This paper studies the vibration characteristics and damping properties of a newly developed - fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) cable with a self-damping function using a model vibration experiment. To verify the self-damping effect of the designed FRP cable, the scaled model vibration test of the FRP cable was designed according to the real cables of the Su-tong Bridge. The damping properties of the FRP cable with self-damping were studied by exciting with small amplitude, middle amplitude and high amplitude respectively. The experimental results show that the model vibration test, designed based on similarity criteria, could effectively simulate the vibration characteristics of the real cable according to the experimental results of the natural frequencies. The properties of the energy dissipation of the self-damping FRP cable were superior to those of the FRP cable without self-damping based on the comparison of the model damping ratios. Furthermore, the modal damping ratios of the FRP cable with self-damping increase with the vibration amplitude of the cable, indicating that the designed FRP cable can efficiently dissipate vibration energy with respect to the vibration amplitude.