Re: Blog: How to Solder
It's mentioned in the article, but not reflected in the picture -- if you are going to solder on or around the guitar, protect it with something. I usually drape a towel over the finished parts.
Note: A towel or any other protection is not a replacement for careful, slow, deliberate action. And even then, you can still mess up. I was shielding my bass, and soldering inside the pickup routes, and melted a little of the finish on a couple of spots at the edges. Not enough to notice if you didn't already know it was there, but still. Not the way you want to christen a new build.