deepblue Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Im trying to do a soldering job on my Strat. Dont laugh guys, this is my first time. Problem... I cant get the soldering iron hot enough to melt the solder on my pots. Its a 25w soldering iron.....Is that the problem? I need a more powerful iron to melt it up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I'm not laughing. 25w isn't a lot but people do use them. I am old-school and use a Weller 140, which is a lot like using a chainsaw to carve a turkey. But it's what I'm used to.... The key with any soldering iron is to make sure you have a good tip. Any corrosion or crap will interfere with heat transfer. Chances are your tip will unscrew. Unscrew it and polish the threads with steel wool. Polish the whole tip in fact. Sand or file it until all traces of old crap are gone. Go to Radio Shack and get some small (thin) 60/40 solder, which has a lower melt temp. And believe it or not, it's also helpful to shine the solder up with the steel wool right before using it. If you do find a bigger iron cheap, grab it. 40W or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Yep 40watts is the way to go, for pots, pickup covers, amp chassis . etc. 25W is OK for wires but other than that not so much. More than 40watts and with little experience soldering you risk melting pot components... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepblue Posted December 10, 2008 Author Share Posted December 10, 2008 Thanks fellas... I took your advice and exchanged the iron for a 40w. Guess what?? It still wont melt the solder on the guitar. Itll melt solder that I bought from the store, but it wont melt the existing solder thats already on the guitar ( pots, ground etc) I called Fender and asked if it was some kind of super solder and was told it was not. No matter. I cut the wires and will get my brother inlaw to give me some pointers as to what im doing wrong. Im such a putz!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Plains Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Part of it's the solder. This was a ***** to take off and I had to go with an 80W iron. 35W wouldn't cut it. You risk frying the pot if you leave the iron on too long. Nice guitar in your avatar, is that an Epiphone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 The solder already on the pots will not melt immediately with a 40watt iron. I think the reason may be that the solder already used on the pot does not have the resin in it. You have to make sure that: - the tip of the iron is srewed in tight and not loose. - warm the iron up for at least 5 minutes, 10 is better. - when you put the tip of the iron to the solder on the pot try to angle it so you have more contact, don't just touch it with the fine tip. I have done a lot of soldering in the last weeks and the 40watt iron worked for everything. Some times it takes a while but it does work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearbasher Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 If the old solder won't melt quickly, try holding the iron to the old solder joint and flowing a little fresh solder against the very tip of the iron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynadude Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I use a 100 watt for grounding pots. The longer you have to hold heat on the pots, the greater the chance of damage. A 100 watt iron will do the job quickly, and that is the trick. Also, make sure everything is clean when you are placing grounds on the pots. Scuff the pot surface to get a new metal surface, as the thin corrosion on an old pot will keep the solder from binding, and that will cause problems down the road. Even if the bond looks good, it may fail in a short time, and a bad ground can be a pain to locate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Thanks fellas...I took your advice and exchanged the iron for a 40w. Guess what?? It still wont melt the solder on the guitar. Itll melt solder that I bought from the store' date=' but it wont melt the existing solder thats already on the guitar ( pots, ground etc) I called Fender and asked if it was some kind of super solder and was told it was not. No matter. I cut the wires and will get my brother inlaw to give me some pointers as to what im doing wrong. Im such a putz!![/quote'] I had the exact same problem with my 40w. I thought maybe something was wrong with the iron, but after reading some posts here, I guess I just wasn't allowing it to heat long enough. Are you installing new p/u? I put some GFS in my MIM Strat and wired it exactly like the original ones were, but now the tone controls don't operate the way thy're supposed to. Among other things there's no tone control for the treble pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynadude Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I had the exact same problem with my 40w. I thought maybe something was wrong with the iron' date=' but after reading some posts here, I guess I just wasn't allowing it to heat long enough. Are you installing new p/u? I put some GFS in my MIM Strat and wired it exactly like the original ones were, but now the tone controls don't operate the way thy're supposed to. Among other things there's no tone control for the treble pickup. [/quote'] More than likely a bad pot ground. Try using a paper clip to bypass the grounds on the tone pot. Sharpen one end of the clip, and use that end on the wire to be grounded. Use the other end to attach to the pot. You should be able to find the problem point rather easily, but you may need another pair of hands to operate the guitar controls while you connect the bypass. Of course, you need to have the guitar hooked up to your amp while doing all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Martin Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 For big jobs I use a clothes iron. No precision needed. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elessar820 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 I picked up a 25/40 watt variable iron at Radio Shack a few months back. It works great, 40 is perfect for grounding pots and 25 is plenty for wires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 More than likely a bad pot ground. Try using a paper clip to bypass the grounds on the tone pot. Sharpen one end of the clip' date=' and use that end on the wire to be grounded. Use the other end to attach to the pot. You should be able to find the problem point rather easily, but you may need another pair of hands to operate the guitar controls while you connect the bypass. Of course, you need to have the guitar hooked up to your amp while doing all this.[/quote'] Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepblue Posted December 10, 2008 Author Share Posted December 10, 2008 Are you installing new p/u? Im getting a pre-wired pickguard from Rothstein. Everything is top shelf, and hes using Stephensdesign pickups. I should be getting it any day now. I had to remove the old pickguard and I have sold the pups and all to a fella whos coming over tomorrow. Thats why I needed a soldering iron to remove the Strats jack and ground wires. http://www.guitar-mod.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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