What cables should I be buying? What is best bang for buck?
My daddario cable just started wigging out and this is like the 5th cable ive been though in 7 years. I'm hard on my gear in general. What cables should I order next in particular?
If you're the crafty type, learn to solder. I've fixed dozens of (cheaply soldered) cables over the years, it usually takes all of five minutes.
Otherwise you can see if livewire still has their lifetime guarantee (only on the more expensive cables, but if they ever break they'll replace it, forever).
Yeah i used to solder and maybe i should just repair my broken cables haha
If you know how to solder, pick up a Mogami cable with braided insulation and a pair of Neutrik connectors and solder them on yourself.
I made a 25 foot cable this way about 14 years ago and it's still going strong, despite a cat chewing through the insulation at a couple spots.
This would be the most economical thing. And as far as soldering goes, it'd be hard to find a simpler project than a guitar cable. Sometimes it's the actual solder joint that goes bad, but a lot of the time they go out because the wire gets beat up by the end of the jack housing, so it's usually a good idea to cut the cable an inch or two below the jack then re-solder from there to get rid of any potentially damaged wire.
Get a pack of heat-shrink of different diameter, good soldering iron and lead free solder, good pair of flush-cutter pliers and you're good to go
You often don't even need heat shrink for guitar cables, they're pretty simple.