Re: Soldering to pots
+3.
Scuff the area, use flux properly, and heat the s**t out of it. Also make sure you've got some solder on the tip of the iron to make better contact with the pot. It also helps to have a variable power iron so you can turn the heat up for jobs like this, but turn it down when working with smaller, heat-sensitive components.
It takes a lot of practice to do this without damaging things, though. Best to practice on one that you don't intend to use.