Installing lead wires: How critical is wire gauge?

[shawnl]

In some of the tests I've been doing, I've been using whatever I had laying around as lead wire. In this case, basic radio shack 20 gauge wire ended up on a lot of my pickup prototypes. I now have a final refined humbucker I'm going to use on my next bass. For the sake of doing it right and refined, I bought 28 gauge 4 conductor lead wire to use as the final solution. However, I don't feel settled about it. The wire seems so much more thin and brittle at this gauge, and I'm worried it will have the tendency to break off at the solder joints if I'm not careful (I'm using eyelets rather the internal splice method.) The 20 gauge radio shack wire definitely has more strength at the solder joints but now seems a bit balky in comparison. I still feel better about using the thicker gauge wire but would rather use what is considered proper. Tonally speaking, when I did test the pickups with the 20 gauge lead wire nothing seemed amiss, but I'm wondering if using the thicker gauge lets more of the treble get through.

What are your experiences? Should I be worried about using this thicker gauge?

[Mike Sulzer]

Wire size does not affect the frequency response in this kind of circuit.

Tonally speaking, when I did test the pickups with the 20 gauge lead wire nothing seemed amiss, but I'm wondering if using the thicker gauge lets more of the treble get through.

[Peter Naglitsch]

As Mike said. Think about it: How long are your lead wire? And how long are the magnet wire inside the pickup? And how long are the cable between the guitar/bass and the amp/pedal/preamp? A foot of two of thinner lead wire will not affect the tone.

[David King]

Try a thinner wire with more strands. When you look at stranded wire listings it will give the gauge and then the number of strands along with the gauge of each strand. For example 24awg 7/30 or 24awg 19/36. More strands = more tolerance of bending back and forth before breaking. Seven strands is the most common and cheapest, you can also find 10 strand or better yet 19 strand wire. All the wire I use is mil-spec, 19 strand with teflon insulation and silver plated conductors. It's really nice to work with and makes soldering MUCH easier and more reliable. You do need a sharp, high quality stripping tool to get the teflon off.
For 4 conductor I use 26awg shielded but that only comes with 7 strand leads. I get most of this from surplus off ebay where you'll pay about 1/4 of the normal price or less. Search for "teflon awg" and the wire gauge you want. Most guitars come with 22 or 24awg. The 20 is mostly used in amps I think.

[David Schwab]

I use 26 gauge lead wires. I will be moving to 28 as soon as my wire runs out. Then the pickups go to 28 gauge 4-conductor cable.

[shawnl]

I have to say, I'm gonna need to practice soldering with smaller gauge wire or perhaps use smaller eyelets. The other issue I'm having is that the diameter of the 28 gauge wire doesn't fill the space inside the eyelets i've been using. My fear is that there won't be good contact and the wire will be suspended inside a blob of solder. I thought perhaps I could take a snippet of of thicker gauge wire and splice onto that which would then solder into the eyelet and fill in the diameter of the eyelet.

[kayakerca]

I have to say, I'm gonna need to practice soldering with smaller gauge wire or perhaps use smaller eyelets. The other issue I'm having is that the diameter of the 28 gauge wire doesn't fill the space inside the eyelets i've been using. My fear is that there won't be good contact and the wire will be suspended inside a blob of solder. I thought perhaps I could take a snippet of of thicker gauge wire and splice onto that which would then solder into the eyelet and fill in the diameter of the eyelet.

I pre-tin the entire eyelet opening to completely fill it up and pre-tin the lead. then you just hold the lead on the underside of the eyelet and heat the top side. When the solder melts, the lead pops through and your done. Nice and clean. Full coverage of the eyelet opening.

Well, that's how this newbie does it anyway. . .

[David King]

Learning to solder is the key element here. You can never expect a friction fit to replace the complete melding of the metals in a proper solder joint. You can certainly get smaller eyelets but then you'll spend more time threading the magnet wire through 3-5 times. The main issue with magnet wire is either getting the insulation off so that it will solder nicely or applying enough heat to the SPN/soderon insulation to get it to burn off. 775-800º works every time, 700º doesn't quite cut it.

