What gauge wire?

C

cryogenic419

New member
Need to replace a bad switch in one of my guitars...figured while I am in there I might as well tidy up the wiring. What gauge wire do you use for guitar electronics?

I've always used what was in there or recycled what was in there but the circuit is noisy and I'd just like to get it running in top shape.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

That doesn't look like the same stuff mate.
The stuff I use was recommended by Tyler Guitars, as it's the same they use.
Silver plated core, teflon coated.
It's only £1.30 per foot and that's all you need.
I got a foot of black and another of white and so far I've done 2 guitars with stuff to spare.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

22 or 24 gauge has worked well for me. I prefer cloth covered, as it is easier and quicker to work with. I get mine from Mojo by the foot. It's stranded and pre tinned.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

wolf5150 said:
That doesn't look like the same stuff mate.
The stuff I use was recommended by Tyler Guitars, as it's the same they use.
Silver plated core, teflon coated.
It's only £1.30 per foot and that's all you need.
I got a foot of black and another of white and so far I've done 2 guitars with stuff to spare.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's not the same stuff. What on earth do you need Teflon coating for, or silver plating? it just makes it more expensive. And yeah, so it's £1.30/metre (according to the auction), or the Maplin stuff is £2.69 For 10M. Which makes it 26.9p per metre. If you want to spend nearly 5 times as much money on your wire then of course that's fine, but don't try and pretend it's worth it.
 
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Re: What gauge wire?

Actually, I made a mistake, I use the 16x0.2mm wire from Maplin which is £2.99 for 10m. I last bought it in 2001 and I still have plenty left which is why it's a little cloudy I expect!
 
Re: What gauge wire?

The guy asked for wire, Tyler guitars recommended this suff as the best, so I posted it.
£3 for the best stuff to do your guitar, I don't think it's expensive.
If he wants to buy a 10m reel of cheap wire to do 1 guitar, that's up to him.
I'm not getting into a pis*ing contest over it with you pal.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

I've used that wire from Maplin - it sounds fine, but it's quite easy to melt the plastic insulation if you leave the soldering iron on it for too long. I guess that's where the cloth (or Teflon) coating might be useful.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

It's a good point that although it might be 29p per metre, you can't actually buy a metre of it. So the stuff that's £1.30 a metre is actually cheaper as long as you only want a metre of it.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

You guys in the UK really like to get upset over little things. Don't get your feelings hurt if someone else uses something other than what you use.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

well I use some old 20 gauge speaker wire thats attached to a now defunct stereo from the 80's

ethernet cable has eight conductors of 24 gauge solid wire
great for jumping switches and stuff

the wire coming from your pickup is 26 gauge

honestly, whatever is at hand will probably work just fine
 
Re: What gauge wire?

ehdwuld said:
well I use some old 20 gauge speaker wire thats attached to a now defunct stereo from the 80's

ethernet cable has eight conductors of 24 gauge solid wire
great for jumping switches and stuff

the wire coming from your pickup is 26 gauge

honestly, whatever is at hand will probably work just fine
Click to expand...

That's true. Use whatever is easiest to work with. That's one reason why I use the cloth push back wire. But it also looks so cool.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

I've been browsing around for a while now trying to work out who actually makes "Vintage Style Cloth Covered Wire w/Braided Shield", but it's turning out to be some sort of trade secret or something. For the life of me, I can't find anyone making anything more than 25' available at a time. I can't imagine SD or any other manufacturer buying such short pieces, so where do the they get it from? I would have thought it would be available on 50m or 100m rolls from somewhere. I'm curious to see what the cost/m on one of those is, because £1.30 for a meter just smacks of major ripoff.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

I have no doubt that the wire will be cheaper to the trade in large quantities.
From where I've no idea.
1ft of each colour was enough for me to do all my guitars with some left over so it's still great value in my view.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

Anything around 22 guage will work fine, as long as it's stranded. I just went to allparts and ordered whatever the cheapest stuff they had was. Once I misplaced what I had left, I just started cutting off and recycling lead wires from old pickups that I'm never going to use again. I very much doubt you'll be able to hear any difference at all in different wire types of similar guages.

And yeah, the cloth covered stuff is way easier to use. I wish I'd discovered that sooner.
 
Re: What gauge wire?

http://www.mojotone.com/guitar-parts/guitar-and-bass-wire-type

Mojo's wire selection.

The cloth covered wire is 60 cents per foot. I buy 10 feet at a time ($5.70), and it lasts a while. As someone was saying, though, there has to be a cheaper place to get the same stuff.

Just for ****s and giggles, I threw 60 cents into a currency converter and got 38 pence for a foot, or £1.25 for a meter.
 
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