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DIY Soldering and Wiring.
Overview:
-In this thread, Ill give you all the information you’ll need to perform any soldering and wiring tasks on your guitars or related stuff, including equipment and materials, helpful tips and procedures.
Equipment:
-Soldering iron: As with anything, you get what you pay for. I don’t recommend just a bare soldering iron with no stand, as they are clumsy and dangerous. Don’t get a Radio Shack one either. Now depending on how frequently you plan to solder should dictate how much you would like to spend on an iron. I personally recommend you INVEST a Metcal rework system for anyone who plans to do this quite often. The benefits are a 5 second heat up time, a pen like wand where were you hold it approx 1” from the actual tip of the iron… this is great for accuracy, and also ensures that you wont burn any other wires with the upper stalk like most cheaper irons. These don’t come cheap though (hence “INVEST” [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] ), plan to spend around $300 for a used one on eBay. If you plan to do this a lot, then you’ll not regret spending the money for this one bit… take my word on that. For the once in a blue moon jobs, Id recommend a Weller WLC100 adjustable 5-40 watt soldering station. This little guy comes with a convenient base with a wipe sponge and adjusting knob. Home Depot usually sells these, right next to the welders in the tool corral for about $50… a great buy. What ever you decide on, make SURE it has a sponge on the base for cleaning the tip of the iron.
-Heat gun for shrink wrap.
-Small needle nose pliers, small wire cutters.
-A good wire stripper is worth its weight in gold. Spend the $15-$20 to get one, you’ll be glad you did. Get one of the smaller ones, similar in shape to a needle nosed pliers. You don’t want those big clumsy ones, and you don’t need one of those automatic stripping ones either.
-Small paint brush (for the flux) and an “acid” brush for cleaning.
Materials:
-Solder: Use a flux core solder, any diameter you prefer. I usually sway towards the thicker stuff as you don’t have to feed it as much to get a good amount of solder where you need it to be.
-Flux: You’ll need a paste type No-Clean flux.
-Solder wick, this will remove excess solder and desolder parts and wires.
-Alcohol for cleaning.
-Water to wet your soldering irons sponge(because you took my advise and got an iron with a sponge, right?).
-Shrink sleeving(small).
-Wire: Gauge depends on your application; I recommend you get multiple colors of the same gauge wire such as red, blue, green, white, and black.
Optional Tools/Materials:
-Small barrel pliers: Handy for bending wires and leads. This is a specialty tool though, so it might be hard to find.
-Various metal picks/prods to hold wires in position.
-Tweezers always come in handy.
-Electrical tape is always good to have.
-A mat for your table or desk. Solder can get a little messy, its easier to clean a mat and not ruin your furniture. Also helpful to keep from scratching your guitar or what have you.
-Wire shielding material.
-Adjustable stand with alligator clamps and magnifying glass. These definitely come in handy because we only have two hands, which a lot of times isn’t enough!
-Burn cream and maybe a band aid or two… your probably going to get burned your first couple jobs. Don’t worry though, you’ll learn REAL quick where NOT to grab the soldering iron. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Prep:
Get all your supplies together, heat up your iron for a couple of minutes, wet the sponge. Remove any un-needed components on the guitar that wont affect the installation... it will give you more room to work and prevent possible damage to those parts.
Lay out your new components, looking at the supplied schematics, draw your own wiring diagram placing all the components approx where they would be on your guitar. Its best to know what wires go where before you start so you dont have to redo anything.
Make sure all your components are clean... use the alcohol and acid brush for this. Solder doesent like to adhere to a contaminated surface.
Wire prep and routing:
Place the components in the guitar, in the position in which you want them to be installed. Looking at the diagram you made, place each wire where it needs to go. When placing wires, NEVER put them directly where they need to go. Guitars are subject to alot of movement, so the wire will need stress relief... give some extra wire, and bend it in a soft "S" like pattern. Mark the wire, and cut it. Once all your wires are cut to the proper length, its time to take them back out and strip and tin them. Strip the wire the desired amount, and tin the wire. Tinning means to coat the wire with solder; this is especially helpful when bending the wire so that it will not frey, and also provides a much quicker solder joint and even flow. To tin the wire, dip the stripped end in your flux and lay it flat, apply solder to the tip of the iron, and touch the iron to the wire, moving it along the entire stripped area. One your done, its a good idea to bend the tip of the wire into a "U" shape. This doesent apply to all connections though, use your judgement on that. Do this on all your wires. Now your ready to install.
