What wire to use?

[suncrush]

I'm getting ready to build my first box. I used telephone wire on the breadboard because it works well, and I have about a mile of it. Is that a good choice for the final project, or would something else provide superior signal quality?

[bloxstompboxes]

It will be enough for the signal but it is not meant to move around much. If you plan on modding or shifting things around in the enclosure, solid core wire will break easily. 26 or 24 awg stranded wire is the most widely used I think.

[R.G.]

Is that a good choice for the final project, or would something else provide superior signal quality?

That is two questions, not one.

As BSB said, it's OK for quick applications or places where it doesn't get moved much, but it breaks a lot if it's repeatedly wiggled. The old Thomas Vox amps used what amounts to solid core POTS wire inside, and they're notorious for getting broken wires.

The second question is whether something else would provide superior signal quality. That has several answers, depending on which part of the elephant you're feeling, and what you mean by "signal quality".

Let's start with signal quality. In spite of the never-ending tub thumping by tweeko mod salesmen, wire doesn't have a whole lot to do with "signal quality" in audio. DO NOT listen to people who want to sell you oxygen free hookup wire, or cryogenically cured wire, nor anyone who says wire has a "direction". While it might be possible to barely detect some effect from conditions like this, (1) I strongly doubt whether a fair listening test would turn it up and (2) guitar audio is not very "high quality" to start with. Guitarists don't want the full 20-20KHz response in most cases, and they look for new versions of distortion as a good thing. So any effect is not necessarily real or detectable, and you don't much care in a guitar pedal anyway. IF you're looking for an advertising hook for your newly started pedal sales business, just copy the buzzwords you see from others.

So what do YOU mean by superior signal quality? Great taste? Less Filling? Able to leap small buildings?

I guess that not being broken, a wire would provide better signal quality than a broken wire, but that's a whole other discussion.

[suncrush]

Thank you!

[canman]

I just scored a bunch of Cat5 cable from my dad...100 feet of 4 24awg twisted pairs of wire...so what, 800 feet?  I've used it for a few builds, works just fine and I don't hear ANY difference in the solid core I was using before.

[blackieNYC]

I too have miles of cat5 lying around.  The stiffness of the wire is occasionally helpful in keeping things in place, but I've heard enough people recommend against it, so I'm looking elsewhere.  (It is,however, perfect breadboard wire, so I keep it around and solder some pots with it for breadboarding. Big fat 50 year old resistors and possibly adhesive from "taped" components ruined a very old breadboard.)
     I've found some good wire.  Mogami or Canare mic cable very flexible and is expensive- but- it's "quad core" so if you get 25 ft of cable you have 100 feet of the most flexible wire you're likely to find anywhere. Stranded. Bring a decent mic cable to the club next time, leave it there, and take home their Canare or Mogami.
     And it's expensive stuff, so you'll hear the difference immediately....

[suncrush]

I found a stash of 24 AWG in the why-haven't-we-thrown-this-away-yet closet at work. I'll use that.

[R.G.]

24 gauge stranded is my personal favorite.

[canman]

I too have miles of cat5 lying around.  The stiffness of the wire is occasionally helpful in keeping things in place, but I've heard enough people recommend against it, so I'm looking elsewhere.  (It is,however, perfect breadboard wire, so I keep it around and solder some pots with it for breadboarding. Big fat 50 year old resistors and possibly adhesive from "taped" components ruined a very old breadboard.)
     I've found some good wire.  Mogami or Canare mic cable very flexible and is expensive- but- it's "quad core" so if you get 25 ft of cable you have 100 feet of the most flexible wire you're likely to find anywhere. Stranded. Bring a decent mic cable to the club next time, leave it there, and take home their Canare or Mogami.
     And it's expensive stuff, so you'll hear the difference immediately....

Is your Cat5 solid core?  Mine is stranded 24awg and isn't all that stiff...maybe I have different stuff than you do?

[duck_arse]

I always say find an old printer or scsi cable. cut the plugs off, split the jacket. is that enough colours for you? the wire is fine for pedalling, I use it in mine.

and an old video monitor cable will have inside three colours of shielded wire, and four colours of a heavier guage, with something like ptfe insulation.

[PRR]

> Cat5 solid core?  Mine is stranded 24awg and isn't all that stiff...maybe I have different stuff than you do?

Solid wire is suitable for fixed (in-wall) use and is cheaper.

Stranded wire is suitable for patch cords and end-cords.

Both are available at the usual suppliers or in scrap-closets.

What you do inside a pedal depends on how you abuse your pedals' guts and what you can scrounge.

[Tony Forestiere]

Mine is stranded 24awg and isn't all that stiff...maybe I have different stuff than you do?

Strip it. Twist it. Try to see how the wire tins. If it takes solder well, use it. Score.

[Fp-www.Tonepad.com]

any wire you can find is good, really.
If using solid core it's very important to have a proper stripping technique to not nick it, which is why it will break.

The nicer wire will be tinned too, it's very common for bare copper wire to not want to take solder, so having tinned wire is worth it.

[amptramp]

I tend to have a few strands of stranded wire either disappear with wire stripping or not go through the holes or slots in pots, tube sockets etc, so unless the wire is going to move around after the unit is assembled, I prefer solid wire, but I have more stranded and when the occasion requires tight wire turns, stranded is preferred.

[garcho]

Bring a decent mic cable to the club next time, leave it there, and take home their Canare or Mogami.

you dirty scoundrel NYC bastard, you'll never play in Chicago!      seriously, tell me you don't steal someone else's labor and time just so you can scrap that fancy cable for your DIYSB wiring...  

having tinned wire is worth it

I love this stuff:
#22 and #24 pre-bond at Small Bear