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wire type and gauge

#22
Alright, got some radio shack 22 gauge stranded wire. This was my first time doing this so when I got done and it worked I was stoked.

I may have a problem though. The '57 pickup has raised pole peices on the A string. When I play the d string my finger sometimes will hit the raised pole peice and make a thunk noise. I dont remember this being the case before I put the pickup back in.

There is also some noise coming just from one of the raised pole peices if I touch it. What you think? Bad ground connection? There is another black ground wire on the pot I soldered the lead from the pickup to. I did not try to solder the wires together. I just soldered the lead next to it on the pot. Mistake?
 
#24
One Q and one A here...

Q: Why stranded over solid? I was always taught that solid would have lower impedance, though in the case of PU wiring I doubt there is anywhere near enough power being transmitted to justify mandating solid.

A: Regarding splices. You absolutely lose when you splice, though if it's a soldered splice you'll lose a lot less. A wire nut or butt splice will lose 3db per connection, which is roughly half. This is why the cable installers are usually told to use the longest cables they can and keep the connectors to a minimum.

However if you put just a smidge of solder on a twisted splice (about the same amount as you'd use to "tin" an iron's tip) before adding the nut or shrink wrap the loss should be unnoticeable.
 
#26
As far as touching the raised pole piece, I've used black electrical tape or a drop of clear fingernail polish. You want to isnluate the metal from your finger.
Many times you can get past this with allowing your technique to readjust.
Just went from a Stingray back to a Jazz and now had to relearn playing harder on the weak C#.
 
#27
walterw said:
not for fender-type pickups.

get some straight-up single-conductor cloth wire from allparts, you can attach it to the ends of the old stuff, or (if you're careful and brave) you can remove the lead from the bobbin and attach a whole new length of wire.

the braided-shield stuff is for traditional gibson pickups.
Click to expand...

Why cloth insulated? Its no better, and its a pain in the rear to strip back.
 
#28
NCD said:
One Q and one A here...

Q: Why stranded over solid? I was always taught that solid would have lower impedance, though in the case of PU wiring I doubt there is anywhere near enough power being transmitted to justify mandating solid.

A: Regarding splices. You absolutely lose when you splice, though if it's a soldered splice you'll lose a lot less. A wire nut or butt splice will lose 3db per connection, which is roughly half. This is why the cable installers are usually told to use the longest cables they can and keep the connectors to a minimum.

However if you put just a smidge of solder on a twisted splice (about the same amount as you'd use to "tin" an iron's tip) before adding the nut or shrink wrap the loss should be unnoticeable.
Click to expand...

Stranded wire is more flexible so it is less prone to breaking than solid core wire. Neither is more resistant than the other.

Concerning splices, some how I doubt that a wire nut will make you loose that much signal. I have spliced wires at work where proper impedance is pretty critical.
 
#29
I did resolder the ground.......no dice. Oh well, I'll just adjust my playing. I just dont rember this being a problem the first time I had this pickup in which made me think it was something I did. I could get the cover for the pickups and than I could'nt play over them.

It still may turn out to be something I did but everything seems to be in the right spots and the pickup sounds killer. It just is noisey on that one pole peice when I touch it.
 
#31
NCD said:
Regarding splices. You absolutely lose when you splice, though if it's a soldered splice you'll lose a lot less. A wire nut or butt splice will lose 3db per connection, which is roughly half.
Click to expand...
maybe for RF stuff or cable TV or whatever, but that's not remotely true for music gear.
 
#34
walterw said:
no difference sound-wise, but it looks "traditional",and it's effortless to strip back; snip it, then push back the insulation to reveal the wire.
Click to expand...

You push it back but it doesn't stay back, and why does it matter what it looks like. Its also thicker which means less room in your control cavity, which doesn't seem like a big deal until you are dealing with an jazz bass cavity with a pre amp.

I think the only reason people still use cloth insulated wire is for some reason they still want to do things the way they were done 50 years ago and they fear change.
 
#35
NCD said:
A: Regarding splices. You absolutely lose when you splice, though if it's a soldered splice you'll lose a lot less. A wire nut or butt splice will lose 3db per connection, which is roughly half. This is why the cable installers are usually told to use the longest cables they can and keep the connectors to a minimum.
Click to expand...

This is not the case with high impedance guitar circuits. If you lost signal with soldered connections than think about what your signal goes through to get to your speakers.
 
#36
Hopkins said:
I think the only reason people still use cloth insulated wire is for some reason they still want to do things the way they were done 50 years ago and they fear change.
Click to expand...

That and players get bent out of shape over this stuff. I had a guy who wanted me to make him a set of standard Jazz pickups. Then he said he wanted them on gray fiber bobbins and not black. I asked him how many times did he plan on looking at the pickups before he installed them?

All this vintage stuff has no importance at all, but people get hung up on it. Maybe it's insecurity?
 

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