How To Solder Guitar Pots, Caps, And Wire
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Here is a How to solder for beginners video. Here are the links we mentioned in the video
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I've been soldering for 25 years, and every point and tip you gave is absolutely correct. Although over a beer I'd argue the damp sponge over the brass pad lol
Before I watched this video I was just putting some solder on the end of the iron and then smearing it over the two parts and then saying a little prayer. And then trying it again most of the time. Thanks.
I spent over a week soldering my own guitar parts with hideous results. Bad heat transfer, cold joints and tinning issues. Finally I tried some quality tips instead of cheap China knockoffs and now everything is perfect again!!! I was ready to go insane trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. It’s definitely worth it to use quality USA name brand components for premium results or else anything goes.
They call me Mr Work Movin’ Around before I took in this excellent content.
Thx for all the tips and leg clips with all the enough heat. Solder tips are unique to each of us. Not everybody wants or needs a huge chisel tipped, uncircumcised robot heat gun when you can have a rapid fire baby boy tip.
THANK YOU DYLAN FOR MENTIONING WHY YOU DONT HOOK THE WIRE ENDS!!!
I’ve heard that SOOO many times and seen it done often and any guitar tech will tell you exactly WHY you SHOULDNT do that!
There’s an angry Canadian dude that works with guitar-shaped objects that said that same thing too but what do you think the people in his Facebook group do?!
Guys, listen to Dylan and that angry Canadian fellow. They know.
Ah. I'm a long time enjoyer of Dave's World of Fun Stuff.
I used to work in electronics for a good number of years, but now I work in IT. One thing I did not learn how to properly while getting my degree is how to solder. Luckily, I did receive the training from an employer. There are a few things he didn't mention in the video that might be helpful to those with little experience.
The first thing is to be sure to use enough heat, but don't use too much heat either. If you get a better soldering iron that that has an adjustable heat control don't just turn it up to maximum, especially when soldering smaller things. The purpose of flux is to prepare the surface of the items you are trying to join. If the temperature is too high the flux burns off fast and cannot do its job. When soldering circuit boards, you can cause damage to the traces. (You can also cause damage if the temperature is too low because you have to heat what you are trying to solder for too long.)
The tip size and shape also matter. A small pencil tip works for small wires but cannot properly heat larger surfaces. Likewise, a large tip can overheat a small connection and can cause damage, which is a factor when soldering the cheap quality circuit boards in guitar amps.
As he mentioned when soldering wires pre-tin them. A good tip for those new to soldering is to get a good tool to strip the insulation off of the wire. It doesn't have to be expensive. The best thing to do is to not just pull the insulation off of the wire and then use your fingers to twist the strands together. Instead, cut into the insulation and pull the insulation just a little bit, but don't pull it all the way off. Once that is done grip the tip of the insulation you want to remove, and give is a gentle twist as you pull it off of the wire. This will twist the wires together for you as you pull the insulation off. Putting a bit of flux on the wire prior to soldering helps but is not necessary.
The last tip is just common sense and that is don't breathe in the smoke that happens when you solder as it is toxic. Do something to prevent it from going up to your face.
Nodded yes to everything you posted than the video itself, I know he means well but yea. Blu tac is great for holding components, wires etc instead if no majik hands avail. The soldering of 2 wires for example, fray the individual wires of each then mesh both together then solder, after heat shrink, its barely noticble that it has been joined, if at all.
And if you run the iron too cold it is tempting to jamb the iron into the traces and component leads, potentially damaging both. Better to run a bit hotter and get in and out quickly. The amount of heat that is then transferred to the sensitive part of the component is much reduced. Find a balance. And for desoldering your PAF's cover and similar, use at least 100W and a solder sucker. Saves mucking about. Choose your tools appropriately.
Yeah I always pre-tin every solder.. I never just heat the points and feed solder in.. I am hardly ever holding or using solder from the reel when applying heat.
From the Matrix, "now I know how to solder." Thanks for the education, you will see this put into practice on my guitar mod videos on the JJM channel.
Good tip about not leaving the soldering iron, turned on, when not in use. I have the Hakko FX888D and it literally only takes 20 seconds to reach 600 degrees fahrenheit.
