How to Solder Guitar Electronics | Guitar Tech Tips | Ep. 20 | Thomann
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- čas přidán 3. 08. 2024
- Easy guitar wiring fixes, pickup or volume pot swaps, sorting out ground issues: it all comes down to one thing. Soldering. Let's learn how to use a soldering iron.
Enjoy Guitar Tech Tips and let us know if you have any questions in the comment section!
Gear used: tho.mn/k91nf
We use Triad-Orbit stands for our cameras, lights and mics: tho.mn/triad
Recorded and mixed with Universal Audio: tho.mn/xuad
Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Introduction
0:34 The basics
1:17 How to hold the iron and the solder
1:30 Different types of wires
1:54 Proper solder joint
2:45 Gibson style metal braided wires
4:43 A tip: take photos of the wiring
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Been waiting on people for over 8 months to swap my pickups..After watching this, im going out in 10 minutes to buy a station and change everything myself. Thank you :D
That's awesome! Give it some practice first and watch how long you heat up the parts to get stuff flowing. And don't forget to pre-tin the tip of the iron and the parts you want to solder (cable, lug of a pot, etc). Have fun! //Kris
my solder kit arrived today. thats scary that at the same day you doing a video about this. thank you Kris
Haha! You see, I can read minds. I tried to keep this a secret because people always freak out when they figure it out. But now it's out there. Dang! :D
//cheers, Kris
Really useful for those like me with pickup-swapitis. My soldering tends to be a bit messy and this video has helped me see how to improve.
Chris, I appreciate all the videos you do. Electronics has always been the hardest for me (at least doing a good clean job of it) I am a tinkerer. I buy cheap guitars, sub $200 and put massive upgrades in them. I do it as a hobby. Keep doing what you are doing because it keeps my interest!
This helped tremendously. Thank you again. I do all the set ups and repairs on my basses now. Cheaper and really isn't too difficult. Just make sure you set up properly before hand and have everything ready to go and no issues should accure
do you sand the back of the potentiometer?
for some reason my solder or puddle keeps falling off they dont' stay
Thank you for making this. I’ve spent so much money over the years for something I could just do myself.
Very thorough, with excellent close up video shots. At 4:10, you hold down the braided wire with metal tweezers. Just a tip for people who might be as clumsy with soldering as I am when holding a piece down: use a wooden popsicle stick with one of the curved ends cut off so that it's square. Wood doesn't conduct, so it gets a hot joint on the back of the pot without absorbing heat from the soldering iron. It also doesn't slide around the piece being soldered or draw solder to it.
Chris you did a really great job with this video. From basic soldering to soldering the guitar pod. I think this is gonna be a really great series.
Thanks so much! :)
//cheers, Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses im trying to break a solder job on a pot with a Gibson style braided wire, the solder joint is big, the guy before me did a great job. Any tips??
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses can you tell me if i can use the SAME POTS for both volume and tone or should use specific ones?
This is my latest thing to learn. Thanks for the tips Kris!
This is fantastic, very well broken down to a beginner level. Thank you so much!
I once replaced a pickup in my guitar myself, the first and (until now) last time I ever soldered something.
To my surprise it still works to this day 😅
Thanks Chris for the video. I was able to fix my son's bass guitar after watching it.
Glad I found this as I intend to replace the pots on my new Squier bass. I'll definitely refer back to this video when I have everything I need and it's actually time to do it.
Wow, I just started learning welding and sodering but have been playing guitar and bass for so long this is very beneficial for me. Thank you.
I just finished restoring my 91 Gibson SG, from the bare wood body up. Finnish came out BEAUTIFUL, like GLASS. The electronics, on the other hand, while operative are very sloppy looking. So I’ve since ordered new pots and capacitors and I am here to learn!
Thanks Chris! My first soldering experience half a year ago was fixing my guitar/instrument cable. Fixing it was cheaper than buying another new cable.
Man, thank you! This is just what I need!
Danke schön!! I really appreciate your videos and really looking forward to getting the Tremmory I just ordered!! I am astounded how fast the delivery goes. I am on the most western part of Washington State in the US and the shipping will take only 4 days!! Thanks again for the informative videos. Mach’s gut!
Great help thanks Kris
Good tips thanks
Very very helpful!
Excellent job! Now I just need to get over my phobia about wiring. :-P
Very cool. Thank you
Remember kids: quack the alligator clips to ensure you have a solid ground to avoid 60 cycle hum!
Haha! It's childish, I know. Still. It makes me smile. :)
//Kris
50 cycle there can’t ya hear it in the demo play... oh wait
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses Made me laugh because I do the same thing, and do puppet shows at work with my desk toys and I am in my 50s LOL😎👍
Floridaman here: Alligators do not quack
@@DapperHesher Do they meow when they eat cats ?
