Braided wire + copper shielding? And another question.

[Searcher]

Hey, I've never used braided wire before and I'm about to wire up an SG with a P90 and a humbucker.  Both have braided wire and I know I'm supposed to pick the braid apart and solder it to the bottom of the pot, but I have a couple of questions first.

1.  What if the braided part touches to the copper shielding I have all over the inside of the control cavity?

2.  Can I just solder the braided wire to the bottom of the pot without unpicking it first?  In other words, the wire would run past the pot, getting soldered to the base of it as it goes past without me picking any strands off, and then carry on to the 3-way where the inner wire gets soldered.

Thanks!

[Twinfan]

Here's my opinion, but I'm no expert!

1)  The braided wire goes to "earth".  As your copper shielding will be earthed anyway, if the braided wire touches it that's fine.  They're both going to earth anyway.

2)  Yes you can, but you need to be careful that the braided wire doesn't touch the leaves of the 3-way, the hot tangs on any of the pots or the capacitor wiring etc.  It depends on the route the wire has to take to get to the 3 way.

When I rewired my SG it was pretty cosy in there and I'm not sure what I did, but I do remember the braided wire hitting other parts at one point causing buzzing and shorts.

[Dakine]

Searcher,
when I have done it I do unravel the braid. It's easy, just use a sharp tip (like a skewer), then wind it together. As Twin said, it's the shield so no harm with the copper.
Soldering it 'as-is' will cause some uneccesary heat to the wires below and is not a good idea.
Just unbraid,twist (I usually clamp with needle pliers and twist whilst pulling abit to get nice even flow), tin/solder end and attach to pot. Nice and neat :)

[Searcher]

Thanks for the replies, guys.   :D

Nick--yeah, you're very likely right about soldering the whole wire being risky to the core wire.  Pretty silly idea in the first place, I suppose.  But that grounded bit is more like a mesh than a braid!  It's taking forever to unpick!  I'll try your method with something pointy and see how I go.  

Cheers.

[Dakine]

yeah it's fiddly. Done 100's of co-axial cables and they are like this for a shield. Once ya get it 'on the run' it generally submits though :)
Good luck bud!

[Philly Q]

Steve Stevens had a suggestion about using a short length of thin plain wire, wrapping it around the braid and soldering it, then soldering the plain wire to the back of the pot.  That way, you don't have to over-heat the cable or heat the pot for a long time to melt a big blob of solder to attach the braid.

Seems like a good idea to me!

[PhilKing]

Another trick is to bend it about 2cm (3/4in) from the end and start to unravel there with an ice pick or jewelers screwdriver.

[Searcher]

Cheers guys.  Those are good ideas, too, but I got it sorted after all.