'65 Strat Wiring Surprise

Electrical flex wire

This Strat came through the workshop recently (and very nice it was too). It had a scratchy and noisy volume pot. Sometimes you can get away with cleaning pots using a contact cleaner spray but there are times that doesn't do the trick and the pot needs to be replaced.

Buyers and collectors of vintage instruments can often be fussy about having original components and even original solder joints on those components. With this in mind, before I even opened up the guitar, I discussed the options with the owner. The answer: It's a player's guitar—do what needs to be done.

After I opened it up, I see I needn't have worried. I'm relatively sure these bits of electrical flex weren't installed down in Fullerton. Someone's done a little work on this guitar before. 

Anyway, as it turns out, a clean-up sorted out the volume pot problems. 

So… Do I give in to my aesthetic concerns and replace the blue and yellow/green electrical flex wires?


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