Anyone have experience soldering the shield plates on a '62 AVRI Jaguar?

[Bandalero]

Greetings All,

Anyone out there have direct experience rebuilding or refinishing '62 Reissue (AVRI) Jaguars? In particular, I'm looking for someone with personal experience soldering the network of ground connections to the various copper/bronze shield plates found in the bottom of each of the routings.

Basically, I've got some concerns about the heat of soldering and its potential effects (via penetration through the wood) on new paint.

Anybody?

Thank you.

[walterw]

Use a good iron and it's no problem, it'll melt the solder long before anything else gets hot enough to cause damage.

[mlp-mx6]

Always have a fresh, small blob of solder melted on the tip before you touch the tip to anything else. Freshly melted solder melts solder quicker than anything else.

[Bandalero]

Thanks guys. Your points are both well-taken, and I'll definitely apply them when the time comes.

The soldering iron I'm using is a professional-grade unit with temperature control all the way to 900 degree F, so it melts the solder immediately, but the copper/bronze material used for the shielding is still getting quite hot before a reasonably sized pool of solder can be sufficiently adhered to the surface of the metal, and I don't know how to avoid it.

If you're familiar with Jaguars, the network of ground wires connecting the different shields can all be readily soldered to the surface of the shields before the shields themselves are dropped down into their respective routings, but the Fender factory used small steel wedges driven into the wood at the bottom of the routings (near the corners of each shield) to hold the shields in-place, and those wedges are then soldered to the shields. That's the part that concerns me most - soldering those wedges into place and the heat that will likely penetrate through the metal to the thin amount of wood remaining and the fresh paint on its opposite side.

I'm beginning to wonder if I might be better off to avoid the steel wedges altogether and simply drop a dollop or two of contact cement or other glue into each routing to hold the shields in-place rather than soldering them at each end. In other words, it seems like steel wedges and soldering just to hold the shields in-place is an overkill.

[walterw]

nah, just do it like it's supposed to go, then solder away (making sure the metal parts are clean beforehand, a little scraping or sanding to expose fresh metal can improve things even further); a little heat isn't gonna be enough to hurt anything.

wood is a very poor conductor of heat.

[Bandalero]

I'm envious of your apparent confidence there, Walter! I guess the proof will be in the pudding. But its important to understand that we're not talking about a "little" bit of heat here. We're talking far too hot to touch or hold in ones hand, and that's what's got me concerned.

Also, the fact that wood "isn't" a good conductor is at the very heart of the problem (as I see it). Any heat applied or transferred to the wood, tends to stay put in a single focal point (not radiate outward and dissipate), leaving the paint on its surface to absorb that heat and potentially blister. I've seen it happen far too many times to mention.

And, its not like we're talking about a thick block of wood here! The layer of wood in this instance (i.e., the thickness of wood between the bottom of the routings and the painted exterior surface on the other side) is extremely thin - my guess is 1/16"-3/32", tops! Thus, the heat being applied on the inside of the routing will get through to that painted exterior surface almost immediately.

[walterw]

soldering in one spot on a big brass plate means that the area will cool down very quickly afterwards as the heat gets sucked out into the rest of the metal.

besides, i'd wager you could peel the plate out of there and hold the soldering iron right on the wood like a boy scout woodburning kit for at least a few seconds before anything showed on the other side. that's way more concentrated heat than a few seconds of soldering to a metal plate resting over the wood.

you're over-thinking this one

[Bandalero]

Originally Posted by walterw

. . . you're over-thinking this one

No doubt. I tend to do that when there's $500-$600 involved. Go figure!