Soldering/Guitar Electronics question.

Ocifer

New member
What kind of wire should I be using? Is there is a specific gauge or composition that I should be using in the cavity of my Strat?

Please recommend the type you guys have had success with before.
 
Re: Soldering/Guitar Electronics question.

Just about anything will do. I tend to use the solid core 18 guage stuff you can get in small rolls from Radio Shack. It all works IMHO. I wouldn't go too big with the wire guage because it gets tough to solder if it's too thick and it's generally a pain to work with.
 
Re: Soldering/Guitar Electronics question.

Just about anything will do. I tend to use the solid core 18 guage stuff you can get in small rolls from Radio Shack. It all works IMHO. I wouldn't go too big with the wire guage because it gets tough to solder if it's too thick and it's generally a pain to work with.

Thanks. I just wanted to clarify, I meant the actual wires I'll be running from pickup to pot, pot to ground. I'm all set for the actual solder.
 
Re: Soldering/Guitar Electronics question.

I generally like the kind of cloth insulated wire that's sold by the guitar parts suppliers. I don't recall what gauge it is. But he stuff I got from Stewmac in stranded wire that's tinned.

I got 2 large spools of the stuff (2 colors) a few years ago, and I never run out. But you can buy it by the foot at a lot of places.

The nice thing about the cloth insulated wire is that you just push back the insulation. You never have to strip. The plastic type of insulation is too easy to melt, and that tends to compromise your solder joint.

I think Teflon insulated wire would look a lot slicker. I just haven't gotten hold of any for guitars yet.
 
Re: Soldering/Guitar Electronics question.

I use 7/0.2, which I think translates to 24 AWG, with heat resistant plastic insulation.

The cloth stuff sounds intruiging though - I'm a fairly neat solderer and don't have much of a problem with melting the insulation but even so that does sound nifty. Probably looks cool too, which is obviously critical. ;)
 
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