Soldering:
Once all your components are back in and ready to be soldered, double check that you know where each wire goes. Apply flux the the part the wire is being soldered to. Don't be afraid to use the flux! Next apply solder to the tip of the iron. Place and hold the wire on the component, and touch the iron tip to the joint for approx. 2-3 seconds. Check to make sure the joint is secure and has flowed evenly and move on to the next. If youd like to redo the joint, just repeat the last few steps.
For through hole soldering, eg: installing a new inductor in a wah pedal circut board, you must first remove the old part. On the solder side (bottom) of the board, add flux to the lead to be desoldered, place the wick on the joint and hold the iron onto the wick. You'll see the solder start to travel up the wick... you might need to stop and use fresh wick to remove all the solder. ***BE VERY CAREFUL TO ONLY HEAT THE SOLDERED PART OF THE BOARD (called the "pad"). THE COATINGS (USUALLY GREEN) WILL EASILY BURN IF YOU TOUCH THEM WITH YOUR IRON.*** If you happen to burn the coating a bit, chances are your still ok. Once the solder is removed, the component lead should be free inside the hole. Once all leads are free, gently pull the part out of the board. If one or two leads seem to be stick, touch the iron to the lead and it will come out. Not the polarity (if applicable) of the part your removing... you will need to install the new part the same way unless other wise stated elsewhere. Clean the section with your alcohol and acid brush, as sometimes wicking can leave brown/black debris. To install your new component, insert it into the holes (making sure the polarity, if needed, is correct). Holding the component fron the top, turn the board upside down. At this time you need to cut the leads to about 1/16th", then you can either slightly bend the leads over to hold the part in place, or just hold it there by hand. Apply flux to the leads, touch the iron to the joint, and feed in your solder until the entire pad is coated uniformly and the solder has traveled up the lead. Dont apply too much, if your solder joint looks like a bubble, then theres too much on there. Wick it off and redo.
Other Installation Notes:
Put shrink sleeving/shielding on any wires which may be subject to rubbing on a sharp object and/or close to other electronic components. For example, when installing an EMG system in a Jackson RR3R, the wires from the output jack to the controll cavity pass under the bridge pickup... use shrink sleeving and/or shielding material here.
To join two wires inline, strip and tin each wire end approx. 1/4". Slip a piece of shrink sleeving over one of the wires, double the length of the strip. Using the alligator clamp stand, position the wires so that the tinned ends are horizontaly touching each other completely. Apply flux to the wires, and solder to the tip of your iron, and gently touch for 2-3 seconds. Clean off the flux, move the shrink sleeving over the joint, and heat with gun. Joining wires inline this way is not only the strongest way, but it also provides the most direct route for the current reducing resistance.
Test and Cleanup:
Once everything is soldered, plug in the guitar or what ever your working on, and just make sure it works, turning all the knobs and switches. If everything is good to go, clean off as much flux as possible with the brush, alcohol, and some tissues. If you cant get some of the solder off, dont worry about it, because you agian took my advise and got No-Clean Flux, which wont damage anything if left on, and is non-conductive.
Tips, Hints, and Tricks:
-Be careful and take you'r time.
-Rember, ANY metal on the soldering iron is HOT! Even if its 3" above the tip, it is still VERY HOT and will do damage to wires, plastics, and especially skin. This is why I recommend an iron where you hold it as close to the tip as possible.
- Keep your wiring as neat and simple as possible, so if any future repairs, you wont have to rip apart everything.
-USE THE FLUX! A common myth is to use as little flux as possible. Lets face it, flux is cheap and it only takes an extra 2 minutes to clean it up. Flux helps the solder flow smoothly and evenly. Lack of use of flux is the reason alot of factory guitar electronic installs look like crap!
-Clean the tip of the iron after every joint soldered on the wet sponge. This will ensure that new joints are uncontaminated and perfect.
-Burn cream... it's your friend! [img]/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]
Hope this quick tutorial helps! Ill be adding pictures as time permits, any questions or something that I might have missed, feel free to email me at [email protected] or AIM: RobNJTA [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Overview:
-In this thread, Ill give you all the information you’ll need to perform any soldering and wiring tasks on your guitars or related stuff, including equipment and materials, helpful tips and procedures.
