Help needed, soldering material question

[mrfixitmi]

@radd

No need to apologize, this is a legit modification.

I have used silver jewelry wire stolen from my wife's craft cabinet.

She said that she bought it from Michael's.

That said, I would suggest using a professional Weller 220 watt soldering gun. The reason is that it heats up so fast, you don't have to worry about having too much heat damage in the pots. It heats up locally and in a matter of seconds you are done, and won't have to worry about a cold soldering joint.

 

[Pennylanestudio]

Flexible is best 0.5mm is good but if you really want solid try 1.0mm
copper ( conduit wire) readily available from any electrical merchant or your local sparky. Copper is the best conductor for this type of thing. Make sure you tin everything with the solder first.
Good luck.

 

[Bertotti]

I was an aviation electronics tech in the Navy, military aircraft vibrate like nothng else and that had a big effect on everything I did. Good solder joints broke, circuit boards cracked, components failed if there was any stress on them.

I always use short flexible jumpers even between the switch lugs, bent into a U shape, to allow some movement. Totally unnecessary, just the way I learned to do things.

This could read just like mine except on Marines Corps aircraft and the Blue Angels birds. My base, El Toro was the West Coast facility for them at the I level electronics.

@radd for the guitar you have no advantage using stranded Bs solid wire other than how easy it is to manipulate. You could grab a piece of house solid wiring and jam it in there and it will work the same. I am guessing your not bouncing your guitars around or creating any weird vibrations that are resonating with your wiring leading to cracks. Use what you have. Be neat tin the ends first solid or stranded and you shouldn’t have any issues. If you want to go full on anal use shielded or not. I have wired many all sorts of ways with no issues. 18-20 gage would be fine. I prefer bigger. I have seen smaller in a guitar but didn’t like.

 

[hcsterg]

Another example of solid copper wire wiring (2.5mm2) - ideally suitable for such kind of circuit - the modded crossovers of my Magnepan SMGb :





Conversely, on those other X-overs (for a 3-way DIY monitor speaker) it was easier and neatier to use flexible 2.5mm2 electrical cabinet wiring wire :



In fact, use what you feel is the most practical, most compact, most direct for your wiring, in order to built a suitably simple and neat circuit...

OK, this is unfortunately not always fully possible !

How many guitar harness I repaired or rewired for my Luthier pals in trouble, just because these had been poorly factory built - or amateurly modded ? Crammed extra-lenght of wires going here and there like an Ariadne's thread, unshielded "Oh-That-Vintage-Correct-Cotton" cables, average to nonexistent groundings, "candle-done" solders...

"Perfection is not of this world", they say...

A+!