And, FWIW, I thought I might mention why Teflon(tm) coated copper wire
is always silver plated (or should be): to get the Teflon to even pretend to
bond to the surface of the wire, the wire needs some serious chemical
treatment. The commercially viable treatments will corrode copper but
not silver which plates well over copper. Net, net the cheapest route to
getting the Teflon to stay put over the copper is to first plate it with silver.
The silver is not there to make the sound more brilliant: it's to prevent
the copper from corroding. Without that treatment, every time you go
to strip the Teflon you'll pull all the Teflon off, even if it's several feet of
wire. (Washing the cleaners off of the copper doesn't work: it merely
slows down the corrosion process.)
And, of course, Teflon is used as it is (1) a fantastic insulator, (2) incredibly
inert [flourine REALLY covets its valence electrons], (3) unlike PVC, doesn't
give off poisonous fumes [so you can use it in plenums], and, (4) for us DIYers,
is more tolerant of overheating during soldering.
Of course, even more interesting is why you don't want gold in your solder
joints....
Dan