Equipment:
-Soldering iron: As with anything, you get what you pay for. I don’t recommend just a bare soldering iron with no stand, as they are clumsy and dangerous. Don’t get a Radio Shack one either. Now depending on how frequently you plan to solder should dictate how much you would like to spend on an iron. I personally recommend you INVEST a Metcal rework system for anyone who plans to do this quite often. The benefits are a 5 second heat up time, a pen like wand where were you hold it approx 1” from the actual tip of the iron… this is great for accuracy, and also ensures that you wont burn any other wires with the upper stalk like most cheaper irons. These don’t come cheap though (hence “INVEST” [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] ), plan to spend around $300 for a used one on eBay. If you plan to do this a lot, then you’ll not regret spending the money for this one bit… take my word on that. For the once in a blue moon jobs, Id recommend a Weller WLC100 adjustable 5-40 watt soldering station. This little guy comes with a convenient base with a wipe sponge and adjusting knob. Home Depot usually sells these, right next to the welders in the tool corral for about $50… a great buy. What ever you decide on, make SURE it has a sponge on the base for cleaning the tip of the iron.
-Heat gun for shrink wrap.
-Small needle nose pliers, small wire cutters.
-A good wire stripper is worth its weight in gold. Spend the $15-$20 to get one, you’ll be glad you did. Get one of the smaller ones, similar in shape to a needle nosed pliers. You don’t want those big clumsy ones, and you don’t need one of those automatic stripping ones either.
-Small paint brush (for the flux) and an “acid” brush for cleaning.
Materials:
-Solder: Use a flux core solder, any diameter you prefer. I usually sway towards the thicker stuff as you don’t have to feed it as much to get a good amount of solder where you need it to be.
-Flux: You’ll need a paste type No-Clean flux.
-Solder wick, this will remove excess solder and desolder parts and wires.
-Alcohol for cleaning.
-Water to wet your soldering irons sponge(because you took my advise and got an iron with a sponge, right?).
-Shrink sleeving(small).
-Wire: Gauge depends on your application; I recommend you get multiple colors of the same gauge wire such as red, blue, green, white, and black.
Optional Tools/Materials:
-Small barrel pliers: Handy for bending wires and leads. This is a specialty tool though, so it might be hard to find.
-Various metal picks/prods to hold wires in position.
-Tweezers always come in handy.
-Electrical tape is always good to have.
-A mat for your table or desk. Solder can get a little messy, its easier to clean a mat and not ruin your furniture. Also helpful to keep from scratching your guitar or what have you.
-Wire shielding material.
-Adjustable stand with alligator clamps and magnifying glass. These definitely come in handy because we only have two hands, which a lot of times isn’t enough!
-Burn cream and maybe a band aid or two… your probably going to get burned your first couple jobs. Don’t worry though, you’ll learn REAL quick where NOT to grab the soldering iron. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Prep:
Get all your supplies together, heat up your iron for a couple of minutes, wet the sponge. Remove any un-needed components on the guitar that wont affect the installation... it will give you more room to work and prevent possible damage to those parts.
Lay out your new components, looking at the supplied schematics, draw your own wiring diagram placing all the components approx where they would be on your guitar. Its best to know what wires go where before you start so you dont have to redo anything.
Make sure all your components are clean... use the alcohol and acid brush for this. Solder doesent like to adhere to a contaminated surface.
Wire prep and routing:
Place the components in the guitar, in the position in which you want them to be installed. Looking at the diagram you made, place each wire where it needs to go. When placing wires, NEVER put them directly where they need to go. Guitars are subject to alot of movement, so the wire will need stress relief... give some extra wire, and bend it in a soft "S" like pattern. Mark the wire, and cut it. Once all your wires are cut to the proper length, its time to take them back out and strip and tin them. Strip the wire the desired amount, and tin the wire. Tinning means to coat the wire with solder; this is especially helpful when bending the wire so that it will not frey, and also provides a much quicker solder joint and even flow. To tin the wire, dip the stripped end in your flux and lay it flat, apply solder to the tip of the iron, and touch the iron to the wire, moving it along the entire stripped area. One your done, its a good idea to bend the tip of the wire into a "U" shape. This doesent apply to all connections though, use your judgement on that. Do this on all your wires. Now your ready to install.