Hands down one of the best soldering videos I've seen
This was very helpful. I been having trouble soldering. You cleared up important things I have been doing wrong. Thank you.
What a gem. Nice job. This taught more about soldering than any other source I’ve seen.
Soldiers fight wars,solder keeps wires attached.lol Great video.
First, one of the best, most informative videos I've seen. I have the same Weller soldering station you do as well as helping hands, "but" until I can find a way to overcome my Corneal problems, complicated by Cataracts, further complicated by arthritis (obviously, I'm rapidly approaching my late 70's), no matter how fantastic this information is, I'm really not sure I'll ever be able to solder satisfactorily ever again. Having said all that? The information in this video is invaluable to those of you with no vision or arthritic (include tremors) problems. There are those of us out here that really want to do what we "ustacould!!!" And now cannot...Dammit!!!! I really wish I had had this information when I "could" have really used it. It's some of the best ever!!! (No it is no one's fault, other than mine for having the audacity to live over 3/4 of a century, that I can no longer do what I really want to do. It's just one of those things that "getting old" causes those of us "getting old" have to deal with on a daily basis. Not intended to be a bitch. A Statement Of Fact?!?!?!? Hell Yeah!!!!) Thanks for the extremely informative video, Dylan. Please keep videos like these coming!!!!
Hey lostreb! Approaching 70 with my own eye and hand situation. Still steady though. May I suggest teaching a younger version of you (they around) and have them solder your guitar and kit. Pay them , steal them or relate to them. I’m hoping for my grandchildren to work out later on. ; ) Congrats on the age reach. Dad hit 97.5 years before calling it quits. Lot a wisdom from the older folk. Cheers.
Meaningful comment. Just wanted to share that I understand the frustration with the tremors. Even with steadying my hand on a stable surface while holding the iron, it still isn’t enough to be as accurate as Dylan.
Your videos are awesome real time technical information, instructions and procedures. Thank you for sharing. Best wishes.
a great tip for your plyers is put a rubber band around the handles to keep them from opening accidentally
Why have I never thought about this… dropped caps more times than I can count
I’m always afraid of putting too much heat into the component, I don’t really know how much heat a standard 500k pot can withstand as when you’re soldering the ground onto the back of it. Good video, good information!!
Don't think you mentioned it (if you did I missed it), but if you want to get good heat transfer tinning your soldering iron tip is a must.
Hey Dylan great video. In England we pronounce the L!
thanks, heating both materials is what I Will try better
I'm new to this particular hobby but I have painted minis for a while. I have never had "helping hands" but have always had sticks and poster tack.
Just ordered a soldering iron, gonna start doing this myself. Amazing timing, thanks!!
These videos are my newest obsession lol thank you for all the advice! Def gonna try and make it to the next live stream 👌🏼
Thanks, great job teaching
Great video! For people who are newer... Maybe a video sometime on de-soldering and cleanup used components? Thanks for the great video!
Thank You, very informative.
Thank you for this! Finally get it now - the chemical reaction bit was excellent coz I didn't realize that.
awesome video! I use a few pairs of hemostats to hold the wires when joining.. work like a charm!
I use a lead solder without a rosin core and found a flux pen works a lot better than a paste flux. No cleanup and makes tinning wires a breeze. Personal preference only. Plus I get it free from work to use on my builds
This was extremely helpful. Thank you very much Dylan!
Thank you for all of the Information. Everything that you explain makes COMPLETE SENSE ! I previously checked out your Oil Paper Capacitor VS all the other Caps. Made complete sense to me.
Thanks, I learned somethings about soldering especially how much heat to use
Perfect timing! I’m going to be soldering a set of pickups into my guitar. They are even a set of your DAF pickups.
Excellent video. I’ve learned a lot.
Now we know how to Soda guitar stuff! Thank you so much!
If you don't have a helping hand thing, use an old rusty pair of pliers that are actually stiff to open and close. Use them to hold one part of your work, freeing a hand to hold the iron or solder.
