SB's pre-bond hookup wire

[Bret608]

Hi all,

I've been using guitarpcb's "Barry's best" hookup wire for a while now and like it quite a bit. How is Small Bear's #24 prebond wire by comparison? $5.00 for 50 ft. is not bad...

Thanks!

Bret

[BuGG]

Am I the only one who doesn't like this pre-bond stuff?   

I've got a couple rolls of the SB wire and it is more prone to break than anything I've used.   I've resorted to plain old stranded from Tayda and am much happier.

[lincolnic]

I love Small Bear's pre-bonded wire. It's in every pedal I've ever built, and it's never given me trouble.

[BuGG]

I love Small Bear's pre-bonded wire. It's in every pedal I've ever built, and it's never given me trouble.

Hrm.... Maybe I'm just monkeying with it too much?    Mine is #22 though, I wonder if the heavier gauge is my problem... 

I've used it in three different pedals, I've gone back and completely rewired two of them after the fact because the wires break off near the solder connection if moved more than about twice.   At first I thought I was nicking the wire with my strippers, so I started stripping with a razor blade by hand, still no luck.  I've even tried clipping the wire and using heat to make the insulation push back rather than stripping, still breaks if I move my PCB more than a time or two. 

Using regular el-cheapo stranded wire I can flip the PCB around like nunchucks without a problem.

I work in the repair industry and have used lots of different kinds of hookup wire over the years, this stuff is hands down the most troublesome (for me) that I've ever used.   I've gotten lots of recommendations for SB's pre-bonded wire, I just don't get it.   After this stuff is gone I hope to never see it again.   

OP, take my opinion with a grain of salt, I've never read any other complaints about it.

[derevaun]

I've broken the bonded stuff too. I don't know which is which anymore, but I've got Barry's and SB and probably broken it all at least once. I actually prefer heavier gauge wire wherever it will fit. I harvest it out of old data switch boxes from thrift stores.

[Bret608]

Thanks everybody! I've broken Barry's wire as well, at least when I was just getting the hang of using it. I sometimes use solid core (24 AWG I think?) and like it for certain situations. All about what you're used to I guess!

[lincolnic]

Hrm.... Maybe I'm just monkeying with it too much?    Mine is #22 though, I wonder if the heavier gauge is my problem... 

Maybe. I've tried their #22 and found it a little harder to work with than the #24 (the bonding on the #22 doesn't seem to hold as well), but their #24 is the jam.

[pickdropper]

I use the #24 almost exclusively.  I think it's great wire.

Certainly, it can break if you handle it too much.  It's sort of a trade-off between solid core and stranded.  Solid core is more likely to break and stranded doesn't stay in place as well.

[BuGG]

I use the #24 almost exclusively.  I think it's great wire.

Certainly, it can break if you handle it too much.  It's sort of a trade-off between solid core and stranded.  Solid core is more likely to break and stranded doesn't stay in place as well.

I might give #24 a shot.     I do like the way I can shape/route the wire and have it stay in place, but I also like for it to be flexible enough that I don't have to worry about destroying the circuit if I want to mod it later.

Too many people give the SB pre-bond praise for it to be total crap, I assume I'm just a bit too rough with it.

I've never actually had it break in the middle, it's usually near solder connections where it doesn't have the reinforcement of insulation and has somewhat sharp bends.   

I should probably work on my installation methods...
I'm not a noob but also not a seasoned expert when it comes to pedal building.