Brilliant video.
Thanks a lot! //Kris
I build FPV drones on tiny 16x16 sometimes 20x20 electronic parts and use 700° F temps so I don’t have to keep the solder iron on very long. I guess it can be risky if you don’t know what you’re doing and leave it on too long, but after building so many drones it’s been great practice for when I work on my guitars.
thank you for all this info =)
Thanks! I was soldering at 450 degrees and burning tips too quickly. I find it a bit harder to solder P/P pots due to the small connection holes so I am going to try a 6-pin wire clip on those. That would make sense to me if I decide to change the function of the pot I can just follow the color code of the wire to pin. Great tutorial.
great video --Im a new subscriber! Thanks!
Excellent!
Thank you! Cheers!
//Kris
Thank you!
Great info... ty for video..
Glad you like it! Cheers //Kris
Thank you soo much ! I never changed pickups couse I was thinking soldering is hard but it doesn't seem so anymore after this video :D
@Mark Seymour well 7 cables coming from active emgs look scary :D
@Mark Seymour yeah good idea lol
I think I'm going to solder a coffee now. Cheers 😄🙋♂️
Don't forget to use tweezers! It might be really hot. :D
//Kris
thanks for the insight bro beans
Thanks for this
Thanks man! //Kris
Thanks!
To keep with the solder thing maybe a video on changing picks?
Chris, nice job. I should have watched this a while back. I'm still hesitant when it comes to soldering things, too many burnt fingers to count.
Great video, thanks so helpful. Please can you do more about this, how to change and soldering humbuckers and single coils in guitars, the whole process. It would be great. Thanks for these techvideos they are great.
I second this! I would want to know how to change pickups!
Even though I showed everything for 2 wire single coils and humbuckers in this video, I'm happy to go more into details in terms of wirings. And a 4-wire Humbucker could be explained too, you are right about that. Thanks for the advice!
//cheers, Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses You could even explain or show the difference between a 59's wiring and the modern Les Paul wiring. I think only with the 59 wiring you will have the killswitch option on the toggle switch, right?
Funny thing, yesterday I changed pickups on my strat, and made a mistake as I mixed up the neck and bridge pickup's cables. I'd like to have been able to see my face when I did the testride ;-) So now I can do another soldering session which will be the second one of my life ... Thanks so much for this video, it showed me already some of my other mistakes. You rock, Kris!
I usually make a mechanical connection between the wire and lug by making a small hook at the end of the wire and hooking it onto the lug hole before soldering it to the lug of the pot.
Good point with the mechanical connection! It's an even better joint that way. The only issue is that you will curse if you have to undo that joint one day... haha!
//cheers, Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses Oh that’s true! I think a soldier sucker/pump would make the removal easier!
Helped a lot I've been using wrong soldering iron now I need a how to clean up gommed up soldering mess lol
Good ventilation is important when you’re dealing with liquid metals. I prefer a heavy silver solder to prevent werewolves from using my gear Their claws tend scratch things up wait what.
If the Solder iron touches your finger why does it smell like scrambled eggs... eouch
Someone got to create a hype for tone solder!
flux paste not just for capacitors!
Rosin Core could be a new metal genre 😂
I use enchanted silver to protect my wiring from the clutches of the evil gnomes that cause feedback.
Elijah Ben stand closer young one, let the feedback flow through you... then turn sideways ever so slightly to adjust the resonant pitch 🤘🏽😂 May the electromotive force be with you 🤘🏽
I am enjoying this series of videos - very useful and interesting. But I must say on this one I really winced when I watched you rolling your thumb backwards and forwards on a box cutter blade. Wire strippers?
Gr8 tips .. But I am still scared .. Lol I guess I need to have a place set up & I have realised I will need a Magnifying glass in place too as well as a light . I bought a cheap soldering kit which had the helping hands & a small magnifying glass but the soldering iron looks & feel very cheap & has no indication of how hot it gets .. plus it is attached to a very short wall cable .. Not good ?? So I will wit until next month's Pension & buy an iron which comes in & out of the stand .. I have several projects to start on like a loose ground wire on strat type trem claw ? I can see the old solder . Also I see that ventilation is important too so as it is 12/2/21 & very cold today I will not be starting today lol . Thanks for the easy to follow tips at my age I am scared I might ruin something or burn myself . Bye
For me the biggest problem always is, how to solder multiple wires to the back of the pod (grounding). Do you solder the wires at first all together and afterwards onto one point to the pod? Or separately like a circle "around" the backside of the pod? How do you prevent the previous soldered wires to get loose when the heat of the actual soldering process reaches them? Thanks and keep up your good job.
