New to Wiring. Help!

[Andro123]

Hi all, I'm new to wiring and will be wiring an SSS Strat. I have a few questions.

1. Does anyone have any good tutorials

2. do I need to buy any other wires other than those that come out of the pickups? If so, What kind and gauge.

3. I'm using copper tape for the inside cavities. Are there any extra steps to this? I understand that it has to be grounded.

Thanks in advanced!!!

[curtisa]

If all you want to do is wire up the pickups in Strat formation and make it work there a dozens of websites that will show you diagrams of what to connect where. Understanding what makes each component tick is more involved but not insurmountable if you're happy to sit down and study some literature. Stewmac has some basic primers and wiring diagrams to look at, as does Seymour Duncan.

Extra wire is handy to have - single core and single core/shielded. Tone voodoo-ists will probably stipulate a minimum gauge and type. I prefer "whatever is small enough to fit where I need it", "nothing too small that I can't get my fat fingers to work with it" and "nothing that feels like it will snap if I bend it more than a couple of times". 20 - 18 gauge stranded conductor is probably fine, or 0.5mm - 0.8 sq mm for us metric folk. I've managed to amass a reasonable stockpile of wire from ratting an old retirement-home style organ. Suitable wire can be had for free if you know where to look.

Shielding (if fitted) will need to be earthed to be effective. Ensure any adjacent pieces of copper foil tape overlap each other to maintain a continuous barrier around the circuitry you are trying to protect. Small holes in the shielding will likely have minimal impact. Whole pieces of copper tape that are islanded from each other will not be much use. A single wire run from the copper tape to a ground point in the guitar is then all that is required to make it work.