Copper vs. Tin-Coated Copper Hook-Up Wire

[Steve Feldman]

I have a replacement PU that needs an extension on the hook-up wire. Radio Slop has the same gauge wire, but it's copper, and the PU has tin-coated copper wire. Any thoughts? If I do a 'cut-and-paste' (OK, I'll solder it...), will there be any weirdness in terms of all the Henrys, Inductances, Resisivities, and Subliminables?

Will this fix work just fine, or what?

Thanks.
Steve

[Keith Hilton]

Steve, I think just about all guitar makers run a shielded wire, even though it is a short distance. The size of the wire, and the distance it is run "could" have an effect on the output of the pickup. As far as I know, Radio Shack only stocks one kind of shielded wire in their stores. I don't like it ,because it is really big and not very flexible. Radio Shack sells some shielded hookup cords for cassette decks and guitar connect cords. Why not buy one of those cords, they don't cost much?
You could cut off the ends, peel back the coating and you would have the conductor and the shield. It should be about the size of wire you need, especially the cassette cord.

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[Steve Feldman]

This is actually just plain ole 22 ga. twisted copper wire that I got from the Shack. I ended up soldering it onto the tin-coated copper wire of the same type and gauge from the PU, and then slapped a little heat-shrink wrapping on there. Works fine. I can't hear any difference.

Thanks for the help, Keith.

[Michael Brebes]

For just extending the single-conductor leads from a pickup, the cable you are referring to will work just fine. You should have tinned the exposed copper with solder anyway during your hookup so over time you shouldn't be faced with any kind of oxidation. The main purpose of tinning the wire is just to keep it from oxidizing, which can affect the connection between the wire and whatever it is attached to.

[Steve Feldman]

That's what I figured, Michael. It works just fine in hindsight. Thanks for the info.
Steve