Soldering hell

[diablo175]

Sold a guitar that needs to have the original p'up put back in. While I successfully installed the previous one, I am stymied with replacing the original. The issue? I suspect I've fried the volume pot when I soldered the grounds to the bottom of it.

Here's the beak down: single EMG HZ (passive) with one volume, no tone & no switches. Followed EMG's schematics to the letter. Had a more competent solderer overlook my handiwork and he was satisfied with my work. The only poorly done part were the grounds to the volume pot. There's quite a bit of old solder on there and I tried to remove it. I am thinking that I inadvertently fried the pot. Is this possible?

The result was nary any sound coming out until pot was rolled to 3/4 on and the sound was shit and low volume, at that. No volume control.

Rechecked my soldering. Everything looks solid.

Suggestions?

[murkat]

A new pot?

[diablo175]

A new pot?

LOL. Yeah, it's looking like that's the solution.

But before I undid all my soldering I wanted to see if there was something I was overlooking.

And so I don't fry the new pot again, any tips on how to solder the grounds onto the pot?

[zenmindbeginner]

Twist all of your grounds together... scuff the top of the pot with a tiny piece of sandpaper and solder the twisted grounds to the area on the top of the pot (housing). You can also sort of "tin" the top of the pot that got scuffed with sandpaper with a little solder to get things started on the right track before you solder the twisted grounds.

Oh and never get too much solder on a pot, use a desoldering wick and remove as much as possible if this ever happens again... the lugs can get shorted out with wayward solder quite easily.

Get in and get out when soldering pots and switches... too much heat can destroy them from time to time. Heat sinks are cool if you are having a heat issue... I run my iron as hot as it can go and when it's super hot, you have to work sort of quickly. A heat sink won't really help you while grounding pots though, but is useful for soldering lugs and terminals.

[silentman]

Just don't let Poe near your guitar.

[murkat]

Most new solder is lead free (rohs) and requires a lot of heat to

solder correctly. Luckly, I have some old school solder with lead that solders easly.

stay on the rim, edge of pot.

Keeping the solder tip clean, dipping/ wiping on wet sponge.

Pre solder the pot.

Pre solder the wires.

with a fresh dot of solder on tip,

solder connections.

Hold in place till cool.

The cheezy radio shack and Home depot pencil stick type soldering guns do not work very well anymore.

Get a good soldering gun.

I recomend~ http://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi-station1a.html

Mine is going on 7 years now, with little maintence, just a new tip once in a while.

Money well worth spent. They are cheap, but work very well.

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

Buy that solder station above. Mine cost $60 over here & it's brilliant...

[aknapp]

I just had the same thing happen to me. New pickups, old pot, lots of leftover solder. Sound would vary between full voulme, 20% volume or no volume.

Resoldered the connections 2x, plus a different pickup, which is when I realized the pot might be fried.

New pot = normal volume control.

Murkat - thanx for the soldering tips.

[zenmindbeginner]

Buy that solder station above. Mine cost $60 over here & it's brilliant...

+1

Not only that, but the holder and sponge are separate from the heat source, which can give you MAD flexibility when soldering.

[DaveL]

That's a nice deal on that solder station. I recently got the weller equivalent for about $42 on

amazon, the weller doesn't seem as nice but I do LOVE the little stand, the heat control and

the sponge. If you take your time and learn how to do it yourself, that rig will pay for

itself in no time.

[Hbom]

I'm sure I will get shoes thrown at me for this but, if you are not bound by tradition, you might try some of these.

Get them from http://www.guitarpar...ical_shield.htm

item #EP-4968-000 Solder Lug Grounding Washers.

They eliminate the need of heating your pot at all and are especially great for those who like to change pickups a lot. 2 packs & shipping is under 10 bucks & saves lots of time & pots.

OK to start throwing now.

[BadgerDave]

What, no one mentioned soldering flux yet? Get a flux pencil and apply a bit of flux to the connections just before you apply the heat. It cuts the time you need to have the soldering tip on the back of the pot by 50% or more. Magic stuff!

[diablo175]

What, no one mentioned soldering flux yet? Get a flux pencil and apply a bit of flux to the connections just before you apply the heat. It cuts the time you need to have the soldering tip on the back of the pot by 50% or more. Magic stuff!

The solder I'm using doesn't require flux but I do have it... thanks to all for the tips! Great stuff!

As a follow up- I pulled the old pot and found that the diameter of the new one is a tad wider than the old So, now I gotta drill the hole a tiny bit wider to accept the new pot. Hope I don't wreck the finish. The guitar is already sold so If i wreck it, I lose a bit of cash or the whole deal goes south...

suggestions on how to do this without trashing the finish?

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

[oops] see below...

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

FFS! Drill from the top & tape over the hole. Might even be an idea to needle file the hole from the top with a rounded needle file. Others may know a better way = I'm just guestimating here...

[burningyen]

[zenmindbeginner]

You can wrap some sandpaper around a pencil and try to slowly enlarge the hole from underneath if you don't feel comfortable drilling (need drill press).

[gorch]

Forget all the foolish HFC tips & tricks and give it to a tech to solve the mess you've just created.

Then decide if you want to invest in the right tools for better work in the future. You might pick up the HFC foolishness later on.

[murkat]

What, no one mentioned soldering flux yet? Get a flux pencil and apply a bit of flux to the connections just before you apply the heat. It cuts the time you need to have the soldering tip on the back of the pot by 50% or more. Magic stuff!

The solder I'm using doesn't require flux but I do have it... thanks to all for the tips! Great stuff!

As a follow up- I pulled the old pot and found that the diameter of the new one is a tad wider than the old So, now I gotta drill the hole a tiny bit wider to accept the new pot. Hope I don't wreck the finish. The guitar is already sold so If i wreck it, I lose a bit of cash or the whole deal goes south...

suggestions on how to do this without trashing the finish?

Harbor Freight Tools.

they sell reamers like you want for dollars, pocket change.

[Lockbody]

The cheezy radio shack and Home depot pencil stick type soldering guns do not work very well anymore.

Get a good soldering gun.

I recomend~ http://www.circuitsp...-station1a.html

Mine is going on 7 years now, with little maintence, just a new tip once in a while.

Money well worth spent. They are cheap, but work very well.

I have the exact same one and it works great.

That reminds me I need to order a new 4mm tip for soldering pots.

[diablo175]

Where the hell was this when I was learning how to solder (poorly)? Would've saved me a world of experimentation and developing bad soldering habits...

[velorush]

The cheezy radio shack and Home depot pencil stick type soldering guns do not work very well anymore.

Get a good soldering gun.

I recomend~ http://www.circuitsp...-station1a.html

Mine is going on 7 years now, with little maintence, just a new tip once in a while.

Money well worth spent. They are cheap, but work very well.

I have the exact same one and it works great.

That reminds me I need to order a new 4mm tip for soldering pots.

Yet another +1 on the Circuit Specialists station. I bought mine on Murkat's recommendation a few years ago. Works like a champ - the separate holder/sponge is very helpful on a crowded bench. The ability to crank the temperature way up really makes grounding to the back of pots much easier as you can get in and out very quickly without roasting the carbon strip inside.

[diablo175]

I now have a very good soldering iron. No issues there. When I removed the EVH Frankenpup I used my shitty Home Depot low wattage iron and managed to fry the pot trying to unsolder the grounds from the bottom of the unit. I'm quite sure I didn't help the situation by using the better iron to reattach new grounds. Oops.