aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

D

devilfish

New member
hi,

i have now gone through a few CTS Pots because when i try and unsolder a wire from a pot, it jsut melts the inside of the pot before the soldr actually melts. any tipes? im using a 40 watt cheapy-ish soldering iron...what is reccomended for solder and unsoldering inside a guitar.

or is tehre an alternative to soldering to the bakc of the pots?

thanks

thanks very much
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

sometimes with ground wires i'll solder a very short thicker wire to the back of the pot once.. then solder all grounds to the short wire... that way if i need to unsolder the grounds i can cut the wire and take a bit more insulation off it, and resolder the grounds to the wire and leave the pot alone..

i do find with large lumps of old solder it does help to have around a slightly hotter iron with a larger head on it to clean up the mess.... sure you run the risk of wrecking the pot but what the hell.. my next iron will be a varible heat one for sure...
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

PS-some tips on the guitar sheilding thread show a grounding lug that is attached to the sheilding and not the back of the pot.... it stops the ground loop isses... the pots are still grounded as they are mounted on the foil of the pickguard
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

I have a "Soldavac" desolderer that I use to suck up most of the old solder when I'm changin pickups. That seems to help quite a bit.

When I'm installing pickups with single conductor braided cables (my favorite kind) I solder the center conductor to the terminal, then I lay down a little puddle of solder on the case for the braid. Then I remelt the puddle, wnd push the braided cable down into it with a tool, and move my soldering iron to the cable to the heat makes some of the solder bond to the cable.

Seems to be working.

I don't like CTS pots. I know they're popular, but they're kind of flimsy compared to CGE pots, which are smoother and easier to rotate anyhow.
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

Soldering..... First, all you need is a 20 to 30 watt (max) pencil tip iron and have steel wool there to keep the tip clean.

Second... CLEAN metal = excellent soldering. Take that piece of steel wool and clean a small spot on the back of the pot and get rid of the oils that leech from metal. Keep your fingers off any clean metal as they have oils too.

Third, use flux and always keep the tip of the iron clean and "tin" it with a small amount of solder and heat the joint up and it sucks into the wire and you only need to touch it with the spool when the solder from the tip goes. On the pot, when the flux starts to sizzle and crackle, it time to hit the area with the spool and use the puddle method described by the other poster.

Clean... just can't stress that enough. If there is old solder on the pot, remove it or replace it. Old solder on the lead wire, cut it off.
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

hi,

thanks for all the advice, the only tihgn is...when i try and melt the solder thats already there, by the time its heated up the solder to melt it and take out wires, the pot has broken in some way...in most cases the thin plastic disc has warped and you cant rotate the pot.

thanks
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

A quality 40 watt with a chisel tip should be more than adequate. Your iron may not be putting out the heat it is supposed to. A 40 watt at full operating temperature should begin to melt even a glob of solder almost on contact. It may not melt it all the way through, but it should work through it quickly.
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

I've always wanted to create a grounding star that looks like a little glove. The "wrist" would be soldered to the back of the pot or shielding, and the ground wires would attach to each finger loop.
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

claydots said:
Soldering..... First, all you need is a 20 to 30 watt (max) pencil tip iron and have steel wool there to keep the tip clean.

Second... CLEAN metal = excellent soldering. Take that piece of steel wool and clean a small spot on the back of the pot and get rid of the oils that leech from metal. Keep your fingers off any clean metal as they have oils too.

.
Click to expand...

Steel wool? Near an unsealed pot? Just use a scribe or sandpaper, or just acetone; the last thing you want near a pot is little fragments of conductive metal dust (which have quite a bit of oil in it from the mfg process BTW).
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

could you just solder everything to a piece of foil and then send a wire from that to the output jack? or something similar?
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

hiu,

im not very good with understading electrics.

but from all the schematics it seems that each pot has a ground wire soldered to the back...are there any schematics i can look at which have the ground wires soldered somehwer alterative...?

i have no problem really soldering too the pots, its unsoldering which seems to nacker mien up...i think ill get a 40 watt weller with a chisel tip sometiem soon...and jsut keep it as clean as possible.
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

I use a 25 watt Weller and the only time I have any trouble is with braded covers, and the Claw on trems.

