What kind of hook wire is used on the my 70 s Stratocaster?
The early hookup wire used during the 50 s & 60 s is commonly known as cloth braid push back hookup wire. It was saturated in wax and braided with a variety of colors such as natural (white), black, yellow, red, blue etc. The standard wire used on Fender Guitars is 22 gauge, 7 strand and sometimes tinned with solder to add strength and stiffness. The early Fender amplifiers used a solid core hookup wire instead of stranded for hard wiring the circuit boards. After the cloth braid wire was eliminated, a Teflon coated insulation was used in production and Fender continued using the 22 gauge, 7 strand wire that was tinned. The Teflon hookup wire feels stiff and slippery to the touch. It works well when soldering because the insulation doesn t melt or shrink easily when using hot soldering irons.