A great vid, very helpful. But as a welder and former plumber i do have to give ya a friendly correction. Porosity is a defect in a weld joint where air or contamination enters into the joint at time of weld. Welders don't sand or grind unless they screwed up or repairing a painted surface. Sanding comes from joining copper piping by welders who use lead free solder. You MUST sand and pre flux copper piping. Its a form of brazing. But Porosity is a bad thing, i think you were referring to the surface being porous enough to suck up the solder, but im just guessing. Either way thank you, great video, worth just for examples of technique
I know why I subscribed to your channel. Dropping some super interesting etymology!! Super dope 😊
Getting into a totally new thing like soldering is exciting. I’m just getting in cause the black ground wire of my Ibanez AZ got pulled out.
Been banging my head against a wall trying to solder to the back of pots, but no matter how hot I put this Schneider iron from Harbor Freight (even up to 896 degrees apparently) I still get cold solder. I think the temperature gauge is bogus. I just ordered the Hakko iron as soon as I saw this. I hope it works!
Bought a pound of solder on your recommendation. It will outlast me.
I have struggled with lead-free to get mediocre results.
I'm told 63/37 solidifies and re-melts more quickly. Everyone I watch on here uses 60/40. Good enough for me.
In the words of an angry Canadian guitar tech on UA-cam: “there are no rules; only guidelines”.
I used 63/37 on my guitar with no issues and while thicker than what Dylan used, did the job with little mess.
Wanted to consider leadless solder but I haven’t heard much good things about it so I’ve just used what I know works and never had an issue.
But use whatever gets the job done. If it works, it’s good.
63/37 is what's known as autilectic solder. When you mix lead and tin, you get an alloy with a lower melting point than either of the two metals on their own, which is why solder exists in the first place. 63/37 is the ratio that achieves the lowest melting point of all. I believe it does melt and solidify more rapidly too, due to it having a very narrow temperature range between solid and liquid. I would argue that it's very slightly easier to use, and that's about it. Once you're done soldering, there's no functional difference.
Lead free on the other hand is evil stuff and is responsible for a lot of premature failures in modern electronics.
I say "soldier" just to bug people.
I find bugging people to be fun 😁
I just started soldering some basic stuff in guitars, and find the cheap $8 soldering iron works fine. The way I see it is that if I can learn a soldering with a cheap tool, then I’ll be in good shape by the time I need to upgrade.
This is what I did because I didn’t know the info from Dylan back then. Highly suggest practicing on scrap metal and wires first. If you are soldering 1 or 2 connections and then not soldering for many months or more, that iron will work. However, knowing what I know now, I would have at least started with a $50-or-so iron with temp control (harbor freight-Schneider brand). It’s unbelievable how many of my soldering difficulties were just due to me trying to use a shit iron with no temp control. Much safer too (enclosed metal iron holder)
@@CaptainWrinkleBrain I did just get an upgrade from that shit soldering iron I was using. I have yet to put it to work, but I’m excited for my next solder job. Those cheap irons are dangerous and, well… cheap.
@@alexraia1377 Yep, life changer. Whenever you can’t get solder to stick, you either need a higher temperature, longer time holding iron on, or smaller piece of target metal. I switched to using Allparts solder lug washers or solder bugs rather than the back of pots. Heats up so much quicker
@@CaptainWrinkleBrain nice man! I don’t think I’ve seen those solder lugs before. That’s cool
Really dig this vid!! GREAT info. You present really well, easy to understand you.
Thank you!
Asked a guy in the hardware section of a local Kroeger owned chain store if they had solder and he had to have been in his late 40s but had no idea what it was, even after I explained it was the stuff used to connect wires and electronic components and he still had never heard of it, and he was a native English speaker. Was a strange experience.
Sounds like it lol. Some people are just NPC’s and don’t actually know much about what’s going on around them, hopefully you found what you needed haha.
Thank you Dylan! Couple of weeks ago, not much soldering experience and at that with cheapo solder irons! I bought a great solder station with digital temp and I attempted to soldered a new 5 way switch.... My guitar is SOOOO noisy now. Hadn't had a achance to go back and clean everything and resolder. Just saw your video and am so glad i did! Saw all the mistakes i did and can now go back and do a much better job thanks to this video! What's the old radio saying... Long time listener..First time caller! Been watching a bunch of your vids and learn lots from ya!
I use the same Hakko iron and it's fantastic. I prefer the flat blade style D16 tip then the conical tip.
