Trouble soldering a wire back onto the output jack

[ChaosAD]

Hi there. I am trying to fix my friends bass guitar but, for some reason, I just can not get my solder to melt :\
At first I tried a 30w iron. Didn't work.
Then I tried a 40w iron. Still didn't work.
So I tried a 100w soldering gun. Solder still won't melt.

It is absolutely frying me now. It's not industrial strength solder or anything like that. Just stuff I got from maplins.

I have tried leaving all the soldering irons on for 20 minutes or so and trying, still nothing.

Am I missing something? or am I being dumb? Or is my solder not really solder? I'm so fried it's actually starting to stress me out a bit lol.

This is my solder (is it definitely solder?)

[ahpook]

Well, only you can say if it's actually solder...but that looks like wire to me.

is it soft...can you pull it apart ?

Edited May 9, 2014 by ahpook

[ChaosAD]

Well I called my dad to ask him (as it's his stuff) and, apparently, it's not actually solder. It's industrial strength locking wire that he uses when fixing aircraft's and you wouldn't be able to melt it even if you used a flame thrower.
So that solves that one lol.

[Davebassics]

Don't worry your not the first! The lads at work are always switching my solder for wire.

[dannybuoy]

Also, most solder you buy nowadays is lead free and really hard to work with - there are a few places that still stock the good old lead variety though!

[planer]

Y'know I looked at that and thought, 'that looks like locking wire to me'...

The biggest difference, apart from the fact that it won't melt, is the solder will be bendy and break easily, and locking wire is as stiff as a board and razor sharp on the end.

[paul_5]

http://www.doctortweek.co.uk/shop/article_144/Solder-18SWG-(1-meter)---Low-Temp%2C-Fast-Flow%2C-proper-solder!.html?sessid=qu6QmpmDu3X0tqBAqCZwU2WxrNDpuhT5y1J5gHBWDHy8UJ0DezSiv2LfFgULyTS7&shop_param=cid%3D19%26aid%3D144%26

That'll do nicely.

[Count Bassy]

Reminds me of an old friend who was doing some brazing, and accidentally picked up a round file instead of a brazing rod.