George L's....Mod Up-Date....

I've started setting up my new toy....

GigRig's G2....it needs a hell of a lot of connecters....and thanks to Sarah from Kewaunee...."you still need to get back in touch"....I've decided to stick with George L's....after a few trail n fail attempts here is what I've found to be the best method of fitting the mod....

 Wrap the amalgamating tape round the cap like your putting on a scarf....

Cross the ends and wrap them round the cap again....press them together and pull the ends tight to thin the second wrap....

You should end up with a rubber band of equal thickness round the inside of the cap....the second wrap around is to keep the two ends coming apart and also not getting a thick bit that ends up bulging out from the cap when you make up the cable....This one in the photo is too thick....it needed pulling tighter....

Batch one started....Pedalboard is going to take about 48 connecters....Had to take a trip to Sounds Great....needed 12 new ones to finish off....

Had to exit Sounds Great as quickly as I could....They had one of those new Jim Kelley Amps....ooh momma....k.j.

********************************************

Up-Date No2....The amalgamating tape can bind up in the thread when screwing down the Top Cap....I have been using a squirt of Deoxit to help with initial contact and cleaning when making up my George L's for ages....But....I have now found that Deoxit makes the amalgamating tape turn to mush....If you use Deoxit on your plugs they need to dry completely before you use this mod....If you brush the amalgamating tape with a dab of water "I am talking about the merest amount here" when screwing the Cap down you will not get the binding....The water will help to lube the amalgamating tape when screwing down....It will then evaporate leaving the rubber band to lock the Top Cap on....or you can lick it....that works too....k.j.

Sarah's George L's Mod....This is Awesome....

Sarah from Kewaunee, Wisconsin, USA....Got in touch to say she has used George L's for the same amount of time as me....and after having a good look over all her GL's Plugs has found no plating coming away....That's good to know and was what I was hoping for....Sarah also gave me details of a trick she uses to keep her GL's from coming loose....

Sarah uses thin strips of  self amalgamating silicone tape wrapped once over into the small cavity above the thread of the plugs screw down cap....This acts as a locking seal....stopping the caps from coming loose and breaking the signal....

I hope you can see what Sarah does with her plugs from my photos....I have made up all my cables that I use on my smaller pedalboard using this mod and I am amazed at the difference this thin piece of tape makes....

The caps of the GL's plugs are solidly held in place....self amalgamating tape does not use any adhesive....so there is no mess....and when needed to be removed is as easy as removing a rubber band....This tip is truly awesome....Incredibly easy and incredibly cheap....and makes the George L's plugs pretty much perfect....well....just as long as no more plating comes away....



Sarah....I Thank You a thousand times over....Please get back in touch as I have deleted your comment by mistake....k.j.

Problem With George L's Cables....

I had a problem with some of my George L's cables awhile back....the nickle plating had began to come away from some of the solderless plugs....

I sent them off an email....

"Hi George L, I have just been moving my main pedalboard around trying to find a noisy cable that had started up and found that the nickel plating has started to come off some of your .155 plugs, I’ve found 6 so far. I don’t know how long I’ve had them but I’m getting worried, I must have 30 or so plugs on my main board and 40 on my other 2 smaller boards. Your Plugs are meant to be the best and as so are not cheap, you don’t expect them to only last a couple of years. 6 plugs, that’s £60 that I’m going to have to bin and I’m going to have to look inside all my pedals and clean any bits out. My fingers are cut to ribbons the bits coming off are like razorblades. I’m not happy. I’ve put some photos for you on my photobucket page so you can see for yourselfs. Don’t worry nobody looks at my page, as soon as you have seen them I’ll take them down, I’m not an idiot trying it on, but I’m not happy."

They replied....

"I am sorry that you are having problems with the plating. After some normal wear and tear it is possible for the plating to come off. My suggestion would be to use the brass plugs. We do have a lifetime warranty on the plugs. Please let me know where you purchased them. I will try to do whatever I can to make you happy. Thanks, Sandy"

And then....

"I forwarded your  last email to Moonphase and David would like to discuss this with you to help resolve the matter. Could you please give me a phone number where he can contact you? He requested that I ask you for the number. Looking forward to hearing from you. Sandy"


Here in the UK George L's are distributed by Moonphase Limited and David Cartwright (of Moonphase) was only too happy to swop the damaged plugs for new ones....

So this morning I'm making up a new board and swopping pedals and guess what....the nickle coating is coming off some more of the plugs....George L's web site now say's nothing about a Lifetime Guarantee and Moonphase now states...."a 2-year guarantee covering defects".

The thing is....Pedalboard plugs never get the same amount of "ABUSE" as regular guitar cables and I have cables that are easily 15 "or more" years old....have been plugged in and out hundreds if not thousands of times and I have never had a problem like this before.... ....the nickle has not worn away to nothing....its flaked off and is now lurking inside some off my pedals....AWESOME....has this been a bad batch or happening too many times to keep the lifetime warranty....I would have thought a lifetime is a minimum of 10 years for a cable plug...and then to come loose and fall apart....not to have to nickle peel off....

LAVA Cables looks like my next purchase....I don't know why I ever took up the guitar....nothing is ever cheap....k.j.

"I think I should have got a motorbike....or an addiction to tattoos like some of my other friends...."

p.s....Going through all my plugs....I have 4 more that have started to shed their plating....that makes 10 in all....that makes me think they all must be from the same batch and most likely to be the starter kit I bought first....Looking through old photos I got my first George L's the summer of 2008 and first had the shedding in 2010....Question is do I buy a Lava Kit "I need 14 plugs for my mini board"....then suck it up and buy a few more GL's when my GigRig G2 turns up and hope I don't get anymore shedding....It does makes sense to keep using the GL's....Grudgingly.... k.j.