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Permalink Reply by Frank Carr on March 17, 2016 at 2:35pm

3 tips I have

1. Use fresh solder. When I recently got back into repairing guitars and building CBG's I had some 10+ year old solder laying around I tried to use. It didn't work well.

2. Use thin solder. The thicker stuff like you'll find at Home Depot and other places doesn't work well for guitar electronics. Use a thinner jewelry solder and you'll get better results and less frustration.

3. Invest in a solder sucker. When you do mess something up, like the volume pot pictured above, you can use it to remove that nasty solder build up and start over fresh.

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Permalink Reply by JL on March 18, 2016 at 12:31am

1. tin the items to solder before joining them (pre-coating contact points & wire ends with solder)

2.  Let the solder do the work, not the iron.  lay the solder on top of the point to solder, touch the iron to the solder and when it liquefies and the iron goes through and touches the part - add a little more solder and pay more attention to heating the solder than the part.  HOT solder will more than sufficiently heat the part(s) to get good contact & you will see it flow like water on a paper towel.  this is also how you fix a cold solder, heat the bubble of solder and keep it hot till you see it flow outward.

3. Keep the tip in shape.  the reason to always keep a coating of solder on the tip is to protect it from oxidizing and protect it from collecting a coating of trash from wire insulation, resin core residue, wood sap, plastic casings, skin & blood, burnt paper, burnt cat hair, motor oil, spray paint and lacquer, polyester sweaters, sneaker sole rubber, beer, paint thinner, nylon webbing handles on the tool bag, rubber mallet heads, screwdriver handles, ex-spouses, etc.

     If it isn't doing the job quick and easy like it used to, take a good metal file and file off the outer layer of gunk till you have  bright shiny metal again, or get a new tip.

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Permalink Reply by JL on March 18, 2016 at 12:34am

P.S. I love the pic above, looks like a Halloween candle wax drip art project.

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on March 18, 2016 at 5:26am

A piece of metal tape (aluminum works fine) put on the inside of the box will reduce the number of ground solder joints required. Since doing this, I only solder to the back of the tone pot.

Also a temperature regulated soldering station is the best investment I have made in a while. I have been solding for 30+ years, and this was the best $40 I have ever spent. No more burned tips! And yes, high quality solder is key...

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Permalink Reply by smilingdog1 on March 21, 2016 at 4:24pm

Yes, bought me a Weller station and love it. Man what a deal compared to the hassle caused by the cheapo. The digital control allows perfect temp settings. and the iron mount with wet sponge to clean tips makes soldering a breeze. 

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Permalink Reply by Cigar Man Mike on September 10, 2018 at 5:42am

How does that work John? A piece of tape attached to the box then another over the top to attach the ground wires or ?? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Burt Philbrick on March 19, 2016 at 4:17pm

I use a file to rough up the back of the pot, flux and thin solder, keep it neat. No problems at all.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on March 21, 2016 at 11:29pm

Shared to my Facebook......

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Permalink Reply by jeff weins on March 22, 2016 at 9:14am

For my most recent guitar instead of soldering the ground wires to the back of the pots. I mounted the pots thru a piece of flattened can and tied the wires together with a bolt thru the can section. According to my meter its a nice solid ground

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on September 14, 2016 at 2:04am

Great idea. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by David Clewell on March 22, 2016 at 5:58pm

I scrub the backs of the pots with alcohol using a stiff acid brush and never have a problem getting a good solder joint. Scrub the contacts of the output jack and the pots too,

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Permalink Reply by smilingdog1 on March 27, 2016 at 5:24am

Can you repeat that?

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