Stupid question W shielded wire

[TBurst Std]

Ran out of my normal wires.  Ordered some from the W. Their shielded wire is much different than the braided shielded wire I have used.  The outer shield is much finer, and is insulated.

Have you used it? If so can you confirm that I should NOT be using the outer braid as a ground, say to the jack?  Doesn’t seem near sturdy enough.  Then again it is much thinner, so I can run 2 wires instead.

 

[stratamania]

I have not used this wire from Warmoth, but I would think either approach would work.

 

[mayfly]

I'm with him - haven't used it, but it's probably fine for signal and shield ground.  If you are extra worried about it, you can run a separate signal ground. But if so only connect the shield at one end.

 

[TBurst Std]

My plan was to use it for longer runs and ignore the shield (dare I say braid), running 1 center core for hot, and another center core for ground. Again the shield itself is insulated.

I don’t see the possibility of using the outer shield as ground.  It’s nothing like you find in an old Gibson, etc. 

 

[stratamania]

Try stripping the insulation and twisting the shield. It should work to be used as a ground. The Warmoth wire looks similar to some I recently used except the insulation is a different colour. If so it worked fine.

 

[TBurst Std]

Try stripping the insulation and twisting the shield. It should work to be used as a ground. The Warmoth wire looks similar to some I recently used except the insulation is a different colour. If so it worked fine.

Those wires are much finer as well as fewer than the braid I’ve worked with.  I feel higher confidence using 2 lead for each purpose. When I initially tried twisting them (gently), they just broke.

 

[Sadie-f]

If it's shield + 2 or 4 conductors, just use 2 for coil & ground and ground one end only of the shield.

 

[TBurst Std]

Picture this if you have used braided wire aka say 70s Gibson

That that outer braid and greatly reduce  the wire dia.  And it’s not truly braided. 
Not like the stuff I’ve used where you use a dental pick to loosen the braids to pull them apart.

It’s a MUCH finer wire in more of a weave or twist around the inner insulated conductor, then insulated again on the outside. 

I can’t stress enough how much finer the wires are and they are not braided in the conventional way.

I believe it is much more for shielding alone, rather than a true 1 wire, 2 conductor item.

 

[TBurst Std]

Take a look at the braided wire cagey is using in this post

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=30119.msg424409#msg424409

That’s at least 5 if not 10 times more than the stuff I’m describing.
I’ve convinced myself the outer wire in the situation was never meant to be used as a conductor.

 

[stratamania]

A modern shielded wire is thinner than the old style braided cloth wire and need care when removing the outer insulation to avoid breaking the shield wires. But they do work in general though do what you feel more confident to do.