Make sure your tip is tight, clean and in good shape.
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

Perhaps this is a little off topic, but the pencil-type soldering tools, are not appropriate for use near magnetic pickups. Instead try use a soldering station type, such as this:


BTW you can see in Seymour's installation videos that he uses a soldering station

The reason? The possibility of demagnetizing the magnets in the pickups. Maybe everything will be fine, but as Ken Fischer, amp guru, states below, 'why take chances?'

"...NEVER USE A SOLDERING GUN NEAR PICKUPS!!! Soldering guns are a powerful transformer that can weaken, and demagnetize certain magnets, that are commonly in used pickups. For an example, a soldering gun can erase most alnico magnets just as well as a tape eraser clears a recording tape. Soldering is a whole subject itself. I will say one thing about soldering equipment. That is to properly solder guitar pickups I personally, would only use a transformer operated, low voltage, temperature controlled, solder station, in the 25 to 50 watt range. Keep the main transformer of the station off to the side, at least a foot C25cm) away from any magnates. If you do not own, or have access to such a soldering station, bring your work to a professional who does. About 700 degrees-F, or 350 degrees -C is right for this kind of work. The same can be said for alnico magnets speakers. Although you are less likely to harm these with a soldering gun, why take chances?"
 
Last edited:
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

Well, for only a couple of £ more, you can buy this small soldering station, so it's not really a question of much money.

The reason these are preferable is because they allow you keep the power supply's transformer away from the pickup's magnets, preventing any possible demagnetization. The only thing that should go near the magnets is the heating element.
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

3th3r said:
Well, for only a couple of £ more, you can buy this small soldering station, so it's not really a question of much money.

The reason these are preferable is because they allow you keep the power supply's transformer away from the pickup's magnets, preventing any possible demagnetization. The only thing that should go near the magnets is the heating element.
Click to expand...

OHHHH ok, i understand a bit more now...i jsut thought it was the actual iron you that was the problem.

yes i did see that station but i thought draper was a better make so without knowign stations are better for magnets i had my mind set on the draper one.

also, without knowing ahuge amount about electrics...whats the power supply's transformer and why can it ruin magnets?

(also, where is the power tranformer that would mess upa magnet?)

thanks

thanks
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

3th3r said:
Perhaps this is a little off topic, but the pencil-type soldering tools, are not appropriate for use near magnetic pickups. Instead try use a soldering station type, such as this:


BTW you can see in Seymour's installation videos that he uses a soldering station

The reason? The possibility of demagnetizing the magnets in the pickups. Maybe everything will be fine, but as Ken Fischer, amp guru, states below, 'why take chances?'

"...NEVER USE A SOLDERING GUN NEAR PICKUPS!!! Soldering guns are a powerful transformer that can weaken, and demagnetize certain magnets, that are commonly in used pickups. For an example, a soldering gun can erase most alnico magnets just as well as a tape eraser clears a recording tape. Soldering is a whole subject itself. I will say one thing about soldering equipment. That is to properly solder guitar pickups I personally, would only use a transformer operated, low voltage, temperature controlled, solder station, in the 25 to 50 watt range. Keep the main transformer of the station off to the side, at least a foot C25cm) away from any magnates. If you do not own, or have access to such a soldering station, bring your work to a professional who does. About 700 degrees-F, or 350 degrees -C is right for this kind of work. The same can be said for alnico magnets speakers. Although you are less likely to harm these with a soldering gun, why take chances?"
Click to expand...

"Pencil Type Soldeirng Tools Are Not Appropriate?" Hmm..... could you be backwards here....? from what i'm reading in the Ken Fischer quote i believe he is talking about the pistol gun type irons where you pull the trigger and the gun heats up fast and hot....
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

hi,

does it matter which tip i were to use?

if i bought a pencil tip, how would i know it fits?

thanks
 
Re: aternatives to soldering to back of pots...

WhoFan said:
"Pencil Type Soldeirng Tools Are Not Appropriate?" Hmm..... could you be backwards here....? from what i'm reading in the Ken Fischer quote i believe he is talking about the pistol gun type irons where you pull the trigger and the gun heats up fast and hot....
Click to expand...

+1.

Also, Artie pointed out in another thread that CTS themselves don't recommend soldering to the back of their pots - they really aren't built or tested to do that.

I find that unless I have a ton of ground leads it's just as easy to link my grounds to the ring lug of the jack. If you have more than three or so, you can join your grounds on copper shielding tape. It takes solder pretty well and you don't risk destroying a component. Control plates (like on a Tele) work well too if your guitar has one, and you should be grounding it anyway.
 
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