Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

B

BloodRose

Professional Scapegoat
Ok.. Is there a certain rating of soldering iron recommended doing pickup changes? my soldering iron (30 watts) works ok for installing new pups, BUT.. I cannot get it to melt the old solder bead that holds on the cover on covered pickups. (they use a diff kind of solder, or what?)

Next question... I have the pup laying upside on a towel as as Im holding the iron on the bead on the back trying to get it heated up and Im noticing a wet spot forming on the towel.. so, my iron wont melt the bead, but will melt the wax out of the pickup.. %$#%@#$%#%! You suppose Ive done any damage to the pup from losing that wax?

Ok, thanks for your input!
 
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Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

I have two soldering tools. I use the one with a big 1/4" tip to solder ground wires onto the back of pots, attach a ground wire to a Strat tremolo claw and to unsolder and solder nickel pickup covers.

You know this I'm sure, but that tip has to be kept fresh and clean in order to transfer heat properly.
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

Well, you certainly don't want to heat it to terribly much as you run the risk of eventually melting the bobbins. A 30 watt iron should suffice. When I go through this process, which I hate by the way for the reasons you describe, I use the method shown in this video. Takes a little work and a fair amount of heat, but it works pretty well. Hope this helps.


I don't use all the fancy gadgets but you get the idea.
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

I'd recommend buying a new tip for your soldering iron. I think 30-watts should be fine, but as gunk builds up or you burn the tip, it becomes much less effective. As for damage to the pickup, I think you're fine. Pickups don't need wax and I guarantee that you didn't melt all of it. If it is microphonic when you're done, you can always redip it in wax.

Also, I'd use a solder sucker once you get the solder to flow. It will be much cleaner laying a new bead rather than melting & remelting the original.
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

Solder suckers suck...:jester:

:smack: sorry, couldn't resist. :wall:
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

I have a small pointed tip that i use for my precise rewire issues and i was using a wide screwdriver type of flat tip to try to do this unsolder. the tip is new. and yes, i have a solder sucker bulb. the problem is, i cant get it to liquify enough to suck it out. I may try to get one of the ones Lew posted though as those are alot more precise. the bulb is bulky and hard to get into tight spots. Thanks Lew!
 
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Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

use a box cutting knife. I never , ever touch the baseplate of a pickup with a soldering iron these days. Don't worry a few passes through and the box cutting knife will cut right through it. Just be careful .
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

Use a Dremel with a thin cutting wheel to remove the cover. When you put it back on all you do is melt solder to solder.
PC

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

a 40W with a big chisel tip should do the trick, a pencil tip doesn't work very well for this IME
+1 on a solder sucker, a little spring-loaded syringe type one is all you should need unless you're planning on doing tons of work
consider them re-potted, lol

EDIT: a small wire brush and a little bit of flux paste could help too
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

I put mine in the fridge overnight and wearing gloves so as not to body heat them used a dremel and thin cutoff wheel. No wax melt and came apart nicely.

Sent from my SCH-S738C using Tapatalk
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

I just use 2 irons at the same time. Melts the solder quickly and no messing about. Easy.

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

My method is using a solder pump to get more and more lead off, until you can crack the remainder with a very slight twist. A VERY SLIGHT twist that doesn't leave a bulge in the cover.

In general I don't do that sort of thing anymore. Flipping pickups is easy and I just get a covered one or uncovered or whatever I need.

There are numerous problems here including:
  • Looks ugly
  • Ex-covered pickups don't have the tape and you cannot buy exactly the tape that SD is using
  • Ex-uncovered pickups have the tape screwed up by putting the cover on
  • The waxing is partially undone and it might float to where it looks ugly

People who sell me pickups where they messed with the cover, or did magnet changes even on uncovered pickups and not disclosing that when selling are usually in trouble.
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

First, make sure that your solder tip is clean. Use a wet sponge for soldering irons, not a household sponge, it's very specific, I forget what it's made of, but a google search should get you the info. What this is shocks any contaminates off of the tip, this will help in heat transfer. Then use what they call a "solder bridge". With your tip clean, apply a fair amount of solder to the tip, then put your solder tip to the old solder bead, this will increase the area of heat transfer to reheat the old bead. Most people use WAY too much solder...just remember, when it comes to soldering, less is usually more.
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

30w is fine 40w is better, the trick is to put a bit of new soldering over the old, this will melt it faster, the reason why a pickup cover solder needs a lot of time to melt dow is that the cover and the pickup baseplate are discipating the heat, a bit of new solder ads more retained heat so it melts the old solder way faster
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

I find a 30 watt iron way too small for this. Too much heat is transferred to the pup in the time it takes to get that solder to melt. A 60 watt with a large tip (like in that video) will do the job quickly with very little heat transfer to the pup.
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

I'm in the same boat. I bought a new soldering iron that is 40 watts and the solder will not melt no matter how long I heat the solder. The entire pickup is heating but the solder is not being affected.
 
Re: Pickup cover removal and soldering iron quetions

dopler said:
I'm in the same boat. I bought a new soldering iron that is 40 watts and the solder will not melt no matter how long I heat the solder. The entire pickup is heating but the solder is not being affected.
Click to expand...

It can often be a pain in the butt to get that solder blob off. I don't bother trying any more. Sometimes it melts, and sometimes it doesn't; there seems to be no easily discernible reason for it going one way or the other. I took to removing them with a razor saw, like so:

Zona-35-050-razor-saw.jpg


You can use a Dremel with a thin grinder disc as well, but it makes a thicker cut, and it also throws solder dust all over the pickup, which is not a good for your pickup or for you IMO.
 
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