What is the best wire for wiring?

[hondarider22]

I am fairly new to wiring and it seems that when i do wire something it always turns up lackluster.  I bought the wiring kit from warmoth, and most of the wire in the package was copper.  I am used to wiring with nickel and i wondered if there was any difference between the two materials.  I have been told that it is not the wire type that is important but instead it is the gauge.  Is this true, or have i been lied to.

Also, recently i installed a Zakk Wylde active emg set into my Samick Les Paul, and they simply dont stack up to other guitar with factory installed emgs.  I dont know what i did wrong, and if anyone has any tips, i would greatly appreciate them.

thanks
Matt

 

[-CB-]

depends on how complex the wiring has to be.

For "vintage" type tele and strats - the cloth covered wire is fine because it doesn't need to be tiny, bendable, or fit in tight spots.

Traditional Les Paul wiring involves cloth covered wire with outer metal braid.

Newer wiring plans call for more physically bendable and smaller diameter wire to fit in tiny places and or get a lot of wires in there.

The TIN wire you speak of is just pre-tinned copper.  As soon as you solder to the bare copper, its going to get tinned so dont sweat it (as long as the copper is clean and not all brown... if so, shine it up).

 

[ildar]

Well, a Samick LP isn't going to sound as good as the range of models that would have active EMGs as stock pups. No offense, but a $250 guitar isn't going to sound like a $1000 instrument no matter how you change the electronics.

 

[Notyethendrix]

I love cloth covered wires...

... okay, I'm old

 

[neilium]

Also, recently i installed a Zakk Wylde active emg set into my Samick Les Paul, and they simply dont stack up to other guitar with factory installed emgs.  I dont know what i did wrong, and if anyone has any tips, i would greatly appreciate them.

Did you use the volume and tone pots that came with the EMG's? They are 25k ohms rather than the 500k that are typical for a Les Paul.

 

[confederatewk]

you cant use a 250 or 500 or 1 meg pots with emgs

they are circuit based, they are not passive and the p/u have small circuits wired inside of them...they are only suitable for 25k pickups or they phase out and dont work well

emg are shit, go with reall nice passive then u can actually hear  how good wiring is

no matter how u wire up a emg it will never sound better

silver solder is the best, but if a high quality high density type

and also copper angel wire sounds the best, due to the amount of surface area on the wires......full conductivity use a higher rating...more brittle type, those are usually denser and more responsive, you can use nikel plated copper wires also, or ss wires but those only brighten the sound

 

[Rick]

I suppose gauge is important ... but warmoth wouldn't sell you something that didn't work ... and Warmoth copper wire will work as good or better than any type of original wire from the factory.

I got no opinion on the EMG. 

 

[jackthehack]

The Warmoth wire's OK; have a little of the "vintage" cloth covered wire left for jobs as appropriate, but this 24 gauge solid core wire is availabel from any Radio Shack for $4.99 the 35 ft. roll and works just fine:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062655&cp=&pg=2&sr=1&origkw=wire&kw=wire&parentPage=search

 

[dbw]

Ignore confederatewk, no way it matters what kind of solder you use.  Even the worst solder joint has at most a few milliohms of resistance, and the current from a pickup is so tiny the gauge probably doesn't matter either, so long as it's not hair-thin transformer wire or something. Use whatever wire you got, but if it's not inside a shielded cavity, like, say, the wire running to an LP switch, some shielded wire would be better.  I'm sure you can get 4-conductor shielded wire at Radioshack.