Also for me I find adding a hook to the end of a wire to make a mechanical joint will mean the wire moves less. Not saying that your joints aren't good but a beginner might find it easier. You don't need a full hook just a slight bend to keep it from moving. To remove you just apply heat with the iron and pull with the other hand.
If they get into amp work and you are placing a lot of components you don't want them coming out before you solder them all down.
Thanks for the lesson - I can pronounce, but not do it, In the UK the ‘L’ is pronounced: solder as in folder, rather than sodder as in fodder. Your language came from mine. PS what the hell did you do to aluminium? For the purposes of clarity and the bearing in mind that internet comment sections are not the most friendly or forgiving of places, my tongue is firmly in my cheek. It’s a shame I have to say that for some, not for all, I hasten to add.
This video was extremely well done and super helpful. Thanks so much.
I didnt ground my volume pots 3rd lug to the pot casing Cos i dont want it to completely turn off, I use a volume pedal for the swells ... with that open lug there's still a signal at zero but cleaner which interacts great with the tone pot.
On a tone pot though, whats the difference between soldering the cap on the middle lug (Ibanez style wiring) vs the outer Left lug (seymour duncan style wiring)?
Thank you Dylan
I'm not sure if Germany, or the entire EU, commercially, you have to use lead-free solder. But for private projects, you may still use solder with lead.
I'm pretty sure you have to use lead free solder in commercial projects, and for private stuff: it's not easy (if even possible?) to buy new lead solder. I have more of the old solder than I can use in this life time, luckily.
Does it matter which direction the capacitor goes in??
One lead has an outer foil shield.
awesome tips, your prior video helped also. I liked the strength test, and explanation of what a solder is, chemical bond, I learned something new (thought it was a type of weld using lead alloy . . . .
I ordered one set of runway cables but now make my own. the helping hands / octopus holder thing is pretty fly and helps or making jigs like dylan did, like doing a wiring harness for ES or LP, just a template with the holes, and use that to make a hard cardboard template to put in and make the wiring harness
This is a fantastic video. Thank you so much for such clarity!
Can you solder a piece of wire to the hot wire of a pickup to make the hot wire longer. (The hot wire on my neck pickup is just a little too short) thanks for the outstanding videos.
A question I have that if you try to remove the big blob on top of a pot, and the pot gets Hot, can you destroy the pot? Alternatively you can soldernon top of the blob, but that looks horrible
Thank you Dylan!
So what kind of wire do we need for the connections? You never mentioned what those are except that they're pre-tinned.
Dylan, thanks for the video. Fortunately, my father taught me about soldering as a kid, but I have used the 'hook' technique sometimes just as a way to hold in place. But I fully understand why you don't really want to do that. Thanks for the tips and reinforcement of techniques in soldering. I definitely need some of those helping hands.
Thanks man, very helpful 👍
Hey Dylan, curious about your thoughts on Stewmac's Solder Monster. Overkill?
Thank you Dylan, a very good lesson !
It would have been so easy for you to explain how to and how often to clean the tip making it a complete tutorial now i have to find the answer.
After each solder, just wiggle the tip in the brass mesh
@@pbrstreetgang73 Thank you much appreciated.
What would cause my bass to lose sound when tightening the nut of the control knobs? If I loosen the nut to a degree where it's way too lose, the sound returns. Could it be that the copper tape is shorting the pots? I just saw in one of your other videos that you advise ripping out the shielding... should I shield the pickup cavity? Side note... I would love to get those exact pickups you made for Dan at G&G for his PRS LifeWater bass he made for a contest several years ago. I'll take them kit or pre-made. They looked really awesome.
Thank you
How would you tidy up a messy existing solder job?
Do you just heat it up and add new solder or are you meant to clean the old solder off and start again?
If so how to you remove/clean off the old solder?
Clean it up first. You can get strips of material that soak it up when it's melted or use a solder-sucker which looks like a syringe.
Do you have an Amazon reference for purchasing wire to wire the pick guard?
How do you prepare the tip of the soddering tool? I understand you need to tin it before hand right? And how long would the tip last?
I see you use a hakko fx 888d, I was looking to buy one but the tips say lead free.Can you use 60/40 solder with lead free tips?
So that solder is actually
60/40 tin/lead. I’ve seen other guys recommend the opposite ratio but I can’t find it narrow. Is narrow more important or lead content?
