Tonearm Wire

Yesterday my Dad came over to do some swapping of cables and make the infamous "White Lightnings" to see the results.
He brought over Some Cardas Cross and Analysis Data cables {Analysis wins with the interconnects in my system} And we procedded to make the Speaker and RCA White Lightings.

What a fun day! {We found the Audioquest speaker cables I had been using still sound better than the White Lightnings, but the White Lightning interconnects were so good that we made RCA's for all of the needed equipment. Including the mind blowing Sony Playstation. This beat out my OPPO 980h by a landslide. The single biggest difference of the day!}

Anyways to my question!!

We decided to rip out the tonearm wire in my old Pioneer and replace it with the White Lightnings.......major hum!

So I know some of you have the answer in your head already and how novice we must be to think that we could do this......so tell me why?

Is it because its not shielded? [is there a way to make a cable shielded?}
Is it because its 16awg?

Anyone know of a cheap tweek for tonearm wire?

Thanks in advance!

db