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All Wrapped Up!

Blake Engel, All Church Sound


 

Time and time again the over-under cable coiling method has proven itself to be the most reliable and time-saving method.

Hold one end of the cable in your left hand as shown. The rest of the cable should trail off on the floor.

* Method described is for right-handed people.

With your right hand, reach about two feet down the cable and lay it in your left hand. You may need to give the cable a slight twist to the right as you do this so it forms a loop.
Turn your right hand counter-clockwise (almost upside-down) and grab the cable about 2 feet from your left hand.
As you bring your right hand up to your left hand, turn it clockwise. The cable will form a loop.
Lay the coil in your left hand.

Notice how the the coil crosses above the trailing cable. This is the key that prevents the cable from getting tangled up!

Repeat steps 2-5 until the cable is fully coiled. (Make sure you alternate coiling over and under, or it won't work.)

This is the completed cable. The small loop is the end of the cable--there was not enough left to make a full size loop. See how the coils are all the same size? This makes for a nice, neat coiled cable.

Finally, secure the cable with a twist tie, velcro, or twin-bead ponytailers

To Uncoil: Hold one end of the cable in one hand and toss the rest of it out in front of you-as it un-coils without knots, you'll realize you've just saved a lot of time and aggravation!

As you can see in the pictures below, wrapping the cable from hand to elbow (left) leaves you with a mess. Coiling the cable like a garden hose (right) and connecting the ends is a disaster to untangle as well.

You may need to train your cables before they coil properly, but it's worth it.

Remember that whatever you use to tie the cable with should be attached to the end of the cable with the MALE connector (mic cables) so there are no dangling thingees at the mic end. Minor point that makes a big difference in looks.

Thanks, Joe!