Vintage Push-back Wire - 50 feet

If you are doing standard pickup wiring (noting highly complex) then this is the best wire to use because you don't have to worry about stripping wires, but I wish Stewmac would offer a "all three colors (You save $15.00)" because buying one color of each is far more than buying 3 whites. I plan on buying 3 whites and dye them to suit my needs.

I have one word for thing

"" IT's Best ""

Great wire, but it would be handy to have a red wire as well. If you're replacing the wiring and you have to revert to ordinary red wire, it kinda spoils the effect. Also, the shielded cable is way too tight to "hook & loop " the central core out easily. It needs a bit more flexibility.

I use this wire for everything except the wiring on mini toggles and push/pull switches. Looks good, sounds good, works.

We love the fact this wire is tinned. Saves us a step.

Although expensive, this is the only wire I have found that is "pre-tinned stranded" with a properly waxed outer sheath. It's actually a bit larger diameter than a solid 22ga., and is a joy to work with. I've wasted money on the others, but they are not of the quality of this wire. I do wish they would give the 3 or more discount for multiple colors. But the wire itself is a 5 Star.

Dale Latimer
Gulfport
Mississippi

many companies have similar wire, and the cloth insulation is good quality for all companies, but StewMac has the best actual wire underneath that insulation. When I buy in bulk, the prices are comparable to the lower quality suppliers. Attached is a picture of a guitar that Hans from the Norwegian band Skambankt built using my pickups built with this wire

I've used this in rewiring two guitars so far, and I love the stuff. Instead of stripping the insulation, you can just push it back for most purposes. I also found, where it was more convenient, that the insulation would slip freely enough over the wire that I could grab hold of the wire with needle nosed pliers at one end and pull the insulation away on the other end to cut it off to a length that I foresaw needing with a given connection and then slide it back on to have just the right amount of wire exposed at each end. That was the more useful way to go with short connections where there really wasn't enough room for bunched-up insulation between the terminals.

The stuff looks really cool, too (not that you or anyone else will be seeing much of it once the job is finished ;D ). Having a single, pre-tinned wire makes it much easier to set up and solder connections, too.

Two potential downsides, but I would not take points away for them--you just need to be aware. The shielding on the shielded cable is woven in such a way that it is difficult to manage to a degree. I tried to cut it neatly lengthwise, but on one connection where I twisted up the freed shielding to solder it to ground, it just crumbled away, and I had to solder another bare wire to the remaining shielding to connect it to ground.

The other thing is, if you're planning to wire up any complicated switches (I wired up a 4-pole, 6-position pickup coil selector and a 2-pole, 6-position capacitor selector using this wire), you might consider using the ordinary plastic insulated wire. My switches worked out fine, but the work was tricky because both the wire and the insulation are bulky, and in addition it resulted in the finished switches being bulkier than they'd have been if I used the finer insulated wire.

It may be overstating it to bring this up, but in wiring complicated switches, it might also be handy to have the plastic insulated wire because you can use more different colors, and that might help with organizing the progression of the wiring to use specific colors for specific connections. Putting that aside, if you are simply wiring pickups with pots and ordinary pickup selector switches, this wire is ideal.

I'm very happy with this product. Its a little higher priced than I might like, but its well worth it. Its good quality and is easy to deal with on a neat little spool than just loose wire.

Having wired many guitars I am now wondering why I didn't invest in this wire sooner. High quality and easy to use. That's all you need.