All good advices.
About buying GOOD cables.
Not only do they last much longer but there's much better signal coming tru!
(As I did not believe my ears I messured the difference with a multy meter and there was a difference of 20%)

I used to make my own as well, but a couple of years back I bought spectraflex cables (are simular as the monster cables) and never had a problem since.
And I am not carefull at all with cables.
I also use these for guitar and stand on them quite a lot.

It's worth the investment!

Fred