[exray]

Way back when - we used to use "bird wire" for replacement in the old radios that had the rubber wiring. Bird-wire was an open, unshielded telephone cable used in rural areas by some of the independent telcos. Usually about 4 pair. Conductor was 18 ga and the overall size was real close to the original rubber wire. It was just a bunch of pairs, colored, all twisted together and looked like a bird's nest, hence the name.
Talk about cheap Haven't seen it anywhere for many years, though.

Nowadays I usually go with the 20ga cloth covered stuff from Radio Daze. I use a combination of stranded and solid depending on the application. I keep a bit of 18ga around as well but the 20 sees the most action. Ya gotta get the 'unrated' type. The UL-rated/600 volt stuff is way too bulky.

I once had a big coil of the cable like Tex is referring to. Some sort of surplus that I dragged home from somewhere. I got a LOT of use out of it. Guess it got tossed somewhere in my moving around cuz it ain't here now