Why not solid core wire?

[mnordbye]

I've heard some people talking about never using solid core wire with effects building, only breadboarding. From my point of view, it seams like a good idea to use solid core wire, because the lead doesn't spread, like stranded wire.

Can someone tell me why i shouldn't use solid core wire? I've been wondering for ages really. 

Magnus N

[Mark Hammer]

ALL wire will eventually fracture if you bend it enough back and forth.  Because it is essentially a function of the ratio of the wire diameter to the acuity of the bend, thinner wire manages to hold up much better.  Stranded wire is simply multiple thin wires, such that you get the same overall amount of copper conducting with added flexibility.

There is nothing wrong with solid-core wire....IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO BEND IT A LOT.  So, if it's a one time experiment and you have no idea how long the leads need to be to reach the pots/switches, use stranded.  If it's the 10th time you've made that pedal and you know exactly how long the lead needs to be and where it needs to be bent - SO YOU ONLY BEND IT ONE TIME - then use solid-core with my blessings.

[mnordbye]

Ahh, i see. Bending issues.. I suppose solid core is more affected by ageing also, then?

Magnus N

[Solidhex]

I like to use solid core to wire the footswitch to the led and input/output jacks. I use stranded to connect to the board and pots or anything else I might need to booger with later. Haven't had any problems yet. I would imagine that solid core would be more susceptible to onstage vibration or just plain dropping the pedal on the ground than stranded though. I just like not having to twist and tin all the time. Pretinned stranded rules...

--Brad

[railhead]

I usually use solid because I don't bend my wires much at all -- and the rigidity lets me force the PCB where I want it without worrying about standoffs, etc.

[petemoore]

  I had a some pads breaking off RS perfboard.
  I moved the standard up to at least 2 pads per offboard support, and prefer to loop a solid core wire ground atop the Gnd. end of the board, >2 pads support at each end, the 'St. Louis Gate archway ground loop' spans usually 4 or 5 spaces, <1/2'' tall.

[The Tone God]

Part of the problem with solid core wire breaking is that people use incorrect size wire strippers. Bad strippers/stripping puts a notch in the copper which becomes a stress point. This encourages the wire to break at that point.

Andrew

[soulsonic]

Solid core all the way for me - it's the easiest to work with and it stays where you put it. The only thing I have to worry about flex with is the leads going to the battery snap, so those are stranded, but solid is good for everything else. I like to strip CAT5 cables and use the wire from that - it's high quality and a good size for pedals. Sometimes I'll use shielded wire, and of course that is going to be stranded. RG-174 is a good choice for shielded wire in pedals or guitars.

[solarplexus]

I also use solid core... but don't build and mod something with it.  Build something you know that will stay the same after you're done wiring... otherwise a wire breaks, then another, then another, then another... OMG I spent all night fixing those??? (kind of like that)

[CoolJohnny]

been there may times...took me awhile to learn to use stranded. like years. i liked the idea at first of having neat right angle bends with solid core like the insides of those well laid out point-to-point amps we all love. but after fixing one booster pedal what must have been five times for broken wires, i went back to stranded. still keep the solid core around for jumpers and to use on breadboarding.

[bumblebee]

i only use solid core wire and i get more bends out of a piece of this than stranded wire before it breaks.
i cant tell you what brand it is as its old unlabeled telephone company surplus,its great wire though, i have a few thousand feet of it!

[PerroGrande]

When it comes to building stuff, I'm a fan of stranded wire.  I just find it far easier to work with, especially when trying to jam stuff into cramped quarters.  Can I work with solid wire?  Of course.  I just prefer not to in most cases. 

I always recommend to beginning builders to start with stranded.  It is simply more forgiving.  Add some strategic strain-relief in the form of heat-shrink tubing or a drop of hot glue, and you have a durable build that can stand some poking, prying, re-routing, and the like. 

I do keep solid-core wire around, but use it mostly for breadboarding. 

[head_spaz]

Although it's not much of a factor with stompboxes, it should be noted that standed wire can carry more current than the same gauge of solid core, and stranded can be a little better at noise cancellation due to the magnetic fields of each strand cancelling neighboring strands.
Electrons do not flow IN the wire, they flow ON the wire conducting only on the surface. Stranded bundles of the same diameter as a solid core have much more surface area. Do the math. (Pi x R^2)  Kind of like a sponge that you can hold in your hand, but if you calculated the surface area, it could easily cover a ping-pong table. Lots of surface area makes for more lanes on the freeway.
Also, as previously mentioned, stranded is less prone to metal fatigue, which makes it somewhat more forgiving in flex situations.
One drawback of stranded is corrosion, it tends to creep a little faster, and it's much harder to deflux because the strands tend to "candle wick" the flux under it's insulating jacket.

I prefer working with stranded wire, mostly because I'm a world champion wire flexer. I like the teflon insulated wire the best, even though it's a tad bit more difficult to work. To each his own. Stompbozes are very forgiving, so use whatever floats your boat.

Your 2 cent refund check is in the mail!

[MikeH]

My first 5 or 10 builds were done with solid core, and they're all still kicking.  Although they don't see much use.  I'd def use stranded on anything you plan on putting through some abuse.

[Fuzzy-Train]

I really like using SB's pre-tinned stranded. You don't need to heat it up that much, and it just sucks the solder right up... you can get a wire soldered in less the 3 seconds.

Never tried solid core, but I would like to give it a shot for the experience, and to get that really nice clean look.