WIRE USED FOR PHONE LINES SUITABLE FOR FX

[AM]

I just found some cable used in wiring the phone lines inside my house. It's a grey shielded cable and there are four wires running inside it. Each wire is solid core copper and has its own plastic insulation of course. I was thinking of stripping the grey cable and get out all the individual wires to use for my pedals. Is this a good idea? Is this kind of cable recommended for effects builds?
Thanks in advance for any opinions/info submitted.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I use a ton of this stuff - but only where it is not going to flex.
I wouldn't use single strand wire to go to anything that flexes (like, to pots or jacks) because, you only have to bend it a few times & it breaks at the joint.
The rule is, single if it isn't going to be moving, flexible if it is.

The single strand wire stuff is ideal for breadboards, as well.
And, I have got lengths of 50 and 100 wire versions of this stuff from demolished office sites & scrap dealers. they wires have all different colour stripe codes on them, fun!

[AM]

Yeah, my wires are different colors too. Fun galore!!!

[Mark F]

As Paul stated, this stuff is great for breadboarding! I also use it for building on plain perf, the stuff with no copper pads etc.

[arma61]

hi

my $.2c, computer network cables are also good, you can hanlde them almost like the single ones and they're flexible but don't break so easily, also there are almost 4 woven couples in each cable, one wire is white and the other one is colored, I usually use them with pots, the white one is the center lug, then the other two colored wires to the other lugs of the pots, so you can easily trace your wiring.
cheers
Armando

[aron]

I've seen an entire studio wired with CAT 5. Really! I would think it would have shielding issues.....

[AM]

I've seen an entire studio wired with CAT 5. Really! I would think it would have shielding issues.....

Hey Aron, that's funny! An entire studio with that cable.......
Well, I wasn't thinking of going to such extremes with my wiring. My question was regarding strictly stompboxes. I was wondering whether the capacitance, resistance and general audio quality of this kind of cable was appropriate for fx building. You see I don't build much, and whenever I get some free time to build something I try to do a nice and neat job so I don't have to go back and reopen the box and rewire stuff etc.

[aron]

I would think it would work fine provided it holds up structurally.