I buy the wire in bulk from a local electronics store, mainly 500 foot rolls and I usually use 18 gauge wire. I've had a couple really expensive cables fail, and in both instances, they broke outside the connector. One actually developed a break three feet up the wire and it was a factory defect. The inner cable was actually broken in half and barely touching within the break, therefore, initially it worked just fine.
Gary
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PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!
K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)