thing to discover, but there’s not actually a standard sizing rulebook for so-called 1/4” instrument cables. The plugs and jacks we use on pickups, preamps, amps, guitars, and other audio equipment have common conventions, but there is not a very specific standard. So every once in a while, you come up against certain plugs that don’t quite line up right in certain jacks, or seem to fit at all – so they may not confidently lock into the jack with a satisfying “snap” – or may not even align the contacts correctly, causing noise, interference, or intermittent contact (or none at all.)

Some "high end" cables actually make the barrels of their plugs a little thicker, to improve contact on old guitar jacks with worn out springs, for instance. But more often, it's that the overall length of the plug end - and how the various components align that causes the issue. 

If you look at the graphic to the right, you can see the components of a standard plug; the length of the barrel, which is the ground, and then the tip, which is the signal contact. Below that, you see two plugs inserted into a jack - the jack has two "spring" contacts that engage the plug - the "signal" one "locks" into the little notch on the tip, securing the plug and making contact. On the bottom one, however, the barrel section is longer, and therefore the connector doesn't line up properly. As a result, the cable doesn't lock in as designed, and the jack's signal contact is between the two contacts on the plug, causing intermittency or even a short. 

D’Addario even addressed this inconsistency on their nicer cables with an adjustable endcap (called the “Geo-Tip”) that allows for adjustment to accommodate depth/spec variances between different jacks.

I don’t have a list of jacks or plug brands that seem to be “outside the norm” – but I have heard of people who have run into intermittent contact when using certain cables plugged into the jacks used on the David Gage Realist line of pickups. Again, that doesn’t make the Realist jack “defective” – it just means that it might have minor compatibility issues with certain brands of cable plugs.

I haven’t run into any compatibility issues with the cables we’ve sold here over the years (CBI, Kirlin, Yorkville) and you could look into the D’Addario cable mentioned above with the Geo-Tip for maximum compatibility.

I hope that helps!