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Post by JFrankParnell on May 27, 2010 13:19:09 GMT -5
While pondering my wire scheme, i realized i was going to need a lot of wire, and lots of colors would help keep me sane. Or at least help keep me from going more insaner. Out in the junk pile, I found an old parallel printer cable that contained 25 individual 24awg stranded wires, 6ft. long, all colors of the rainbow! You can get these at the thrift store for prolly nothin', if your junk pile is missing one This should be good wire to use in a guitar, eh?
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Post by cynical1 on May 27, 2010 14:03:23 GMT -5
I've been gutting old VGA cables...you can even salvage the shielding on some models...
HTC1
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Post by sydsbluesky on May 27, 2010 14:15:20 GMT -5
Whenever I rewire someone else guitar I do it in all red.
Job security.
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Post by newey on May 27, 2010 15:30:11 GMT -5
I've been cannibalizing car stereo hook-up cables. However, with used wire, I always check for continuity of each piece I cut before using it. With thin 24 gauge wire, a little crimp or cut you don't notice can give you a large headache later.
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Post by ashcatlt on May 27, 2010 17:18:04 GMT -5
I've wired 4 guitars with the wire from inside a 6' long MIDI cable. Only 5 colors means I sometimes have to be a little creative in my coding conventions, but it works great. I think I've got enough wire there for at least one or two more projects.
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Post by JFrankParnell on Mar 31, 2011 11:49:17 GMT -5
say, what is the thinnest wire you can use inside a guitar? I mentioned that 24g above, but I had another cable that had 28g I think.
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Post by ashcatlt on Apr 1, 2011 13:45:11 GMT -5
The wire will get impractically small before it becomes detrimental to tone. The wires I pulled out of that midi cable are pretty darn small, though I don't know guage. Seems like there's only maybe six or seven individual strands of wire, so they are prone to breakage. I haven't yet had anything break loose once buttoned up in the guitar, but if I get in there and start wiggling stuff around the wires start getting shorter and shorter.
Somebody around here uses the tiny little solid wires out of telephone cables, which are probably mostly in the same legacy class as those printer cables nowadays.
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Post by sumgai on Apr 1, 2011 18:02:07 GMT -5
^^^ That would be me. Most "legacy" telephone wire is 24 AWG. Pretty durn small. My one MIDI cable that I took apart (phantom power project for my Behringer FCB-1010) had what looked like 22ga wire - pretty sturdy, considering. ash is correct, you could do more harm than good, trying to manipulate 28ga. stuff in a cavity where things can get tight in a hurry. And it's real easy to burn the insulation, even with a low-wattage iron - ask me how I know. Printer cable, video cable, MIDI cable, telephone wire, bell wire, it's all the same. Stranded is better than solid from the viewpoint of being able to bend the stuff into the desired location. OTOH, solid tends to stay put, once located. It's a personal choice, but I tend to go with whatever is laying under my toolbench.... in my case, solid. But that's no slam on stranded - use what you got! HTH sumgai
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Post by JohnH on Apr 1, 2011 18:38:03 GMT -5
I also find old printer cable to be highly useful (and highly non useful for any recent printers). You get 9 or more different wire colours, and it is within a screened outer covering. I particularly found it good for making a single 'umbilical cord' to go from the main control cavity, to my active circuit module in the trem cavity. Also for laying up the cable rout on LP's, between control and switch cavities.
John
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Post by ashcatlt on Apr 1, 2011 19:00:59 GMT -5
Ooo! A long (!) time ago I lucked into a 100' long 25 pin cable of some sort. Hacked off the ends, got a big old metal project box somewhere (maybe Radio Shaft?), a bunch of jacks and plugs and had a mic snake for considerably less than I'd have spent on a "real" one. Lasted for years. No idea where that went.
Nowadays I'm using 22g "intercom" wire from RS. It's solid, and I like it so far much better. It goes into the breadboards much easier, and (as sg said) stays where you put it. I've also recently figured out why everybody's always talking about "tinning" wire and component leads. So much easier!
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Post by sumgai on Apr 2, 2011 0:28:49 GMT -5
For the unadulterated uninitiated.... To tin a wire is to strip back some insulation from the end, apply the already hot iron to it, apply just enough solder to melt into a thin coating, and then remove the iron (and the solder, eh?). That puts just enough "tin" on it to carry the heat from the soldering iron, as you apply heat to both the wire and the other object (another wire, a terminal on a switch or pot, a large chunk of metal such as the back of a pot, you know what I mean). In turn, this means that you need to apply heat for less time, because the heat travels more easily to where it's needed. I suggest that one should also do this to the back of a pot, before cinching down the wires meant to be "grounded" to said pot's shell.
Remember, it's the small things like this that separate the Mod Gods from the Rookie Solder Flingers! ;D
HTH
sumgai
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Apr 2, 2011 11:09:29 GMT -5
i've rewired all of my guitars with cheap color coded phone wires from radio shack this wire is really thin. not sure as to what guage the wires i used were whats left of my spool is in a storage room 3 counties, 5 towns, and an hour and 1/2 away. i'll be making a trip there pretty soon to pickup my spare parts and solder gear and i'll check it then.
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Post by Yew on Apr 5, 2011 15:02:10 GMT -5
Remember, it's the small things like this that separate the Mod Gods from the Rookie Solder Flingers! ;D What about the master fwippers? My tip would be solder to the side of the pot, not the big factory blob
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