Tequila Versus Cable Clutter

...and the winner is...Tequila!!

by Craig Anderton

Cables are a hassle to organize. There’s the “use coil ties and coil them up neatly” approach, which is good for storing them but then you have to uncoil them and take off the ties whenever you want to use them. Of course, there’s also the “throw into a drawer and worry about de-tangling them later” protocol, but then you have to deal with he detangling part. Those who are super-neat have the cable wall hangers, which unfortunately take up space and cost actual money.

Well, I have a cheapo and effective solution for cable clutter. After a serious drinking binge one night in Jalisco, and waking up with the phone number of someone named “Patricia” written on my hand with a Sharpie, I had the answer! (Okay, I’m kidding...but this is a freakin’ article about the ultra-dull topic of cable clutter, so I had to get your attention somehow.)

Anyway, liquor stores throw out the cartons that hold bottles, and they’re more than happy for you to take them away. These cartons have dividers to keep the bottles from smashing into each other during transit, but they have other talents too. As it turns out, Patron’s boxes for their 200 milliliter Patron Silver Tequila bottles are perfect for storing small cables, like USB and FireWire. The corrugated cardboard dividers are thicker than most liquor boxes, and you have 12 little compartments for your cables.

You don’t need to coil a cable up with the end-over-coil technique to keep it from unravelling; once in the compartment, it won’t come undone. You can even place the cable so you can see the connectors, making it easy to pick the proper cable, and the dividers even sort of "auto-adapt" if some cables take up more space than others. Some compartments are big enough to fit two cables (although they should be of the same type so you don’t have to take them out to find the right one).

Wine boxes are good for bigger cables, and you can generally store the box horizontally or vertically on a shelf. Even better they’re free, you get to feel good about recycling something, the liquor store owner will be happy to give you more, and your cables will no longer be cluttered. What’s not to like?

  Craig Anderton is Editor Emeritus of Harmony Central. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.