Cagey: new questions...sort of.

[Mnemoflame]

You might also want to consider some tinned bus wire while you're at it.

It makes it a lot easier to tie the shield of the cable to ground. You just put a wrap on the outer shield of the cable and solder it in place, then you have a nice, thin, manageable piece of wire to tie to whatever you want to tie it to. Keeps you from having to unravel the braid and re-twist it into a wire to get something to solder to a connection.

A quarter-pound roll will last you about 148 lifetimes if all you do is wire guitars. But, it's only $8, and the convenience is worth a helluva lot more than that.

I like your thinking.  I read a guide that proposed used something like a paper clip or a dentist's pick to create a hole in the braid and pull the insulated conductor through but that seemed tedious and like to damage the conductor or its insulation.  The bus wire is a much more elegant solution and neater.

I got a very small amount of a braided shield cable from Warmoth and it appears to have some kind of coating on it; what is that and is it insulating?  Does all braided shield cable have it?  I was looking at Stewmac and they offer both the sort of cable I got from Warmoth and some 26 gauge stuff that resembles TV coax (has a black outer insulation over the shield; is there any benefit to getting the latter item or is the aforementioned coating enough to prevent shorts/loops/whathaveyou from unintentional contacts?

Can you recommend/link a good wire stripper for those tiny gauges?  The one I have only goes to 22 and that's not sufficient for pickup wires...

 

[Cagey]

I can't imagine fishing the center conductor out through a hole in the braid. Sounds like an idea from somebody just pulled out of their ass for conversation's sake after too many beers. Even if you could do it, the chances of a spurious short would be high.

The shielded wire from Warmoth is indeed insulated with a clear sheath. I don't like it because you can't solder to it without a lot of trouble. Last guitar I did, the guy sent a package of that and I ended up using my own cable instead. Partly because of that, and partly because Warmoth isn't very generous with their wire lengths. Not all shielded cable has it, but that's not saying much. There are probably thousands of varieties of the stuff. Wire and cable construction is all over the board.

I have some of the cable StewMac sells, but it mostly sits there for emergency use because of the outer sheath. Makes it tough to solder to it without removing a bunch of the insulation anyway, and anytime you strip wire you risk nicking it and weakening it so it might break early. Besides, my wiring cavities are never so packed in that I have shorting concerns. Where the risk exists, I simply add some heat shrinkable insulated tubing to the naked braided cable at the point where it looks like protection might be a good idea.

Stripping fine wire is always tough. There's two ways you can do it. One requires a finer touch and a sharp stripper similar to what you probably already have, like these?

Those are available here for $10, and go to 26ga., but even that isn't always fine enough. What you can do, though, if they're new and sharp, is hold the stripper at an angle to the wire and sorta "pare" it.

Another trick that works with varying success depending on the insulation used is to just burn it with a butane lighter, then use your fingernails to scrape off the carbon residue. Try that on some scrap of the same wire you intend to leave in place before you commit to the idea, though. It doesn't always work, and it may make it difficult to solder. On the plus side, it doesn't hurt the wire, so you end up with more than one or two hairs to work with.

 

[Mnemoflame]

I can't imagine fishing the center conductor out through a hole in the braid. Sounds like an idea from somebody just pulled out of their ass for conversation's sake after too many beers. Even if you could do it, the chances of a spurious short would be high.

The shielded wire from Warmoth is indeed insulated with a clear sheath. I don't like it because you can't solder to it without a lot of trouble. Last guitar I did, the guy sent a package of that and I ended up using my own cable instead. Partly because of that, and partly because Warmoth isn't very generous with their wire lengths. Not all shielded cable has it, but that's not saying much. There are probably thousands of varieties of the stuff. Wire and cable construction is all over the board.

I have some of the cable StewMac sells, but it mostly sits there for emergency use because of the outer sheath. Makes it tough to solder to it without removing a bunch of the insulation anyway, and anytime you strip wire you risk nicking it and weakening it so it might break early. Besides, my wiring cavities are never so packed in that I have shorting concerns. Where the risk exists, I simply add some heat shrinkable insulated tubing to the naked braided cable at the point where it looks like protection might be a good idea.

Stripping fine wire is always tough. There's two ways you can do it. One requires a finer touch and a sharp stripper similar to what you probably already have, like these?

Those are available here for $10, and go to 26ga., but even that isn't always fine enough. What you can do, though, if they're new and sharp, is hold the stripper at an angle to the wire and sorta "pare" it.

Another trick that works with varying success depending on the insulation used is to just burn it with a butane lighter, then use your fingernails to scrape off the carbon residue. Try that on some scrap of the same wire you intend to leave in place before you commit to the idea, though. It doesn't always work, and it may make it difficult to solder. On the plus side, it doesn't hurt the wire, so you end up with more than one or two hairs to work with.

Thanks for the info.  I'm going to hold off on deciding on the black-rubber cable vs. the other sort for the moment; I know there are some really handy coaxial cable strippers but I'm not sure they go that small.  I would tend to prefer the black-rubber insulation but, if there isn't a suitable coax stripper for that gauge cable, it'd be too much extra work.

 

[Cagey]

Most coax strippers are for RG-59/62, which is the wrong type of cable and substantially larger than what you'd ever use in a guitar.

 

[Mnemoflame]

Would this one or this one work for this cable?

 

[Cagey]

From what they say, the first one should do it at its smallest setting, but I'm skeptical. Plus, $109? Really? You'd have to strip one helluva lotta cable to justify something like that, and it doesn't look like it would last long enough to do it. I wonder if that's case pricing? Box of 24 units perhaps?

The second one won't do it at all, but even that plastic razor holder is $30.

You really don't need to get that crazy. If the strippers I pictured earlier up the thread have a 10ga. hole, you're all set to strip .1" coax sheathing, which is what the cable you picked has. If they don't, that same style stripper is available from Klein or Ideal that does have a hole that size, and they're very inexpensive. Worse comes to worse, take a razor and ride it around the jacket once or twice and just pull the insulation off. It's not that thick or strong. Not the best solution if you're going to make a career out of stripping wire, but for wiring up a guitar? It'd be fine.

 

[Mnemoflame]

From what they say, the first one should do it at its smallest setting, but I'm skeptical. Plus, $109? Really? You'd have to strip one helluva lotta cable to justify something like that, and it doesn't look like it would last long enough to do it. I wonder if that's case pricing? Box of 24 units perhaps?

The second one won't do it at all, but even that plastic razor holder is $30.

You really don't need to get that crazy. If the strippers I pictured earlier up the thread have a 10ga. hole, you're all set to strip .1" coax sheathing, which is what the cable you picked has. If they don't, that same style stripper is available from Klein or Ideal that does have a hole that size, and they're very inexpensive. Worse comes to worse, take a razor and ride it around the jacket once or twice and just pull the insulation off. It's not that thick or strong. Not the best solution if you're going to make a career out of stripping wire, but for wiring up a guitar? It'd be fine.

I did not notice that price...

I think you've got the right idea.  Ideal solution it is not but I think I can cope.  Add a little bit of heat shrink just to satisfy my ridiculous perfectionism and I think I can handle wiring my Strat (comes tomorrow, will post pix).

 

[Mnemoflame]

The new toy.