What is your southering station’s name brand?
would this be considered a high demand "trade"?
A good hot iron causes less damage than smoldering with an under powered iron
I was unawair you still did loaded guards. I did not see that option on dylan pickups (i was looking at soap bars) ill have to go look again. I think my only guitar i am wanting yo swap pu in (lp jr 2011) may have quik connect or may not
Wow, The Grecian Empire, who started the ball rolling 2,000 years before the Roman Italic tribes thought they were civilised , would have been so amazed at your explanation of how they influenced the English? language.
Hey man I'm an American living in New Zealand and I remember there was a device called the humx I was just wondering if you know anything about them and how they work I would like to try and make one thanks
The Weller iron is on sale 52% off on Amazon right now
Hey Dylan. I have a really good question for you. When a pickup diagram shows 4-5 wires being soldered to the back of a pot in the same spot, does it actually all have to be in the same spot? I have done this but its very difficult and messy with 5 wires all in one blob. But since the back of the pot is all one piece of metal, does it matter where you solder everything on there?
No, it doesn’t matter. As long as all grounds are connected to a wire connected to the ground lug of the output jack. You can solder to different areas of the back of the pot, or the same place with all the wires twisted together. Careful though, it is possible to ruin pots by overheating the back cavity. To avoid that issue altogether, get solder lug washers from All Parts and connect all grounds using those rather than the back of pots.
What kind of wire to use?
Can anyone take a good guess.
My middle and neck pickup (HSS, Select Strat) are week sounding, especially the middle pickup, bridge pickup (humbucker, both coils are working) seems to be the right output level but has a muddy sound, so far I've changed the pickup selector, I'm thinking of replacing the volume part next, moving maybe somebody out there has had this problem?
so I have been having issues with an Emerson Custom wiring kit I just put in my Vintera Road Worn strat. When I pull back the volume I get radio noise. I even resoldered everything to the degree in which you explain in this video and still same thing... could it be since the pickup wire is enamel and the emerson kit is cloth that I am experiencing the radio noise? I also use Kester 60/40 like you have.
It's like colour and color.
Your explanation of what soldering actually is: I always thought of it more as brazing or gluing...the pieces being stuck together don't melt but the stuff that sticks them together does. Chemical reaction? I'm going to have to look into that. Seems more mechanical than chemical. On another note, I'm curious to see an ohm-meter check solder joints to compare 60-40 tin/lead solder with silver solder...see if one has appreciatively more resistance. Please don't take anything I say as disagreement, you raise questions, that's all.
I've seen other videos which rely on pre-soldering the tabs and the back of the pot, and I've personally found it kinda creates a mess and that you don't do that at all. Is it the reliable heat that allows you to skip that step, or just your preference and your experience?
Yes, it’s simply that he is using the iron accurately at the right temp, and ensuring he’s heating both the component and the surface rather than just one. Tinning those things beforehand just separates those steps and may make it easier from some.
Pre-tinning the joints is good practise. I used to solder like this guy before I learned how to do it properly, but looking inside my guitars I see that messy soldering is the norm in guitar making. They all look bad tbh..
As far as welding terminology goes the word you want is brazing. The act of using a third metal as a binder that has a lower melting point than the materials being fused together.
I've been struggling like hell with my soldering....you explained why I was getting shorts in my wiring....and having such a difficult time getting it to flow right.....thanx alot brother....now to go back and fix my mistakes....as a suggestion (and I haven't dug to deep back yet), but odd wiring... like I can't find schematics for 2 P-90,2 buckers, or a combo of both and 2 separate vol, no tone, no switch.....kinda stuff....not much of an elec. engineer lol
Use a Jazz Bass wiring diagram except you’re gonna need to solder together the power and ground wire from each coil to make two single power and ground connections on both pickups then wire as you would a Jazz Bass.
Be advised that this setup can be a bit bright so it is recommended that you use a capacitor between the pots to dampen the brightness.
Hope this helps.
totally does help, thank you....I have the capacitors....I never thought to look bass schematics, dùhhh LOL...it makes sense
Anybody knows if the wire thickness matters or not?
