the story of our cable company.

My name is Hank Donovan, and I started Rattlesnake Cable Company when I began researching for the guitar cable of my dreams. For years prior, I've been involved with electronics ranging from pedal building to instrument repairs and other nerd-related projects. I always enjoyed working on music-centric projects and thought making a great instrument cable would be something fun and satisfying to pursue. I began ordering various components from plugs to cable to protective weaving. I finally found the combination that met all of my needs. I was excited about the final product.

As a guitarist myself, I wanted to meet the specific requirements of an instrument cable. Signal was the primary goal. I've owned various "quality" cables, and I wanted to surpass the quality of those cables. I've always believed in quality in the cable (both in signal and durability), so this was going to be a challenging task. Some cables begin to bleed off the high-end frequencies and general signal, especially with longer runs. In simple terms, your tone gets "muddy" and quieter. If you're not too familiar with capacitance in cables, here is a quick, simple explanation.

The instrument cable itself becomes a capacitor (similar to your tone knob on your guitar or bass). To address this, we have our Oxygen Free Bare Copper (OFBC) low capacitance cable milled here in the United States to preserve those high-end frequencies. Additionally, I'm not too fond of cables that tend to be noisy due to poor shielding or, worse, cease to work due to the shielding being weak or easily broken. The cables we use have a strong, heavily braided copper shielding with 95% coverage. These features make the cable super heavy-duty and quiet! Finally, I wanted solid and quality plugs; Neutrik Pro Grade plugs ended up being the winners. The plugs are of excellent quality, and their cable clamp system adds more protection for the cables by securing the solder connections. All of these pieces are what ended up creating Rattlesnake Cables today. When I plugged in my prototype, I was immediately blown away by the clarity and the punch of the signal! I used a protective weaving to help prevent cable binding, and I had something I was pleased with - a top-notch boutique instrument cable! Something that I felt was the best guitar cable for me.

Initially, I assembled the cable for myself. Still, as soon as other musical friends of mine started seeing, hearing, and feeling the cables, the requests started coming in for custom guitar cables, and the company was born. The response has been fantastic, and seeing these cables on stage with working musicians is very special for me!

Rattlesnake Cable Company is based in beautiful Missoula, Montana, where I'm proud to call my home. What started with a simple idea has grown into a family business where my wife and my kids have become involved with the operations (we now have a growing team of outstanding individuals). Each cable is assembled and tested throughout the process and is made "to order."

We look forward to building your cable!