Some of the wires connecting the pots of my bass have stopped working, and I was wondering what kind of wire I should replace them with. Will any 22 gauge wire work, or will I need unique wires for hot and ground? Thanks.
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What wires?
- Thread starter The_Phoenician
- Start date
Any 22 gauge wire will work, preferably stranded. Many people like the wire with a cloth covering for use on vintage style pickups and vintage instruments, but any 22 ga. hookup wire will work just fine. Using separate black and white wires to keep polarity straight will help, but it's not necessary.
Some people like shielded wire and some like unshielded. Go with whatever the bass was wired with.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Stranded wire is made up of many strands of thin wire. Solid wire is made up of a single, solid strand.
People don't usually use solid wire in basses, because at the range of appropriate gauges, it will either be brittle, or inflexible.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
I understand the difference in the makeup of the wires, just did not know why using stranded was preferable. Thanks.
Since basses get bounced around quite a bit, the added flexibility of stranded wire means it will flop around while the bass is moving. Solid wire, which is much less flexible, will stress the solder joints more as the bass is moved. Think of the flexibility of stranded wire as a built-in shock absorber for your solder joints. As an added bonus, stranded wire is a little easier to tin and solder.
