DIY solid gold interconnects?

Some folks argue against "plated" or coated/dipped wire. Pure gold might be too flimsy/soft to hold up to "handling & bending" Probably hard to find ".999999" pure gold wire free of contaminants etc. (easier to find silver or copper that pure?)My opinion would be that cable geometry, inductance, capacitance, resistence would be more important than the conductor material itself...And as with all DIY stuff if it sucks it's yours, no good way to pass it along.

Gold is not as good a electric conductor as silver or copper so why do you think gold wire is the way to go?

Well, I was under the impression that gold was a much better conductor than either copper or silver as it does not oxidize very easy. There are also much fewer impurities in the gold than silver or copper, both are fraught with cruddy alloys. By rhodium plating the gold you would then have an even more conductive currant. Why would so many parts be gold plated if not? Again, I don't know if this is the way to go and would love to hear if anyone has tried to use solid gold. Although malleable, it would, after having been annealed be a stiff non moving wire that would stay right where I bend it. Being a jeweler with the ability to fabricate and mill gold wire with some ease and being much less expensive [to me] than out right buying something pre manufactured by a high falutin' cord company of seemingly lesser quality, I thought maybe... I also understand that these same companies make an entire life's work from the cords they put together just the right sounding or "least" sounding cords. Being that transparency is all of our goal.

There are a number of threads commenting about gold wire (worth a search in the archives). I do not know of one referring to rhodium plating though it is easy enough to search the archives for that too. There are a number of "recipes" posted here and elsewhere for DIY single strand interconnects and I personally think Jadem6's thread on making/testing/reviewing interconnect materials/geometry is one of the classics on Audiogon.

Gold is not a very good conductor at all. RCAs and tube pins, etc are plated very thinly(as you observed) simply because gold does not oxidize. Silver's conductivity is not affected when it tarnishes, but it looks bad, so most people that sell silver connectors on their interconnects(like Silver Audio) include a special cleaning cloth with them, Actually the best connectors are made of solid, oxygen free copper. You just have to make and break your connections every so often the keep the juice flowing properly. Caig Deoxit is great for cleaning connectors, and blocking oxygen/dirt from the contact area.