I think i learned things :)
My bad for not watching the tone man's vidio first before buying a good soldering out fit. Bought an off brand, and the shut off timer began malfunctioning after a few short weeks. Now the damn thing will only stay hot enough to use for the first few minutes, then it shuts itself down and won't warm up again no matter what the temp gauge says.
Now I'll have to spend the extra money and buy top shelf anyway
But if you use additional flux the heat exchange is better so the pot would heat up faster and more evenly
There is flux in the solder… it hears in less than a second
I recently tried to solder a ground wire to the spring claw of a Strat, and no matter what i did it did not stick to the claw, even when sticking when it cooled down it just came off! I thought maybe it is the metal type, as I had no problem on a different Strat. What am I doing wrong?
You have to let the iron heat up sufficiently. If it’s a cheaper iron maybe it doesn’t get hot enough to melt the solder properly.
If somoene wants to get started with soldering, or even if you've been doing it for a while and want to really up your game, NASA has a series of videos on soldering to their specifications. It's overkill for guitar but illustrates the most important basics: how much solder to use, how visible the strands should be on a solder joint when using stranded cable, how long the exposed wire should be and how far away from the jacket it needs to be in order for the connection to be flexible and surivive movement, how much solder should be on different types of joints, why solder bridges are important, etc.
As far as mechanical joints go, you are incorrect. They are best practice. Do they make it more difficult to perform a repair? Nominally, if you're half way decent at soldering. What are we talking? Maybe an extra 10 or 15 seconds, per joint. Quality takes time.
Additionally, according to best practices, wires should not be soldered side to side like that. It will work in a pinch but, it's not textbook correct. Is it "fine?" Inside of a guitar probably, but that's not considered correct and I would not use that method. I might expect that level of soldering on a very inexpensive guitar, but if I saw that on a higher end guitar, I would consider that a shortcut and subar. Also you NEED some type of shrink tubing or jacket otherwise you're risking that wire touching something it should not touch. I feel more emphasis should have been made on that point.
Teaching people shortcuts is fine. Most people could probably care less about technically perfect control cavities but, please consider at least explaining best practices first, and then explaining why you choose to take shortcuts, as opposed to going the last mile, so to speak.
Dylan, when I first saw the thumbnail I thought you was smoking crack lol
The reason I respect you so much is that you do your fucking homework hahaha (with respect to the pronunciation thing I mean)
I thought it was simple. Now I know otherwise 😮
Hi Dylan, I have a guitar that I have mounted two extra switches on. do you think that having too many solders, in my case at least 2 more, on the signal can affect the tone? thank you
Not as much as whatever the switches do. It should be fine
@@DylanTalksTone Hi Dylan, I really appreciate your answer but I think I misspelled, I'm not good with English. My question is if there can be a difference in tone between a classical connection without extra switches and the connection I have done which has two more solder and a Communication on switch contact. Thanks
Any other mf-er watching this thinking i don't give two flying fig trees where the word comes from ...😂
IS 35 WATTS NOT HOT ENOUGH ?
He is 100% correct about forming hook on a pierced, perforated, or punched terminal like the ones on the pot. If it's not required, it's not necessary, so don't bother with it. Unless specified in engineering documentation, even in industry standards it is acceptable for assemblies that are class 1, 2, or 3, as long as the conductor contacts at least 2 surfaces. Guitar wiring would be considered class 1 (the lowest class), meaning the addition of a hook to the terminal only serves one purpose. To infuriate you the next time. Think about it. Are you going to be yanking that pot around or putting it under a bunch of tension? Not likely. Also if your wires are too short causing tension, then consider replacing them. That added pain in the butt if you need to rework it is not worth it.
Do I have to worry about smoke detectors?
No, so long as you have proper ventilation
For the civilized world: by 700° he meant 370° ^^
Don't throw rocks. The back pot cap soldering is faulty. Why? Because the cap leg does not make direct contact with the pot. There is solder in-between making the signal travel through it. This will make the pickups sound thinner. Trial and error experience
So how should you do it
@@NobotyBoi with another tool like a screwdriver maybe, push down on the wire or leg so it touches the component and wait for the sodder to dry.
No
Here's a big rock for you! signals and current don't flow through solder it flows around it! If done properly there's enough surface area to make up for any lack of conductivity.