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Vintage threads from the first ten years

previous: MBSetzer When it comes to stripping wire, th... -- 4/17/2000 5:22 PM

Re: Teflon Wire...special stripper needed?

4/17/2000 6:05 PM
andy fuchs	Re: Teflon Wire...special stripper needed? When I worked in the hi-end audio business, we used alot of the silverplated teflon coated wire for internal wiring. The improvement in sound quality is debatable (subjective ?), and it tends to be both brittle, and quite subject to tarnishing as well. We actually used a heat stripper, made specifically for this use. The wire end was inserted between two heated elements (one was a 'U' shape and one was straight), and you pressed down a lever that closed the heated elements on the wire, then you pulled the wire out, and got a wonderfully clean strip without nicking the wire at all. A very sharp conventional wire stripper will work, but you must turn the wire 1/4 turn to cut the entire insulation. You can't count on ripping the remaining jacket, if you strip only the top and bottom of the jacket. I worry about the hostile enviroments of guitar amps, plus vibration etc, as a cause for failures "normal" wire could tolerate. The most amazing wire in the world is the aerospace wiring used in airplanes. It's a silver plated copper inside, a cloth jacket, and then a vinyl "shell". Talk about a pain in the *ss to work with, but it is durable.

4/17/2000 6:05 PM

andy fuchs

Re: Teflon Wire...special stripper needed?

When I worked in the hi-end audio business, we used alot of the silverplated teflon coated wire for internal wiring. The improvement in sound quality is debatable (subjective ?), and it tends to be both brittle, and quite subject to tarnishing as well. We actually used a heat stripper, made specifically for this use. The wire end was inserted between two heated elements (one was a 'U' shape and one was straight), and you pressed down a lever that closed the heated elements on the wire, then you pulled the wire out, and got a wonderfully clean strip without nicking the wire at all. A very sharp conventional wire stripper will work, but you must turn the wire 1/4 turn to cut the entire insulation. You can't count on ripping the remaining jacket, if you strip only the top and bottom of the jacket. I worry about the hostile enviroments of guitar amps, plus vibration etc, as a cause for failures "normal" wire could tolerate. The most amazing wire in the world is the aerospace wiring used in airplanes. It's a silver plated copper inside, a cloth jacket, and then a vinyl "shell". Talk about a pain in the *ss to work with, but it is durable.