Ever wired a guitar before?

  • Thread starter Thread starter VonBonfire
  • Start date Start date
My story is pretty common - my first few solder jobs were horrific. I watched a few youtube tutorials and bought a better iron with replaceable tips. I can now get reliable solder connections and do my own work, but it ain't consistently factory pretty. The single biggest lesson comes in 2 parts: 1) heat the tab / wire / pot and flow the solder where you want it; 2) position the wire on the tab / pot while the solder is liquid and remove the iron to let it set up. Now for the 'fine print' : get the solder to flow as quickly as possible to avoid over-heating the pots, and any movement of the wire after you remove the iron can (will) cause a compromised solder connection.

All that sh*t is much easier said than done. And the real pros on youtube make it all look so fast and easy. I actually salvaged a couple of smoked / trashed volume pots to literally 'practice' the 'heat - flow - connect' technique one something other than a precious virgin fresh low friction CTS pot.

Last tip - I made a cardboard work station by punching a couple of shaft sized holes in the flap of a small cardboard box. I can position the pots in those holes and work with more space than reaching my hot iron, tiny 4-conductor wires, solder, and fat fingers into an impossibly small control cavity. Then, once I have solid connections between the components, I can easily move them into the control cavity and snug everything up.
 
Using flux is a recommended and is a game changer compared to not using it, and heat sinks.
 
There weren't really any guitar techs around when I was starting out, so if I wanted something done with my guitar, I had to do it myself. I pretty much just had the wiring diagrams that came with the pickups to go by, and more than my share of trial and error.

I'll take the lid of a shoebox or other cardboard, and punch/cut holes in it to mimic the control layout on the guitar, stick the pots/switches through those, and wire it all up that way. Then when it's done, I put it in the guitar and attach the wires for the pups.
 
PDC said:
Last tip - I made a cardboard work station by punching a couple of shaft sized holes in the flap of a small cardboard box. I can position the pots in those holes and work with more space than reaching my hot iron, tiny 4-conductor wires, solder, and fat fingers into an impossibly small control cavity. Then, once I have solid connections between the components, I can easily move them into the control cavity and snug everything up.
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MusicIsLife said:
I'll take the lid of a shoebox or other cardboard, and punch/cut holes in it to mimic the control layout on the guitar, stick the pots/switches through those, and wire it all up that way. Then when it's done, I put it in the guitar and attach the wires for the pups.
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This has been mentioned a bunch in this thread. I think this is what I will do from here on out. Thanks to everyone for their shared soldering tips and techniques. Merry Christmas to all here.
 
VonBonfire said:
I have an X Tronic model 3020. It has been a pretty decent unit so far. It says 75 watts so maybe it has too much heat at the higher settings?
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I have an X-tronic I really dig too. 3 programmable settings. I do one for small stuff like discrete opamps, one for med, one for high, like pot casings. Takes like seconds to heat up and change settings. Nobody beats the iron holder of Hakko though, imo. Weller seems to be the Fluke of stations it seems.
 
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