Copper

A soft, extremely conductive metal, used for pickup wire, wiring, contacts and cavity shielding.

Copper's conductivity is the reason it forms the electrical half of almost every guitar: pickup coils are wound with fine copper wire, potentiometers and switches use copper contacts, and the cavities of an electric are lined with copper foil to keep radio frequency interference out. Its thermal conductivity is why a soldered joint on a copper pad holds reliably. As a structural material it is too soft and heavy for hardware, though it appears in brass and bronze castings. Its weakness in service is oxidation, since a tarnished contact develops exactly the crackle and dropouts that players blame on a worn switch or pot.

Example: Copper foil lining a control cavity is the standard cure for a guitar that picks up radio stations, because the metal drains the interference away to ground.

typical use: Pickup wire, wiring, electrical contacts and cavity shielding.

Copper

See also