Soldering Advice

[Miles]

Just installed some new Duncan Five-Two pickups in my Telecaster.

The existing grounds were pretty tough to unsolder, so I snipped them and resoldered the "ground" of the new pickups next to the old location on the volume pot.

Does it matter that I have some excess soldering gunk on my volume pot? How much is too much?

The pot is working fine. No crackles and good tapering. Just curious. Thanks!

[GAD]

No effect to the signal, if that's what you mean.

If you ever sell it, it's a "sloppy" wiring job, but then how often do people pull the covers for a sale?

The bigger issue is that if you couldn't get the old solder off, you didn't get the pot hot enough to properly solder the new on on either. That means you've got a cold solder joint, and that's bad. It can stress and break over time. Will it? I doubt it, but it's not as good as a proper joint. I've seen plenty of cold solder joints in guitars. I've been able to pull soldered joints to pots off with my fingers on guitars from Gibson and Fender, so you're in good company. :)

[RnB]

They should be fine. Less solder, the better is the usual rule. Did you let your iron get good & hot before trying to de-solder the old wires? I let it (40 watt iron) heat up for about 15 mins first. Then melt some solder onto the tip of your iron first. This should aid in kicking the old solder joint loose....Solder suckers work great for removing excess solder! Some fine tipped needled-nose pliers come in handy also.

[Joe Naylor]

Excess solder won't hurt anything, it just doesn't look good.

The bigger concern is why you couldn't unsolder the old ground connections... this tells me your iron's wattage is too low and/or you're not tinning the tip with solder properly.

40 watt iron is what I use for general guitar work. And when I'm gonna hit a big joint I wet that tip up real good with solder right before contact, or as I'm making contact.

[Miles]

No effect to the signal, if that's what you mean.

If you ever sell it, it's a "sloppy" wiring job, but then how often do people pull the covers for a sale?

The bigger issue is that if you couldn't get the old solder off, you didn't get the pot hot enough to properly solder the new on on either. That means you've got a cold solder joint, and that's bad. It can stress and break over time. Will it? I doubt it, but it's not as good as a proper joint. I've seen plenty of cold solder joints in guitars. I've been able to pull soldered joints to pots off with my fingers on guitars from Gibson and Fender, so you're in good company. :)

Well, I didn't solder the new ground on top of the glop of solder. I soldered the new ground next to the gunk right on the pot. I tinned the wire first and soldered directly to ground. Hopefully, that should work. I certainly cannot pull it off.

The main question is will the gunk affect the tone? Does it lessen the quality of the new grounded location for my pickup?

Thanks for the advice - I hadn't known that before, so I'll make sure to take that caution.

[Miles]

Excess solder won't hurt anything, it just doesn't look good.

The bigger concern is why you couldn't unsolder the old ground connections... this tells me your iron's wattage is too low and/or you're not tinning the tip with solder properly.

40 watt iron is what I use for general guitar work. And when I'm gonna hit a big joint I wet that tip up real good with solder right before contact, or as I'm making contact.

You could be right. I'm only using a 30 watt iron.

I did not wet the tip at all actually...:( Maybe I'll try that and get a solder sucker to clean it up?

Or I can just go pick up a new 250K pot, I suppose - then clean up the wiring.

[Miles]

You guys rock. I'll be sure to follow this advice next time.

I think I'm gonna get a 40 watter and a sucker for the future. I may pick up a new 250K pot as well, to start from scratch.

[Joe Naylor]

Won't affect tone.

Get a new pot. BUT, take the old one, mount it in a vice and practice your soldering skills.

And you don't need an expensive iron. The Radio Shack 40 watter is fine, been using them for many years. You might get the stand with sponge. A wet sponge is good for cleaning off a hot tip.

[Miles]

Won't affect tone.

Get a new pot. BUT, take the old one, mount it in a vice and practice your soldering skills.

Haha. Very sound advice. Thank you very much for your time, guys.

[otaypanky]

When I have to solder to the back of a pot I rough it up a bit with light sandpaper to insure it's nice and clean.

[RocksOff]

You could be right. I'm only using a 30 watt iron.

I did not wet the tip at all actually...:( Maybe I'll try that and get a solder sucker to clean it up?

Or I can just go pick up a new 250K pot, I suppose - then clean up the wiring.


Always tin the tip. Always.