I've noticed that since I've been playing at bars my cords have been getting sticky. There's just something about the floor of the stage that's a little more earthy than church. Plus more people step all over them since the stages tend to be smaller. At first it was just a minor annoyance, but it's gotten to the point now that I have to wash my hands after handling my chords. Any tips on cleaning cords, both the plastic and fabric wrapped kinds? I was thinking of just using a damp rag, but if anyone has any special tricks please share.

_________________
Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
Instagram: http://instagram.com/beckslaird

D'oh! In a dyslexic moment I thought you were talking about barre chords...

Nothing more annoying than coiling up your lead after the show and finding your hands grubby from other people's shoe dirt coming off that rubber. Can't think of anything better than wiping down with a cloth though, I'm afraid.

And of course having a selection of leads available so that you can use a short one if that is what's called for. Less surplus cord lying around on the ground is less rubber picking up dirt.

No flashes of wisdom here - sorry.

Cheers - C

Go wireless. I did, I'll never go back now.

_________________
No no and no

One of the most friendly yet effective cleaners I know of is Simple Green (properly mixed). You can use it on any of your rubber/vinyl coated cords without worry. You may be able to clean a fabric cord but I'd test it on a small area of it before saying it's OK. Get some cheap cords/cables for playing the small venues where you have that concern. Carry a freezer bag with an old towel or t-shirt in it, pre-soaked with cleaner and you can wipe your cords down as you're picking them up.

Plain old Mr. Clean in a bit of warm water will remove most crud from your cords for stubborn bits use it undiluted.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Burn them.

If you ever been in a mens room at any bar in the world you know you shouldn't touch the chords with a stick.

But searously I don't know. Not expeirenced enough in playing at puplic places.

This is one time where my OCD comes in handy.

We have a small variety of sizes of "runners", which are like entryway rugs you buy from Home Depot or Lowes, off the roll, by the foot. They're rubber on the back and heavy duty tight weave carpet on the top. We keep the cord runs to a minimum, say all the mic cords together here and power over there, drop the rug down to walk on, a little duct tape on the end and you're done.

And surprisingly the rugs aren't that bad to roll up. Keeps us from tripping on them too.

keep a pack of baby wipes handy in your gig bag or something that way you can give the cables a wipe when your finished and also if your hands are black you can clean them as well

I use baby wipes at the gig, and a damp cloth, fantastic mixed w/water, when I return home.

_________________
2012 American Vintage Telecaster 1958
09 Fender american deluxe strat.
97 Gibson les paul special P90's double-cut
65 Princeton reverb re-issue
2010 Guild Gad-F40e

Oh man, I didn't even think about that...

I didn't think about using shorter cords. I should probably keep a couple of long ones and a couple of short ones in my gig bag to use depending on the situation.

The rugs are a good idea, but I don't know if there would be enough room for them on stage.
Plus no one I know carries rugs with them to open mics. But for my Dad's band and for my church gigs I'm definately going to suggest that we do that.

Today I'm going to try plain water, rubbing alcohol, baby wipes, and anything else that would be safe to use and see which one works better. I have band practice tomorrow and I don't want to mess with sticky cords there.

_________________
Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
Instagram: http://instagram.com/beckslaird

Don't buy cheap cords. They are nothing more than antennas and your tone will seriously suffer with cheap cords. It's the nature of gigging. A damp rag usually works just fine. I use George L's. The jacket doesn't pick up that much crud but George L's aren't really as soft or pliable as many cords but that sound great.

I never thought of that. Good call. My thought was, if they got really nasty, huck 'em out and don't sweat the $15 loss. Maybe I'll just leave gig advice to those that gig.

I don't bother cleaning them. It adds to the tone and general mojo.

_________________
"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

True that! Ya wouldn't want to lose any MOJO to soap and water would ya?

Maybe the good answer might be to have a set of cables just for gigs and wear some cheap gloves when you're setting up and tearing down.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but this reminded me to thank Supro for his suggestion that I try George L's cords. Besides having awesome tone and being very easy to repair, they made wiring my pedaltrain absolutely hassle-free.

As to cord cleaning, the fairly hard, slick covering of a George L's cable should make that easier with any of the methods that have been posted.

As far as carrying different lengths of cords, I've started carrying lengths of George L's cable (in both sizes) and a few spare connectors, as well as some velcro cable ties. Need a new cord? Just make one up. Cord too long? Coil it up loosely, tie it in place, and keep most of it from getting under foot.

_________________
Strat+Tweed=Tone