TEFZEL "AEROSPACE GRADE" WIRE?

[ViperDoc]

Have any of you used this Tefzel "aerospace grade" wire from Tube depot?

https://www.tubedepot.com/products/18-g ... e-100-feet

I built a JTM45 using cloth-bonded solid wire that competed with tree trunks in terms of width. It sounds great, but I want to be a little more tidy and try using stranded wire with a thinner coating. Is this good stuff?

Thanks.

[thetragichero]

i use wire salvaged from organs
all i wanna do is make my guitar louder and fuzzier; no need to build a rocket or anything

[sluckey]

I use 20 and 22 AWG PTFE wire almost exclusively. Rarely use 18AWG. TEFZEL is good stuff too. But IMO 18AWG is too big for amp works except for wiring high current tube filaments.

[ViperDoc]

Thanks. It seemed one of the biggest advantages to tefzel over PTFE insulation is heat resistance, but I'm not sure that would matter in a guitar amp. What I was curious about is whether the thinness of the tefzel coating would provide less insulation in terms of noise. I bought a little bit of this stuff to try and it is a B!TCH to strip.

[Phil_S]

I bought a little bit of this stuff to try and it is a B!TCH to strip.

A really good reason not to buy any more! I've been wondering about this stuff for years. I haven't built anything for a few years, so I wonder less about it.
Just about any 600V rated wire is good for guitar amps. In most instances the 300V rated will work just fine. I wouldn't be too concerned about heat in most uses, but, if you are, 600V Teflon is going to perform very well. Most wire is also temperature rated. 105 celsius rated should be more than adequate for what most of us build.

[sluckey]

PTFE and TEFZEL require ***SHARP*** strippers. And forget about using those V-notch strippers. I use these and they work very well. After about a year they will be dull so I buy a new stripper and give the old one to my electrician brother since he rarely strips anything less than 16AWG, and never any PTFE. Here's my recommendation...

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools ... /100630720

The heat resistance of the PTFE wire is the main reason I use it. Not because of the heat inside an amp, but because you can accidentally drag a hot iron tip across it and it doesn't melt. Makes everything look nice and clean when you don't have those ugly scars on the wire.

IMO the PTFE is well worth the little extrastripping effort. SHARP strippers are the secret. Of course a heat stripper always gives a clean strip, but not many hobbyist even know about them.

[ViperDoc]

Thanks for the recommendation!