User manual

40
Cable considerations
Following the precautions described in Section 3 (“Fitting and using the
H-clamp”) should prevent any damage to either instrument or microphone
but the H-clamp is also supplied with simple accessories for improving
safety and convenience. Any microphone or pick-up cable presents a po-
tential tripping or snagging hazard. The cable tidy and strain relief acces-
sories supplied with the H-clamp minimise these hazards and make pick-
ing up, playing and putting down the instrument almost as simple with a
microphone attached as without. The usual ways to achieve this are illus-
trated below but they are by no means the only options.
As indicated under “Cable tidies” on page 24, either the thin elastic loops
or the Velcro straps can be used to bind the microphone cable gently to the
H-clamp. This prevents the cable from flapping around the instrument but
must not be relied upon to provide strain relief. Stain relief is achieved by
using the Velcro straps in a different way. For both cello and double bass,
the best anchor point for strain relief is the spike:
1. As described on page 24, wrap a Velcro
strap around the cable with its soft,
side in contact with the cable. Wrap the
strap from the loop end along the cable
towards the end that is (or will be)
plugged into the microphone. The Velcro
strap should not be loose but equally, not
so tight that it cannot be moved along the
cable to adjust it’s position.
2. leave the loop at the end of the strap
free and slip it over the spike, soft side
towards the instrument. Depending on
the design of the spike, it may need to be
dismantled partly for the loop to be
slipped over without tearing.
3. Once the strain relief has been fitted,
the cable can be fed to and fro through it
to leave just enough cable to reach the
H-clamp (but without pulling it taught).
When fitted properly, the Velcro strap strain reliever on the spike should
prevent most accidental jerks on the cable from being transmitted to the
H-clamp.