Is my wire too big?

[Peter Venkman]

Not working on any specific build at the moment so I apologize for not having any pictures or links to layouts. Recently Tayda sent me a rather large order that I had placed but all of the part quantities were off when I compared the shipment to the order invoice. I ordered 4 LEDs and got charged for 4 LEDs, but received 40 LEDs. I ordered and got charged for 6 mono jacks, but received 10. A few resistors were missing from the shipment and that had been noted on my invoice and they emailed me about it ahead of time to let me know I would receive them a few days later. In the package that I received with my missing parts they included a few packs of wire. 10 feet of black and 10 feet of white 22 gauge stranded wire and a little apology card for the mix up. I emailed them and said that everything was cool and since they sent me about $30 in extra parts, I had no problem with them billing me for them on my next order. They said that was unnessary and that they appreciated all the orders I've been placing. (Ridiculously I've been placing orders with them about twice a week now)

My question is could the gauge of my wire be effecting my builds in a negative way? I'm using 24 gauge braided copper (tinned) wire and Qualitek No Clean .81mm (0.032") core solder with a 1.1 flux percentage. I know cold solder points, pits, and bridges can effect sound quality and I've been getting better at soldering, but could I improve sound quality with an alternative type of flux or gauge of wire? I'm curious as to what the effect will be if I incorporate the free wire they sent me into a build that I've already started using 24gauge. Should I keep all the gauges the same size in each build or is the size difference so small that it shouldn't have any adverse effects on power draw?

I originally started building with the 22 gauge solid core wire and Qualitek .032" solder that had a 3.3% flux rating. I'm not noticing any difference in the flow of solder, just that I now need to use a higher temperature setting and that there is A LOT less clean up. I did notice a drastic improvement in sound quality when switching to stranded wire that was a smaller gauge but it's just harder to fit the stranded wire in the enclosure than the ridged solid core wire was. I liked how I could make little 90 degree angles and tuck the solid core stuff easily behind other components, but it was a pain in the ass to deal with when you had multiple wires attached to a board that weren't attached to any pots or jacks yet. Kind of felt like trying to dance with a rascist octopus that is in the middle of an 8 week Viagra binge.

Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated.

[Peter Venkman]

I just going to assume, based on how many people keep reading my posts and not answering, is because somehow I've offended you all in some way.

I'll stay off the boards from now on and just continue to try to find answeres to debugging issues in the comments section for each layout.

Sorry to have been a bother. I guess I really have no business being here.

[rocket88]

bro, you haven't offended anyone. just because you've had "X" number of people view your post doesn't mean they have an answer for you, and sometimes it takes time to get a response, so just relax. there are tons of questions that have been asked that have gone unanswered. so don't get discouraged.

as to answer your question there is no such thing as too big wire, unless it can not fit in the holes for the vero. each one of us uses a different wire based on our own experiences, as well as likes and dislikes. most people use 22AWG or 24AWG, but you can use smaller. i myself first used 22AWG sold wire at the beginning, but i found it to be a pain to get it where i wanted without breaking the wire at the joints. as a result i switched to 22AWG stranded and bonded wire, which did what i wanted, but felt it took up more space then i really wanted it to, so i switched again to 24AWG stranded and bonded wire. the major benefit to using a good stranded bonded wire is that it has the rigidity of solid core, but you can move it however you want without it breaking. there really should be no difference in sound quality or tone in one verse the other.

the wire will not alter your build in any way.

as far as the solder you're using, again it's personal preference, just stay away from the lead free stuff. i use 0.032" 60/40 rosin core, but have used 0.022" which is really nice cause its super thin and can get into tight spaces, but felt like i was using more of it then the 0.032".

it's no different then if you asked whats the difference between one soldering tip shape vs the next. you'll get a million opinions. like i use a tiny pencil point cause i like getting real close to what i'm soldering, while a lot of guys prefer to use more of a chiseled tip cause they get a wider application of heat to the board and component their soldering. again it just comes down to personal preference.

hope this helps you out man.

side note, the debugging section is for posting when their build doesn't work, while questions about components and such would just go to the open chat area.

[nocentelli]

+1 I don't think anyone's offended: Most people who read your post were probably surprised that you could hear a "drastic improvement" in the sound of a pedal just by changing the thickness of the connecting wires, and felt unable to comment further.

[Beaker]

Peter, please don't take offence if no-one replies to your post. Almost every single one of us has, at some point, put up a post that was sure-fire guaranteed to get people talking. The result; nada, zilch.

Disappointing, but not worth taking your ball home for.

The problem with your question (which is why you have not had much response, I suspect), is that it has no satisfactory answer for you. There is no "best", and no right or wrong answer.

You just have to try different types and sizes of wire, until you find something that works best for you. What works great for me, you might hate, and vice versa.

I've used all sorts in the past, but now I use 26AWG teflon coated stranded silver wire that I got from Bulgaria. On the other hand my red power wire is so fat, I have to drill the hole out in the vero to take it. I bought a roll of it in error, and I'm too cheap to junk it.

Ask the same question next year, and I may have found something better.

The same applies to solder - no best, no right or wrong. If you like it, use it.

[Ed Nice]

The only offence I take is that you put a 'z' in apologise... :p

Like Rocket, I tried solid wire at first. It was great for putting where you wanted it to be but it just kept breaking.

From my [very limited] experience, 22 or 24 doesn't make a noticeable different and solder is solder as long as you can work it ok and get a nice shiny joint. A little bit of experience has given me a bit of a wierd sixth sense with soldering. Sometimes, I just know I should burn it, suck it out and do it again :)

Electricity is so lazy and urgent that [IMHO] it's far easier to accidentally make it go the wrong place than it is to stop it by a crap joint.

Other than putting the wrong components in or the right ones in the wrong place or misssing a cut or a jumper (make sure it's wool, as winter is almost upon us), from a poll of all the pedal builders in my household (One. Me) the most common cause of failure in a build is an unwanted bridge which makes all the 'lectrons run off, like all the Chinese girls from Quagmire's car boot [trunk if you like your z's]...

I don't know if I'm lucky and I might well regret saying this, but every build I've done that has failed has been because of a solder bridge. Because I'm as myopic as a mole with glaucoma, I bought a USB microscope so I could check all my tracks and after the soldering iron, it has probably been my most valuable tool.