Wire gauge question

[CrackedPepper]

Can you use the single strand wire that you find in household phone cord (internal to wall jack) to wire pots and switches?  I am doing a wiring job with push pull pots and several of the connector tabs have several wires running to them.  It makes it hard to get them all in those tiny holes.

 

[Cagey]

Sure. The voltage and current in a guitar is so small - we're talking millivolts and microamps - you could wire it with frog's hair and not notice anything. The only reason any of them are wired heavy is because they used to be wired heavy many, many moons ago when you were extremely lucky to even be able to find wire, let alone be picky about it, and old traditions die hard. Hell, they're still selling braided cloth 22ga. wire for guitars. Nobody else uses it for anything - it's not really very good wire. But, some guys still swear by it.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

The main issue is how well it will hold up physically. That's why I wouldn't recommend that frog's hair. I'd also prefer multi strand because of it's better flexibility, but if single strand is what you have that will work just as well. As for wire thickness, if you see what Seynour Duncan use on their active electronics, you'll know that you don't really need 22ga...