Using ethernet wire as a cord

[wParam]

I've got a question that I'm hoping someone with some electronics background can offer some advice about. Two days ago, I got hold of a 'dead' guitar my friend had. The problems it was having made me pretty sure that the failure was in the cord, because he would constantly squish the cord outlet on the guitar against his leg. It started cutting out at random at first, and then it stopped working entirely.

Anyhow, since it was just scrap plastic to him anyway, he said I could do whatever I wanted with it, so I cut the part of the cord that exits the guitar off and attached each end of it to a standard 8 pin ethernet jack. After I stuck a regular ethernet wire in between and made sure the pins on the ps2 connector still matched up, I plugged it in and it worked again. After that I cut a hole in the plastic of the guitar and fixed the jack in place inside of it, so now that guitar has a removable (and replacable) cord on it. Yay.

What I'm unsure about, though, is whether or not replacing the normal ps2 wires with twisted pairs will mess anything up. It works perfectly as far as I can determine, but I'm still a little paranoid that there might be potential crosstalk problems, or something like that which will make it less reliable, maybe only showing up during the really fast passages. Or something. (This is one of those things where I know just enough to suspect a problem but nowhere near enough to put my worries to rest.)

Is there anyone who knows better than I that can offer some advice? In the meantime I think I'll just try to find a flat ethernet cable.

[wParam]

I've got a question that I'm hoping someone with some electronics background can offer some advice about. Two days ago, I got hold of a 'dead' guitar my friend had. The problems it was having made me pretty sure that the failure was in the cord, because he would constantly squish the cord outlet on the guitar against his leg. It started cutting out at random at first, and then it stopped working entirely.

Anyhow, since it was just scrap plastic to him anyway, he said I could do whatever I wanted with it, so I cut the part of the cord that exits the guitar off and attached each end of it to a standard 8 pin ethernet jack. After I stuck a regular ethernet wire in between and made sure the pins on the ps2 connector still matched up, I plugged it in and it worked again. After that I cut a hole in the plastic of the guitar and fixed the jack in place inside of it, so now that guitar has a removable (and replacable) cord on it. Yay.

What I'm unsure about, though, is whether or not replacing the normal ps2 wires with twisted pairs will mess anything up. It works perfectly as far as I can determine, but I'm still a little paranoid that there might be potential crosstalk problems, or something like that which will make it less reliable, maybe only showing up during the really fast passages. Or something. (This is one of those things where I know just enough to suspect a problem but nowhere near enough to put my worries to rest.)

Is there anyone who knows better than I that can offer some advice? In the meantime I think I'll just try to find a flat ethernet cable.

[drmaxim]

You should be okay. My only concern would be if the data (pin 1) or clock (pin 7) ended up in a twisted pair with the power (pin 5.) But in all honesty, even that would be a remote problem that probably wouldn't surface considering the relatively low voltage and amperage in the cables. I would use it and now worry about it. It should be fine.
If it really bothers you, you can buy a cheap controller or extension cable for about $10 and use that cord, that's what I did.

[drmaxim]

You should be okay. My only concern would be if the data (pin 1) or clock (pin 7) ended up in a twisted pair with the power (pin 5.) But in all honesty, even that would be a remote problem that probably wouldn't surface considering the relatively low voltage and amperage in the cables. I would use it and now worry about it. It should be fine.
If it really bothers you, you can buy a cheap controller or extension cable for about $10 and use that cord, that's what I did.

[shadowzero313]

The only thing different I would do, is mount the jack directly to the circuit board in the guitar, so you can use the built-in strain relief, rather than pulling on the jack. It wouldn't be as handy for being removable, thought

[shadowzero313]

The only thing different I would do, is mount the jack directly to the circuit board in the guitar, so you can use the built-in strain relief, rather than pulling on the jack. It wouldn't be as handy for being removable, thought

[wParam]

Cool, thanks for the advice.

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The problem with trying to use the built in strain relief is that it seemed to be attached to the standard cord. Maybe I just needed to pull on it harder, I don't know. But anyway, having the cord removable is most of the point; I hate attached cords =).

[wParam]

Cool, thanks for the advice.

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The problem with trying to use the built in strain relief is that it seemed to be attached to the standard cord. Maybe I just needed to pull on it harder, I don't know. But anyway, having the cord removable is most of the point; I hate attached cords =).