Sean - I have heard the difference between "fine silver" and 99.99% and it is noticable to me in my system. If your system is not as resolving, you might not notice. Crump tells me that he has 6-nines silver and it is even better...
I agree with Sean, 22 gauge will be fine, however, smaller is better when it comes to silver. Silver's skin-effect is more pronounced than copper.
Be aware that you might be able to achieve some of the parametrics, such as RLC, but your DIY IC will not sound like a high-end cable such as Empirical, Purenote or Acoustic Zen. This is because the silver purity and processing steps are what sets the better cables apart from the rest.
Capacitance of 45 pF/foot is a bit high IME. I prefer wires with 3-4 pF/foot. The detail is much better on ALL systems. However, low capacitance is not by itself sufficient. To make a world-class cable, you also need good metallurgy (as Sean mentioned) and bare wires - no conformal insulation.
Sean - impedance is not a problem with analog interconnects. The digital IC's obviously need controlled impedance and I accomplish this using a combination of air dielectrics and expanded Teflon - a patented design. 75 ohms is very difficult to achieve with bare wires and air dielectrics - the wires would have to be extremely close. The short-circuiting thing with bare-wire analog interconnects is what my business is all about. I have spent the last 10 years solving this and getting patents.
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