Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

When I bought my '66 Rickenbacker 12 recently, in the case pocket was a very clean silver guitar cable. I plugged it in, but it didn't work. A few days later I decided to take a closer look and found out that this is not just any old ordinary guitar cable. There are screws on the jack ends. When you remove the jacks, you can simply pull them off the wires. The wire is silver Belkin, and there's a pin inside that jack that pierces the center of the cable, making the connection without any solder required, similar to a George L cable. I used an exacto knife to cut each cable slightly shorter and reinserted the cable and retightened the jack screws. The sleeve is chrome, but the tip of the jack appears to be pure brass. Very classy! The cable sounds great, and I really like the material it's made out of. Anyone know who made these cables for Rickenbacker, and what years were they available? I'd really like to find another!

Well, since Belkin was founded in 1983, the cable isn't exactly "vintage," certainly not as old as your guitar...

Interesting. Whatever it is, I want another...

Actually, I read the cable wrong. It says Belden 8401 on the side of the cable, not Belkin. My bad. I assure you, the cable is quite vintage. I believe it to be the original cable that came with the guitar. The keys and allen wrench were still sealed in the envelope. The case is from 1966 and in mint condition, not a scratch.

Ah, well then, Belden has been around for a LONG time, starting in 1902.

Sounds like an interesting cable. Posting some pictures might help with the identification...

If anyone knows where to simply get grey/silver cables, I'd like to hear about it.

This was a proprietary connector that we bought from the inventor who made these in his machine shop in Colorado. This is the second time this morning that I've been stumped by the name of an old supplier- someone should write this stuff down! Anyway, I'm sure a patent search would turn up the name. Jim Stevens? Something like that.

I can't tell you how many thousands of these cables I assembled as a kid. They were pretty rough on the fingers during assembly due to the fairly deep knurling. There was also an art to making these work the first time around; the wire cut had to be clean and crisp and the pointed screw tightened just the right amount to pierce the outer insulation but not short the shield to the inner conductor.

The design was ingenious- just two Swiss lathe parts plus a nylon insulator and pointed set screw. Most convenient was that if the cord ever failed, it was easy to just cut off an inch and reseat the connector.

Here's a shot of Fender's version of the connector, which was made by the same outfit as ours.
While we sometimes used this shorter part, for the most part we used a longer version, a photo of which I have not yet been able to find. I know I have at least one cable with those plugs around here somewhere.

johnhall wrote:Here's a shot of Fender's version of the connector, which was made by the same outfit as ours.

cable.jpg

While we sometimes used this shorter part, for the most part we used a longer version, a photo of which I have not yet been able to find. I know I have at least one cable with those plugs around here somewhere.

I got one of those with my new Fender '57 Stratocaster back in 1983. It's a good cable, fairly substantial, but not too heavy. Also, Dean Markley uses this type plug on it's Pro-Mag pickups.

John, yes, the knurls are very deep. Very ingenious design and very high quality components. Were these cables supplied with every guitar sold, or were they an optional accessory? I'll upload a photo tomorrow.

Sounding cooler all the time! Pics will be appreciated!

Seems like Belden 8401 coax microphone and instrument cable is still made, looks like good cabletoo (what else would you expect from Belden?)...

I've had one of those. Don't know if I still do but it was a good cable, very reliable.

Found 'em!
JimK

Here's a picture of the cable:

jimk wrote:Found 'em!
JimK

NICE. Pricey but I love the look...