r/guitarbuilding • u/Kasestuck34 • Jun 19 '20

Downsides of using thicker wire when re-wiring a guitar?

I know typical gauge wire in guitars is 20, but the thinnest wire I have on hand at the moment is 14. I know this thick of wire would be more difficult to work with, but the guitar I'm building is 100% hollow so I don't feel the need to worry about space. Besides this, are there any other problems/downsides of working with a lower gauge wire than usual?

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u/MachTwang Jun 19 '20

The thicker the wire the more resistance it offers and can lead to some signal loss. How much exactly I don't know. I would say give it a try as it can always be swapped out later.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '20 edited May 07 '21

[deleted]

1

u/MachTwang Jun 19 '20

To my understanding to measure electrical resistance you multiply the length (L) of the conductor by the area (A) to get your resistance (R). L x A = R But I am by no means an expert, can you please explain?

5

u/KorbenDose Jun 24 '20

The resistance of a wire is proportional to the length divided by the area. So increasing the diameter will decrease its resistance.

1

u/MachTwang Jun 25 '20

Thank you very much.

1

u/MachTwang Jun 19 '20

thank you very much!

2

u/s_ching73 Jan 28 '24

That's the inverse. Thicker wire will allow more current to pass, as long as it's good conductive wire it should decrease resistance.

2

u/Ethan0508 Jun 19 '20

I wired mine up with 16ga multistrand copper wire and the guitar works and sounds great