acidbass Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Hello all, So I bought a soldering iron and some solder with the intention of putting together a new passive circuit for my Jazz Bass. I have the diagrams and all the parts too, so basically it's a complete set that just needs some DIY! However, when I tried to solder the components together, I was lost! I did some basic soldering in school many years ago, and remember it being a lot easier than this! The solder didn't stick to the pots or components and I ended up de-soldering everything and taking it apart again out of worry that I'd mess the components up. Has anyone else had the same dilemma? Any advice or tips? I'm considering getting the circuit soldered by a local electronics expert, but the satisfaction of doing it myself and learning a new skill is also a big part of it for me. Thanks in advance! Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 [quote name='acidbass' post='202178' date='May 19 2008, 03:07 PM']Hello all, So I bought a soldering iron and some solder with the intention of putting together a new passive circuit for my Jazz Bass. I have the diagrams and all the parts too, so basically it's a complete set that just needs some DIY! However, when I tried to solder the components together, I was lost! I did some basic soldering in school many years ago, and remember it being a lot easier than this! The solder didn't stick to the pots or components and I ended up de-soldering everything and taking it apart again out of worry that I'd mess the components up. Has anyone else had the same dilemma? Any advice or tips? I'm considering getting the circuit soldered by a local electronics expert, but the satisfaction of doing it myself and learning a new skill is also a big part of it for me. Thanks in advance! Danny[/quote] Is it lead-free solder? Horrible stuff, doesn't flow as well and has a higher melting point. I can send you some leaded muck if you don't mind ruining your health and the environment. Keping the tip of the iron and the joint clean is also very important. Wipe the iron on a damp sponge. Make sure the whole joint is heated, not just the solder. Don't move the joint while it's cooling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyonbass Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 See if [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4"]This[/url] helps. There are loads of tutorials on the net, dunno if there's any good ones, but google "how to solder" and you should find something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jobiebass Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 I took 9 hours to wire up my P bass on the weekend and thats passive. Ok, I stared off with the wrong diagram which didnt help things... from trial and error I found out that.... to get the earth to stick to the back of the pot, cratch the pot with a screwdriver to nail to give it something to stick to and hold onto. I put the tip of the iron on the wire and heated the wire up while pushing the solder half way between the wire and the iron to get heat off both. to clean the end of the wires, carbon and other things that get on there (I really have no clue) you can use some stuff called FLUX, dip the wire in, no need to clean off, then just solder as normal. there is a strong possibility what ive told you is wrong. This is just what I did and it seamed to work out fine for me. all though it did take me a long time and it did look a mess cause I used far too much solder and I had to re-do it cause I wired it up originally from the wrong diagram. The fender website's wiring diagrams are SHOCKINGLY harder then they should be. colour coding would have been nice like ive seen on other sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOD2 Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Google "How to" and "Solder" and you'll find a few guides. Soldering onto pots is actually quite difficult as the mass of metal conducts all the heat away from the iron and you end up with bad joints. To solder onto a pot you need a reasonable power of soldering iron - probably about 30W - and you need to let the tip of the iron sit on the pot shell for quite a while to heat it up sufficiently. If you leave the iron on the pot shell for a while then offer up some solder to the shell it's ready when the solder starts to melt on the shell. [Note - it is possible to easily modify guitar wiring to use a "star ground" system that does not involve soldering onto the pot shells at all - more here [url="http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/bass.php"]Guitarnuts.com[/url] Some Tips Where possible, "tin" the wires to be soldered first. That means you melt some solder onto the wire itself before you try to make a join. This is especially important when soldering braided wires. You need at least three hands so if you can find some way of clamping things while you're working it will help. Some crocodile clips or these [url="http://www.transtools.co.uk/store/prod_4907/electrical/soldering/helping-hands-with-large-magnifier.html"]Helping Hands[/url] come in useful. If possible, bend the wires in such a way that they stay in position themselves, or keep a small screwdriver handy to hold the wires in place when you remove the soldering iron (otherwise everything falls apart when you move the iron away). Try to be quick when you come to make the join - if you apply too much heat to a plastic coated wire the plastic melts so speed here will help. If you use the above 3 tips this will help in this. Oh...and if you drop the iron do NOT pick it up by the tip with your fingers (speaks from experience !) Other than that it's practice. "When I were a lad" we had to practice making little wireframe cubes out of straigtened out paperclips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jobiebass Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 just started to watch that video... how hot is his solder?? you had to have the solder ON the iron for 60secs just to get it to start melting... ...I think I need a new iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Like back lines and car engines you can never have enough power in your soldering iron! [url="http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=68224&group_ID=12178&store=uk&dir=catalog"]http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P6...amp;dir=catalog[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauster Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Some good asvice above - tinning wires and components is good advice. Having the right tools for the job will ake things easier - a pencil tipped iron of 20ish watts is great for sldering components to PCBs etc; for soldering wires to pots, it's quicker to use a higher powered iron with a flat tip - the pot will act as a heat sink and take a while to heat up with a low/medium powered fine-tip iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budget bassist Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 I had this a while ago, i found that you just need to keep the tip of the iron clean, use either a damp sponge or flux (great stuff) as mentioned before, and also remember to tin all components first. It's pretty simple as long as you remember those two things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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