Anyone in St. Louis want to teach me to solder?

[1trussell]

I've been dying to learn how and I've got pickup swaps I want to do. I'm tired of paying a tech to do it. And as everyone talks about how easy it is, I'm thinking I could catch on pretty quickly.

I'll bring the beer of choice if anyone feels like showing me how.

Thanks

Travis

[pjg]

Re: Anyone in St. Louis want to teach me to solder?

The way I do it is to twist the wire together first. Then I set the wire on top of a very hot soldering iron blade. I let the wire heat up and put the solder on the top of the wire, effectively pinching the wire between the solder and the blade. When the wire gets hot enough it will melt the solder and it will flow through the twisted wires. Turns out pretty good. If you really want to get fancy you can slip a length of shrink tubing on the wire before you solder it. After the solder joint is done you slip the shrink tubing down and hit it with some low heat and voila, a pretty looking joint.

Has anybody tried a butt splice? Do they work well in this application? I know if you do frequent pickup swaps you may not want to use them as you shorten the wire every time you cut it off,but they might be good for guys who don't like to solder.

[fett]

Re: Anyone in St. Louis want to teach me to solder?

Butt splice !!! That sounds awful. Soldering is not easy. Go on the web and get the details on the correct wattage of the iron and such. Then practice on spare parts until you are good enough not to melt everything,including your fingers, before you get a good joint. Then go for it and make sure that everything you want to solder is clean as clean can be. To get the wires to stay put can be very frustrating so be in a good mood and don't rush. Now be a good solder and charge that machine-gun nest. [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] The greamlin rushed the job and look at what happened to his fingers. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[wulfe13]

Re: Anyone in St. Louis want to teach me to solder?

Hey Travis, I can show you how to solder... It's easy. Give me a call bro, you got my number, right? I can show you how to weld too, just not on a guitar.... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: Anyone in St. Louis want to teach me to solder?

Has anyone used the new cold solder irons yet? I've been thinking about getting into soldering myself and this one seems kinda rad.

[1trussell]

Re: Anyone in St. Louis want to teach me to solder

[ QUOTE ]
Hey Travis, I can show you how to solder... It's easy. Give me a call bro, you got my number, right? I can show you how to weld too, just not on a guitar.... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Matt, that would be awesome. Yeah, I've still got your pm with your cell and I think home number, too. I'll be out of town this coming weekend (16th-17th) but I can always wait until you have a weekend free. Thanks, bro.

Travis