soldering iron-how hot?

[bchamorro]

How hot should the soldering iron be for general guitar pickup installation?

how many watts?

[justonwo]

You're going to get lots of different answers. I think the most important thing for soldering is not so much the rating or exact temperature. The important things are:

1) That you have a high-quality iron with fast recovery. In other words, can it deliver heat to the tip quickly to maintain temperature?

2) Use the right size tip for the job. Use a smallish conical or chisel tip for most wire connections. Get a nice big tip for pot casings. There are some that use pencil tips for everything, but the best joint on a pot casing will be formed if you can melt all of the solder at once - and very quickly.

That being said, if you are looking for a good iron, I can't recommend the Hakko 936 enough. I usually set it to about 700 F.

[Eagle1]

25 Watts general
45 Watts for earth to spring claw and pickup covers.

[Chiba]

600-700 degrees should get you through most guitar stuff if you take your time.

I ramp mine up to 800 sometimes for stubborn pots. I've found that scratching some steel wool across the back of the pot tends to help quite a bit.

--chiba

[s2amps]

I use 700 for guitars and 750 or 800 for amps.

[soulsonic]

See my last response in the "Best Soldering Iron" thread.