[David Schwab]

I have to say, I'm gonna need to practice soldering with smaller gauge wire or perhaps use smaller eyelets. The other issue I'm having is that the diameter of the 28 gauge wire doesn't fill the space inside the eyelets i've been using. My fear is that there won't be good contact and the wire will be suspended inside a blob of solder. I thought perhaps I could take a snippet of of thicker gauge wire and splice onto that which would then solder into the eyelet and fill in the diameter of the eyelet.

Here's what I do with Fender style pickups. When I start winding, I wrap the start of the magnet wire though one of the eyelets a bunch of times (maybe like 10) and then give it a few wraps around the magnets, and then mount it on the winder. When I'm done winding, I wrap the finish of the coil in the other eyelet, and then I solder them with no lead wires. Then I check the coil on my meter to make sure I heated the eyelets long enough. Then I drop thew bobbin in the wax for 10 minutes.

After it's cool, I solder the leads to the eyelets. because the eyelets are already full of solder, I just poke the tinned end of the wire in and heat the joint, and hold it until it's cool.

It's very simple, and actually less work than with my other pickups, where I solder leads to the magnet wire.

[shawnl]

David S, that's exactly how I've been doing it too. I just haven't been so good at getting thinner wire to push through while the solder is still molten.

So I've been practicing a bit and think I've got it. The trick definitely seems to be in getting the lead wires sufficiently pre-tinned also not drinking so much coffee before hand. The pre-tinning seems to add some rigidity to the exposed parts of the wires exiting the eyelets. In addition, I've worked out a kind of partial base plate for my soap bar humbuckers that has a hole drilled at the edge. The 4 conducted wire feeds up through this hole before the plate gets mounted to the pickups. It's nice and snug and all bending and stress occurs at this point rather than where the lead wires are mounted.

I like how organized the 4 conductor wire keeps things and think I'm going to use it from now on.

[David Schwab]

David S, that's exactly how I've been doing it too. I just haven't been so good at getting thinner wire to push through while the solder is still molten.

Hold the iron on the eyelet. When the solder melts then stick the wire in, and then remove the iron. Then hold the wire very still while the solder cools. You wont hurt anything getting it good and hot.

[big_teee]

Hold the iron on the eyelet. When the solder melts then stick the wire in, and then remove the iron. Then hold the wire very still while the solder cools. You wont hurt anything getting it good and hot.

+1.

[David King]

I do not insert my lead wire into the eyelet but rather lay it flat across the top of the eyelet. I don't want to disturb the magnet wire or risk it getting dislodged or broken later on if someone else changes out the leads. I think you are less likely to get a cold joint doing it that way provided you can keep the wires still. That takes practice and yes, less coffee helps too.

[David Schwab]

I do not insert my lead wire into the eyelet but rather lay it flat across the top of the eyelet. I don't want to disturb the magnet wire or risk it getting dislodged or broken later on if someone else changes out the leads. I think you are less likely to get a cold joint doing it that way provided you can keep the wires still. That takes practice and yes, less coffee helps too.

The magnet wire is wrapped around one side, leaving the entire middle of the eyelet open. They don't even tough each other.

I think you have a better chance at a cold joint with the wire laying on the eyelet. When it passes through, it has a nice amount of solder on all sides to hold it, not just one side. Before I add the lead, the entire eyelet is filled with solder.

[shawnl]

I considered soldering the lead to the top of the eyelet, I just thought it wouldn't be as strong of a joint. Whereas, soldering up through the eyelet would seem to provide more surface area to bind to. The issue of course is just making sure the lead wire gets pushed against the side of the eyelet. However, I tried a sort of hybrid approach where I stripped the lead a bit longer what was needed, tinned it up and then soldered it through the bottom of the eyelet. Then I took whatever excess poked through the top and bent that over top of the eyelet and retouched the solder joint.