I have used both single srtand and multi-strand wire and there is no real difference.Inside an amp there are usually nothing moving back and forth enough to break either wire.I have seen 50 year old wires in fenders in really poor shape and some are pristine.
The only advantage to single stranded wire is it stays where you put it.
It does not,however,survive being removed too many times.I use only Teflon wire that is tinned.I use Alpha wire and it stays where I put it because the teflon is stiffer than PVC.Here's a test for you:Install a single strand wire on say an SPST switch terminal.Do the same with a multi-stranded wire.Take both wires and bend them back and forth til they break.Then tell me which wire you want in your amp.
This is still not a real test.Not many amp chassis vibrate enough to simulate you physically twisting and bending the wire.
Use either type of wire and stop stressing about which one is going to break first.You will likely be very old before you see either cause a problem.
Don't loose any sleep over the issue.
+1! Wire is wire. The differences in amp applications are mechanical ones, like vibration causing breakage (about as likely as winning a lottery) or the voltage rating of the insulation.
Teflon is expensive and way overkill in amps, IMHO. Looks pretty, 'though! It hurts a tech's pride but most customers have no idea how to judge the quality of your wiring and design. So they are more convinced to buy the amp with how pretty it looks!
It's like the husband who handicap bets on the horses, spending hours studying the racing form history of the horses and juggling the statistics. Meanwhile his wife bets on the one with the cute nose! She may lose a hundred times but if she wins once you'll never hear the end of it! :smile:
Teflon also gives you that higher voltage rating as insulation on the wire. 600 v UL 1015 is the spec for hookup wire rated at 600v. Most places nowadays only stock 300v, which is a bit low for tube circuits. They likely do stock Teflon which may save a backorder.
I've never seen it but I've heard and read about problems with teflon with sharp 90 deg bends. Apparently, the wire can slowly "migrate" through the insulation at such a bend and after some years actually have bare wire sticking through. There's something in military specs about avoiding sharp bends when using Tefon insulated wires.
Myself, I use 600v rated and mostly stranded. I've had a couple of instances where solid wire had a "ringing" problem where a stage was close to oscillating and the wire vibrating was part of the feedback loop. To be fair, my layout could have been a little better in the first place. Solid does stay where you dress it so I think this is one of those areas where there's good arguments on both sides.
Whatever you do, a good wire stripping tool is a must! Using a knife or ripping with a pair of side cutters can easily leave a small nick on the wire which Murphy's Law says will always come back to haunt you!
:food-smiley-004:
