Cutting Holes for Guitar Pickups Can I Fill Them Back Up Again

I oft notice that when talking to someone who wants to modify their pickups, they're so worried most the soldering aspect that they're either completely put off, or they decide they'll need to to pay a tech (or perhaps me) to install them. While of form I'm happy to help, and maybe collect a trivial beer money, it's actually not necessary. Yes, soldering can exist an amazingly complicated and difficult skill, when we're talking well-nigh tiny printed circuit boards and incredibly sensitive components. But inside a guitar, nosotros have quite thick wires, which connect to prissy big terminals – usually in the form of looped lugs. We have plenty of infinite. And most of the components we use are very hard to damage – in about cases, the worst possible outcome of a fault is that we need to unsolder something, clean it up, and practice it once again.

In this commodity I'll take you through the various things you'll demand to know about soldering to work on your guitar. You'll need to know how to protect your guitar, how to solder to lugs, how to de-solder wires, how to make clean contacts,and how to solder to the back of a pot. But kickoff, lets make sure we've got the right equipment.

Equipment

Firstly, you'll demand a soldering fe. Information technology doesn't demand to be expensive, although if you're doing a lot of soldering, y'all might like to get a temperature-controlled soldering iron. A 25W fe isn't really powerful enough. I practice all my soldering with a 40W iron, which is just correct. A chisel tip or pencil tip are both fine – it's more a affair of what works all-time for you. Commencement with a chisel tip if yous're not sure. A soldering stand up is essential, as is a sponge for cleaning the tip.

Like a lot of things in guitar wiring, the type of solder you apply attracts a reasonable amount of superstition regarding tone. Take it from me – you don't need to worry. Just get something that is called "solder" and you will exist fine. For guitar work, thin solder is improve than a thicker type. We're talking less than a millimetre in diameter, ideally.

Like a pocket-sized bandage member in the movie Full Recall, soldering can make yous wish y'all had 3 hands. Y'all'll probably practice merely fine with two, but if yous do discover you lot're having trouble, I recommend getting a "helping hand" – basically a stand that has some moveable clips on it. Yous tin can apply it to concur your piece of work in the desired position, leaving your hands free for the job at hand.

Other equipment I like to have to hand: tweezers, needle-nosed pliers, a solder pump and some solder braid.

Protecting your guitar

When y'all're working with solder, occasionally a pocket-size drop of hot solder will "escape". If this lands on the finish of your guitar information technology will instantly make a hole. And so, before y'all practise any soldering, put rags or thick menu all around the guitar and brand sure they're secure. If at that place's a guitar y'all're doing a lot of piece of work on, or you lot're going to be soldering in a lot of the same type of guitar, you lot could brand a "soldering shield" for that guitar. This is a piece of thick card large enough to cover a decent area of the guitar, with a hole cut in it the same shape as the wiring cavity. It tin come in very handy.

While we're on the subject of protection, information technology's besides worth wearing safety goggles – at least until y'all're confident you're in control of your solder.

Soldering iron care

The tip of your soldering iron should always be clean and shiny earlier you use information technology to practice any soldering. If it's wearisome and dark, oestrus information technology upward and wipe it on a wet sponge. If this still doesn't aid, y'all can cook some flux-core solder on to the tip then wipe it, which will work, or y'all can clean it with flux, or a specialised soldering cleaner.

It's of import to notation, though, that making the iron completely clean of all substances is what makes information technology go dull. The atomic number 26 is oxidising, which is what makes it go dark. Y'all need to go along a tiny bit of solder coating on the tip – this is known equally "tinning" the tip.

When you turn your soldering iron off, it's likely that it will go dull once more equally you lot permit it cool. If y'all want to avoid this, you can continuously wipe it on your sponge until it is completely cool, which volition cease the thin coat of rust from forming.

Transferring heat from your soldering iron

Once you have a clean and shiny tip, you are well-placed to showtime soldering. Information technology's important to note that the point of the soldering iron is to become your other components hot – not to melt solder itself. Depending on the shape of the tip you're using, and the shape of the components yous're heating, you may have a little trouble. A useful tip is that you lot can use a tiny drop of solder to the tip of the iron, which, when pressed against the component, will mold itself to the component'south shape and transfer heat much more quickly. However, you demand to be enlightened that letting a blob of solder stay hot for a long fourth dimension will oxidise the solder and ruin information technology. This follows on into everything you lot do – don't apply heat for long periods of time. If after a few seconds you find you can't get the chore done, remove the heat and regroup.

Making a solder joint

OK, here we are at the role where we solder a wire to a contact. The almost important thing to recollect here is that solder isn't mucilage. You shouldn't use information technology to fill up a gap betwixt two pieces of metal, and you shouldn't try to apply it to both surfaces and stick them together. You should remember of it as being added security for an already-functional mechanical joint.

Before you bring the terminate of a wire to a component, you demand to tin the terminate. Twist the strands together, apply the iron to the wire, and then when it's hot enough, take a little solder to the wire as well. It will speedily soak into the strands of the wire. Utilise as little solder every bit possible here – the aim is merely to hold the strands together and provide a surface that solder will readily flow to. For "pushback" cloth-covered wire and single-core bell wire, tinning is less important, but for multi-strand wire it'due south crucial.

Most components in guitars have solder lugs – they're footling loops of metallic that are incredibly handy, because they give you a "hook" y'all can utilize. Poke the wire through using your fingers, or tweezers if necessary, and bend it so that it holds steady. The wire should be firmly touching the contact, not hovering somewhere nigh it. Bring in the soldering iron and employ it to oestrus both the wire and the lug. Once they are hot, you can feed a trivial solder into the joint – not on to the fe! You don't need loads of solder – an ideal solder joint will be shiny and small, and you may fifty-fifty exist able to still run across the individual strands of wire through the solder. Once you lot take solder in there, remove the oestrus.

It's of import that cypher moves while the solder is liquid. If anything does move, yous'll meet the joint get wearisome. This is a dry solder joint and it will cause you problem, if not immediately, then before long. Re-do it now instead of having to strip the guitar downwards again in six months' time!

De-soldering

If you're switching pickups, rather than wiring a new guitar, and so your first job with the fe is going to exist removing the old wires. This is easier than soldering – all y'all really have to do is cook the solder that'south already there, and, while information technology's still liquid, remove the wire. I like to practice this past getting a grip on the wire I'm removing with some pliers offset, and applying just a little tension. Like this, you can feel when the solder has melted and simply pull the wire abroad.

Cleaning Contacts

Since you're likely to exist soldering to the contact from which you just removed a wire, information technology will help you to make clean the contact if in that location'southward a lot of solder left on it. For example, if you lot're working on a volume pot, the three lugs have holes in them for y'all to loop the wire through – simply these loops can easily become airtight off with solder.

To clean up, you tin can either use solder braid or a pump. Solder braid is good for when yous really need to go every terminal bit of solder off. You lot put the braid on the contact, employ heat to it with the iron, and so when the solder melts it soaks into the braid. More than frequently, though, you'll just need to become the bulk of the solder off, and this is more easily done with a solder pump. You lot "charge" the pump past pushing the plunger down until it clicks, melt the solder with the fe, and then put the nozzle of the pump against the melted solder and push button the button on the pump. Information technology creates a momentary vacuum that sucks the melted solder upwardly into the pump.

Here's a video demo showing how to de-solder a wire from a lug, and clean the lug ready for future apply.

Soldering to a pot

The backs of pots are commonly used as grounding points for other components in the guitar. However, soldering to a pot can be difficult, as the large amount of thick metallic is capable of arresting a lot of heat without getting hot plenty to melt solder. If you lot're not careful, this can lead to heating the pot for such a long time that information technology overheats the pot's internal resistive strip, and the pot stops working properly.

There are a few tricks to soldering to the back of a pot. Firstly, pots oft accept an oily blanket when they're new. This isn't helping. Also, the smoothness of the pot can mean that solder has nothing to "grip" on to. You lot tin can solve both of these problems by giving the back of  the pot a thorough going-over with some fine grit sandpaper or a wire brush.

Once you've done this and you lot have a nice roughed-up surface, y'all tin can also tin the back of the pot. Apply some solder to the iron, and so bring this to the pot. It will quickly heat up the part of the pot it's touching and period on to the pot. When this happens, spread the solder around with the iron and you lot at present have a tinned surface that volition be easier to solder to.

When it'southward time to actually solder a wire to the pot, it'south more hard than soldering to a lug because the back of the pot won't help yous by holding the wire in place. If you can rig up some clips to hold the wire firmly so that's what you should do. Then you tin can but oestrus the wire and the pot, feed some solder into the bring together as before, and yous're done.

If you can't rig upward clips to hold the wire in place, so yous can apply my method. You lot have to take everything set up beforehand as it needs to be done swiftly. Your right hand will exist used for the soldering iron and your left for everything else. So, to your left, place your solder, your needle-nosed pliers and the wire. Bring the wire to the back of the pot, and hold it in place with the soldering fe. With your other manus, bring the solder in and make the join. Now chop-chop put the solder downwardly and option up the needle-nosed pliers. Employ the pliers to hold the wire in identify and remove the iron. The solder dries, and at present yous have your nice clean solder joint to the dorsum of a pot.

I try to avoid soldering to the back of a pot whenever possible. Oftentimes, I will tin can all the ground wires together, wrap them in heatshrink, and accept a unmarried wire from there to a pot. This means simply a single solder bring together to the pot is necessary instead of several, which makes things much easier. Yous can also observe solder lugs that yous can sandwich between the pot and the guitar, and solder to those.

Learning to solder is an essential skill if you want to be able to repair your guitar on the go. In that location are times when your guitar might but cut out – merely information technology'due south actually just one loose wire. Being able to quickly reattach it instead of taking it to a tech will relieve you time and money – and you might even relish information technology. I certainly practise.

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Source: https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-players-room/how-to-solder

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