I wanna buy one to learn to solder and wire in some new pickups to 2 of my guitars, but I'm having a difficulty picking an appropriate one. I'm just looking to spend the least possible as I wouldn't be using it for anything besides guitar electronics stuff. I hear you don't need anything beyond 30W with soldering irons for guitar wirings because anything more can damage the potentiometers. Looking through ebay I found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...mMakeTrack=true

Seems fairly cool and simple to use, and it's 30W. I hear it's a good idea to stay away from the "gun" type irons. Does this sound like a good idea?

Edit: Oh look what I found:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...mMakeTrack=true

Looks exactly the same, has a case and stand and is reccomended for guitar pickups.

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I'm pretty sure the only way you're gonna damage any pots is if you touch them with the iron. Just get a soldering iron that works.

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Actually you're supposed to heat the pots when you're soldering the grounds onto them, that's the only way to get the solder to melt.

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Oh, my bad.

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Either one of those irons will be prefect for soldering electronics. Soldering is easy once you read a quick guide and practice a little.

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I didn't know you liked to do that stuff. Thats cool.
I do that stuff all the time at work. Building XLR, T(R)S, and NL4 cables. Sometimes musicians will ask me to fix their electronics in their instruments.
I don't know where you read that you are supposed to heat the pot, but that is correct soldering. If you don't want to do that just "tin" the cable you are soldering and melt some solder directly onto the pot and wire. Look up what tinning means.

You should buy the best soldering iron you can find if you plan on doing it for a long time. I've used many and the suck ones take forever to melt the solder and the tip corrodes away and is unusable.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend the ones that look like guns. They sell these cool irons that come with a holder and sponge alltogether. Get one of those.

yea stay away from the guns man you dont have any fucking room to work at all with those things. Just got to a local hardware store or somethen bro and get the type that reminds you of a screwdriver...i would especially get a "Cold" soldering iron that way you dont have to wait for the thing to heat up or get burned by the thing...

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Thanks guys. Yeah it's my first time doing this, I've read some guides on soldering guitar electronics so I know the basic do's and donts. I've seen people solder before and I figured it's cheaper and more constructive to buy one and learn to do it myself. Plus I'll have a much easier time wiring the thing myself with my desired pickup config(with coiltapping), instead of explaining what I want to my local retarded guitar repair guy.

I went to a local electronic stores and they had some but they were more serious/powerful and expensive than what I need it for. They just had a few gun-types and some big-ass station-style ones, geared for pros I guess.

I think I'll get that 2nd one I mentioned from ebay, has a case and I think it comes with a sponge, if not any regular cheese-like sponge will do right? The one my brother had on his station-style solderer he borrowed from work once had a sponge like that, but it was a little more firm. They're supposed to be moist when you clean off the excess solder on it right?

I have some good quality solder I bought from guitarelectronics.com ages ago. I also have that copper thingy for cavity insulation and nice quality 500k pots(one which is coil tapping), a Switchcraft jack to replace the EMG input jack, and capacitor for the tone knob and good quality wires so I'm good to go, I can't wait to get it done and hear the results.

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Sounds like you got it And yes the sludge sponge is supposed to be damp

The only things I can add here:
Solder in a ventilated area with a fan blowing fumes away from you and wash your hands after touching solder unless you like poisonous lead building up in you body over time.

After that, remember to turn the iron off it you don't want to burn your house down.

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If i were you i would get one of those battery operated ones that are like cool to the touch when you aren't soldering. Like when you push the button or whatever its hot then you let it go and its cool to the touch.

I've heard very good things about it.

Let me tell you what that fucking cord gets in the god damn way. I was soldering my explorer one time and ended up touching the guitar with the hot soldering iron because the fucking chord got held up.

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NO, those damn things are only mini ark welders. They only solder a very small point when they ark and thats it Not a very reliable or conductive solder joint. Solder needs to be melted evenly under the correct heat to make a solid conductive joint.

If you are soldering under a microscope, then sure a mini ark welder might be ideal, but not for most music electronics.

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You sure? I'm pretty sure they work just as good as a regular pencil soldering iron.

I've seen it on the commericals. I'll go look it up and see if i can find it.

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http://www.coldheat.com/pro.cfm

This is the "pro" model. Apparently 2 times better than the original. So you're saying this wouldn't be a good tool to heat the joints on a guitar? Somehow i think this thing will rock.

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I'm sure. I can ark weld a speck of solder with a 9V battery with no problem. Its not a mind blowing technology. If fact, its a pretty cheap scam. Arking battery leads is the only way to generate a fast heat still cool to the touch, but lacks consistency. Real ark welding is impressive though

Proper soldering requires heat. A good solder joint needs the heat on a molecular level in order for the flux and metal to bind correctly. An electrical ark big enough to do the job needed for music electronics would be lethal and would fry the pickup winding insulation.

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these might be of some use to you, soeru. the second one has videos.. although he's soldering on a pcb, it should still be helpful.

http://www.kingbass.com/soldering101.html

http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/telescope/soldering.htm

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Soldering guitars and tube amps etc. is simple as hell. The components are HUGE, you don't need a magnifying glass, etc.

I'll make you a video. Three minutes from now it'll be done

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http://fleinsopp.1.vg/~jo/soldering.avi

XviD video.

I was supposed to edit it and add text and stuff but what the hell, it crashed when i was halfway done so i thought fuck it. I'm having a hard time soldering the wire to the pot since i have to keep both components steady, this is MUCH easier when the pot is stationary. And sorry the cloth was in focus instead of the iron, i didn't bother to do a second take. And don't use that much solder or anything, i just thought I'd use a lot of time and show stuff clearly (well it turned out unclear).

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Thanks laddies, I ordered that one today. The seller said that all the people who buyed it for wiring pickups were really happy with it. I've already seen some of those sites/guides Ill watch that video later, thanks for the help!

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