If I were to use 20 gauge wire instead of the recommended 24...

[jrem]

Wire has capacitance and skin effect, skin effect is greater in stranded vs solid, but none of that is going to matter in a stompbox, unless you're need bs like monster cables and circuit boards cladded with unobtainium.   

And, yes, there is major mojo in unobtainium, only available from www.jrem.com/basement_server.

[Paul Marossy]

Hmm... maybe that will be the next stompbox gimmick: "hand wired with 24 gage solid core cloth insulated silver wire". 

[BDuguay]

I'm showing my ignorance here, but does it make that much difference what wire you use in stompboxes?

I've never worried about it, but admittedly my work is generally pretty slapdash. I use shielded cable for some jack-to-board connections if the circuit is known to be noisy, but mostly don't bother. I can see it makes a v marginal difference, but for an inch or two max of wire in a shielded box, is it worth it, or is it a concern for the super perfectionists among us only?

S

"slapdash". That's cool
B.

[zachary vex]

i highly recommend the use of wire when wiring up stompboxes.  8^)

i've found very flexible insulation on 24 gauge stranded copper results in the most sturdy, easiest to route wire, and most likely to survive at the solder joints, where it often breaks due to flexing during construcion and repair.  after years of building (about 20,000-25,000 pedals) my assembler has become very very picky.  of course, some of my pedals have 25 wires running inside them for all of the control features and audio routing, so we need to save space as much as possible.

[Peter Snowberg]

i highly recommend the use of wire when wiring up stompboxes.  8^)

[MartyMart]

I'm not sure of the gauge of wire that I use, I think it's 16 !!
"Just" fit's through standard perf/veroboard holes .... with a push !!
It's twice as thick as a "Boss" gauge wire.
Kinda stiff, but you can shape it and it stays put
You could swing a 5 Kg weight around on it and it wouldn't break
22 is what's attached to all my 9v battery clips .... that breaks way too easily
for my liking, so I try to loop it through the board pre solder point.

MM.

[trumpus]

So any links to a source for silver wire??

Brian

[calpolyengineer]

Wire has capacitance and skin effect, skin effect is greater in stranded vs solid

Skin effect isn't a function of current or voltage, it is a function of frequency. Namely ultra-high frequency. Since the frequencies in auio circuits are nowhere near that, the skin effect is irrelevant. So solid core wire is perfectly allowed.

-Joe

[Jackie Treehorn]

I try to use 20 gauge Kimber TCSS wherever I possibly can, in pedals, guitars, amps, hifi interconnects, etc. etc.  Obviously it's sometimes too big for some pedals.  In those cases, I use the inner cores of either Mogami or Canare star quad mic cable.  I think the Mogami is 24 gauge and the Canare is 22.  It's pretty cost effective because for each foot of mic cable you get 4 feet of hook up wire and it's a real high quality wire.  Works for me!

[Ben N]

I like the heavier stuff for homebuilds, but for repair/mod on most commercial pedals, unless you want to drill out pad holes, 24 is the ticket (IMHO).
Ben

[BDuguay]

Wire?
Wire not?, I say.



sorry
B.

[Guitar Toad]

I'm not sure of the gauge of wire that I use, I think it's 16 !!
"Just" fit's through standard perf/veroboard holes .... with a push !!
It's twice as thick as a "Boss" gauge wire.
Kinda stiff, but you can shape it and it stays put
You could swing a 5 Kg weight around on it and it wouldn't break
22 is what's attached to all my 9v battery clips .... that breaks way too easily
for my liking, so I try to loop it through the board pre solder point.

MM.

You seriously use 16? Really. Wow.

Let's try to split hairs for a moment, if a schematic is specifically designed for 24 gauge wire and you choose to use 20 or 16, could/should any resistor/cap values be changed to retain the overall design-load on the circuit? Or shall we invoke the standard answer here...given the short lead lengths, the real effect on the circuit would be negligible to minimal, such as we don't need to worry even in a very strict tolerence of the circuit.

[Mark Hammer]

You pretty much answered the question.

[H S]

If you use stranded wire, it's worth paying the extra $10/foot to use the left-hand-wound stranded wire.  The power cords in your house all use right-hand-wound stranded wire.  The circularly polarized component of the RF interference that they generate won't be picked up by the left-hand-wound wire. 

[Guitar Toad]

You pretty much answered the question.

Thank you. I won't stress out any longer about using my 20 gauge RS wire. I can build with peace.
Thanks guys.

HS - that's a good one. Left handed wire. LOL

When I run out of 20, then I'll try to get some of that left-hand wound, cloth covered, shielded, silver 24 ga hook-up wire.