Noob Pickup Installation Question

[DrumminFoo92]

I just got some CS 69s to put into my MIM strat and I was soooo excited to put them in.
I lied my guitar on a table and began the process that I had only researched about.
I got the solder that attached the wires into the 5-way switch to come off quite easily, however, I tried to take the ground wires off the volume pot but failed miserably.
I have a cheap 20W/40W variable soldering iron that I just got from Radio Shack and had only used once before this point and it seemed that it wasn't hot enough to melt the preexisting solder on the volume pot...
I eventually just started using wire cutters to chip away at the soft solder on the pot.
After digging and digging, eventually I was able to unearth the three wires.
There was still a small layer of solder on the volume pot so I placed the iron down on the surface to melt the solder and heat up the wires like all of the videos I've seen but no luck!!
It seemed like the iron wasn't even hot enough. I then found a clean part of the pot and tried heating it with the iron and placing solder on the pot, but the solder wouldn't stick to the pot which means I didn't get it hot enough which means the stupid iron wasn't doing what it was suppose to be doing.
Am I missing something?

[EADGBE]

You may need a new soldering iron. Also don't forget to use some heatsinks to protect your components. And sometimes solder won't stick to the back of pots initially.

[DrumminFoo92]

what specifically would you use as a heat sink? also.. how long are you suppose to heat the pot for? because it seems like it would take at least a minute

[direwolf]

Get a Weller iron.

[marsos52]

it takes a really hot iron to melt and loosen solder from the pot..and if and when you re-solder to the back or side of the pot, you need to use some sandpaper to scuff the surface of the metal before appling fresh solder...

it is a good idea to also 'tin' the bare wires with solder before soldering the wires to the pot and to the switch..

[dspellman]

A 30-40W soldering iron should do. Maybe run $40. Wimpy bargain soldering irons ruin more pots and pickups than anything else. You want to heat the immediate location quickly, melt the solder quickly and then get out. If you use a wimpy soldering iron, you'll spend more time heating the location, you'll heat up a whole bunch of things that you don't WANT to heat up, and you'll probably produce some cold solder joints here and there.

[DrumminFoo92]

Well I officially installed pickups for the first time... with some messups.

I was about to return the iron so I cleaned everything that had a burnt look to it with soap and water so that the metal was shiny again. This might have been all I needed.
I was going to take the guitar and just have some tech from the local guitar shop install the pickups but then I started feeling defeated.
I turned the soldering iron on again and let it heat up for a good 10 minutes.
I tinned the tip and knew already that it was way hotter now that it had been cleaned and felt more confident.
I also had read somewhere that sanding the pot would make the solder stick easier and what an amazing difference!!
It only took 2 seconds of heating the pot and I had a shiny layer of solder ready for wires!
So I finished but realized when I plugged the guitar in that I reverse soldered the 5-way switch... oops lol.
Does this do anything specifically to the tone besides the obvious tone control of the knobs?

[marshall2288]

Nope. No difference to tone. Just a switch with backwards positions. Go back in and mix it. Don't give up now!

[scolfax]

Next time I'm going to give one of these a shot:http://www.seymourduncan.com/liberator/
(http://www.seymourduncan.com/liberator/)