Soldering:
Once all your components are back in and ready to be soldered, double check that you know where each wire goes. Apply flux the the part the wire is being soldered to. Don't be afraid to use the flux! Next apply solder to the tip of the iron. Place and hold the wire on the component, and touch the iron tip to the joint for approx. 2-3 seconds. Check to make sure the joint is secure and has flowed evenly and move on to the next. If youd like to redo the joint, just repeat the last few steps.
For through hole soldering, eg: installing a new inductor in a wah pedal circut board, you must first remove the old part. On the solder side (bottom) of the board, add flux to the lead to be desoldered, place the wick on the joint and hold the iron onto the wick. You'll see the solder start to travel up the wick... you might need to stop and use fresh wick to remove all the solder. ***BE VERY CAREFUL TO ONLY HEAT THE SOLDERED PART OF THE BOARD (called the "pad"). THE COATINGS (USUALLY GREEN) WILL EASILY BURN IF YOU TOUCH THEM WITH YOUR IRON.*** If you happen to burn the coating a bit, chances are your still ok. Once the solder is removed, the component lead should be free inside the hole. Once all leads are free, gently pull the part out of the board. If one or two leads seem to be stick, touch the iron to the lead and it will come out. Not the polarity (if applicable) of the part your removing... you will need to install the new part the same way unless other wise stated elsewhere. Clean the section with your alcohol and acid brush, as sometimes wicking can leave brown/black debris. To install your new component, insert it into the holes (making sure the polarity, if needed, is correct). Holding the component fron the top, turn the board upside down. At this time you need to cut the leads to about 1/16th", then you can either slightly bend the leads over to hold the part in place, or just hold it there by hand. Apply flux to the leads, touch the iron to the joint, and feed in your solder until the entire pad is coated uniformly and the solder has traveled up the lead. Dont apply too much, if your solder joint looks like a bubble, then theres too much on there. Wick it off and redo.
Other Installation Notes:
Put shrink sleeving/shielding on any wires which may be subject to rubbing on a sharp object and/or close to other electronic components. For example, when installing an EMG system in a Jackson RR3R, the wires from the output jack to the controll cavity pass under the bridge pickup... use shrink sleeving and/or shielding material here.
To join two wires inline, strip and tin each wire end approx. 1/4". Slip a piece of shrink sleeving over one of the wires, double the length of the strip. Using the alligator clamp stand, position the wires so that the tinned ends are horizontaly touching each other completely. Apply flux to the wires, and solder to the tip of your iron, and gently touch for 2-3 seconds. Clean off the flux, move the shrink sleeving over the joint, and heat with gun. Joining wires inline this way is not only the strongest way, but it also provides the most direct route for the current reducing resistance.
Test and Cleanup:
Once everything is soldered, plug in the guitar or what ever your working on, and just make sure it works, turning all the knobs and switches. If everything is good to go, clean off as much flux as possible with the brush, alcohol, and some tissues. If you cant get some of the solder off, dont worry about it, because you agian took my advise and got No-Clean Flux, which wont damage anything if left on, and is non-conductive.
Tips, Hints, and Tricks:
-Be careful and take you'r time.
-Rember, ANY metal on the soldering iron is HOT! Even if its 3" above the tip, it is still VERY HOT and will do damage to wires, plastics, and especially skin. This is why I recommend an iron where you hold it as close to the tip as possible.
- Keep your wiring as neat and simple as possible, so if any future repairs, you wont have to rip apart everything.
-USE THE FLUX! A common myth is to use as little flux as possible. Lets face it, flux is cheap and it only takes an extra 2 minutes to clean it up. Flux helps the solder flow smoothly and evenly. Lack of use of flux is the reason alot of factory guitar electronic installs look like crap!
-Clean the tip of the iron after every joint soldered on the wet sponge. This will ensure that new joints are uncontaminated and perfect.
-Burn cream... it's your friend! [img]/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]
Hope this quick tutorial helps! Ill be adding pictures as time permits, any questions or something that I might have missed, feel free to email me at [email protected] or AIM: RobNJTA [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
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