Proper Wire, (solid Or Stranded) And. Gauge For Electronics

[Drliebs]

What is the proper wire gauge to ise for wiring up a guitar? Nothing fancy, passive humbuckers and single coils.

Is there a reason to use stranded vs solid wire?

I learned soldering from my dad who learned repairing tvs. I was told to make sure i had a good physical connection before soldering and have always wraped and twisted my wires around the soldering contacts. I have never had one come loose. But man, what a pain to remove! I have cooked a few pots trying to remove wires secured this way. So now another question: how do the pros do it? I sure have been tempted to just stick the wire in the hole and drop a bit of solder on it....

[Ripthorn]

Typically 24 awg wire is used. And stranded is really the way to go. I have used some solid core, but don't recommend it for general jobs. The reason is because too many bends and solid core wire will break, which requires tearing it out and putting in a new piece. Stranded doesn't really do that (it's very rare).

[dpm99]

What Ripthorn says is the conventional thinking. I keep 28+ gauge solid core around for really tiny solder terminals, like the ones on push-pull pots, but stranded is the way to go. What you say about mechanical connections is key here too. Also, grounding to the back of pots isn't the best way to do it. If you work at Gibson, and that's all you do all day, fine. But it's really easy to fry a pot that way. I like using solder lugs, like the ones here:

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bass_elec.htm

[westhemann]

Yeah,solid core tends to work itself loose over time due to expansion and contraction or something.It isn't flexible enough.