Solder, tools, and procedure

[Sage]

Well, thanks to everyone who has helped me up to this point. I'm getting ready to replace the pickups in my guitar with Alnico II Pros -- this will be the first time I've done this sort of work myself, and I'm doing it partly to save money, but mostly to learn how to do it on my own. I've got a few beginner's questions...

1. What kind of solder should I be using?
2. The space where the wiring is done is kind of cramped and my soldering iron is a bit clunky... is a smaller one recommended, and are there any other special tools I should consider investing in?
3. I have a volume pot, a tone pot, and a 3-way toggle. Both the volume and tone pots are push/pull... should I remove this stuff to do the wiring, or do it all inside the body?

Both the old pickups and the new are 4-wire Duncans, so I expect this to be a relatively simple task of replacing the old with the new, in terms of wiring.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[ShredderDude]

Re: Solder, tools, and procedure

Well, thanks to everyone who has helped me up to this point. I'm getting ready to replace the pickups in my guitar with Alnico II Pros -- this will be the first time I've done this sort of work myself, and I'm doing it partly to save money, but mostly to learn how to do it on my own. I've got a few beginner's questions...

1. What kind of solder should I be using?
2. The space where the wiring is done is kind of cramped and my soldering iron is a bit clunky... is a smaller one recommended, and are there any other special tools I should consider investing in?
3. I have a volume pot, a tone pot, and a 3-way toggle. Both the volume and tone pots are push/pull... should I remove this stuff to do the wiring, or do it all inside the body?

Both the old pickups and the new are 4-wire Duncans, so I expect this to be a relatively simple task of replacing the old with the new, in terms of wiring.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

1. 30/60 solder, i think it was? i haven't soldered in a while, someone else may have to answer this
2. you should tape the wires down because you don't want to burn off the plastic insulators, trust me... i had some bad experiences....
3. i've done this on a strat so i don't know if the wiring is different on another type of guitar but i cut the wire that went to the 1/4 jack, you can probably desolder this and took it out of the body to allow for more space to work.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Solder, tools, and procedure

I think it's 60/40 rosin core solder that you want.

If you can take the pots out of the guitar, it's probably safer in terms of soldering. One tiny drop of solder will burn a tiny, ugly hole in the guitar's finish - I always cover the guitar with a thick rag to protect it from scratches and/or burns.

Hope this helps,

Chip

 

[3 cent hero]

Re: Solder, tools, and procedure

I think it's 60/40 rosin core solder that you want.

yep, the thin shit