They can go on different parts of the pot or if you have the slack just twist them together and then solder all at once. I'd say it'd be a right pain in the ass trying to separately solder multiple wires to the same spot. Rage quit!
Awesome video. Can you do a video on how to install fishman pickups on guitars with 1 volume one tone plz. Thank you.
Hey, I'm not sure when we get to do that here in this series (I give my best to organise the pickups, electronics and a guitar to mod asap) but in the meantime you could check out my own channel where I'm modding my Fusion-II as we speak and put Fluence HBs in it with the rechargeable battery pack. Just search for Kris Barocsi. Cheers! //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses awesome. Ty. Will do right away.
This is the most helpful video that I've seen which covers the basics. I can't for the life of me find a diagram for HSH, 5 way switch with single volume and no tone. Is there a good resource to find diagrams?
Thanks a lot! Yeah totally, check out this awesome page: guitarelectronics.com/guitar-wiring-resources/
Cheers //Kris
I'm a certified welder but I never solder pick ups before so I am doing my research
Hi, Chris..just wanna ask..it is hard to find a 40-watt soldering iron with 350 °C temperature. So I have only 2 options : a 40-watt soldering iron with 480 ° C or 60-watt with adjustable temperature (250-300-350-400).. Which one should I choose? Thanks
thank you father!
What’s a good brand of solder iron and solder that you’d recommend which don’t break the bank but are functional?
Great video, Sadly it wasn't made when i was soldering my stratocaster :(
Haha! Sorry for being too slow. But you know what, I have the feeling that it wasn't the last time you grabbed the soldering iron. :)
//cheers, Kris
What profile (in mm²) should have the simple wires for strat/tele?
question - would it be better to use a thinner solder?
Thank you, this video is great. Is it necessary to put copper or some kind of metal tape on or around the circuitry?
Thanks! No it's not necessary. It can help with unwanted noise but a lot of guitars don't have a shielding and work just fine. None of my guitars have it and I never have issues. //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses thank you so much for your reply. I'm about to replace my pots and just ordered my soldering station and am very excited!
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses do you have recommendations or advice when it comes to grounding the circuit?
Can you do a serial? Starting with one volume-knob and a humbucker (Van Halen style) and so on. At the end Brian May and a 10-switch on a strat;-)
Seymoud duncan has a wiring schematic for that if youre interested
DiMarzio too
Sehr coole Serie ! Welches Lötzinn könnt ihr denn empfehlen? Greets
I always have this issu when sodering the back of the pot, Even with having soldering paste the solder wouldn't stick and just dies off during contact. Is it because of my soldering gun used is static?
Does the wire have to always go through the hole in the lug? What if a capacitor it soldered into that lug?
Do you use lead free solder or leaded solder?
How about wiring new pickups? The steps involved in switching from passive to active pickups or electronics
Hey, thanks for the comment! New wirings can be tricky to film because there are way too many options, guitar types pickup configurations, etc. But I love the idea of going from passive to active pickups. That would be really useful for many.
//cheers, Kris
Was that really a short amount of time with the iron?, if so it wasn't what I had anticipated. What, in terms of duration is an acceptable, non damaging time scale, please.
Excellent post 🙂
It was as short as possible. The duration of heating the solder depends on the electrical component, the wire type and the temperature of the iron. The backside of a pot always needs a little longer, because its a big metal surface that doesn't get enough hot very fast. As soon as the solder melted, stay on it a few more seconds longer with the iron (to have a stable joint) and then let it cool down. This whole thing takes way shorter if you're soldering a wire to a log or a switch.
So there's no exact duration I could tell you, there are too many variables.
//cheers, Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses thankyou 🙂
Thanks Mark Williamson that is very helpful
Does it matter which log you solder the wire to?
Just amaze me how few people use rozin when soldering..
Does anyone know how much a basic/beginner “kit” is to start soldering?
If Thomann are doing videos on soldering, and sell components that need to be soldered, would it not be an idea to sell soldering equipment and supplies? Website doesn't seem to have them.
just put a new pot in a crybaby, first time soldering aside from trem claw, thanks for this.
Awesome! Glad the videos helped! Cheers //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses i didn't put enough solder on my first joint, but put a healthy amount on the others and went much more smoothly!
Any ideas on why my neck pickup’s signal sounds weak? When I have the volume pot on 10 it sounds like it’s on 4. I’ve swapped pickup before with no problem. Any “usual suspects” you can think of?
Hey, it could be the pickup, or other parts of the electronic. First you could re-solder that pickup and see if that helped. If not, swap the cables of the two pickups (bridge wire to where the neck wire is now). If all of a sudden the bridge pickup is quiet, then it's not the pickup, but the switch / pot where the neck pickup was wired to. And if it's still the neck pickup that's quiet, then it's an internal pickup issue. The pickup wire is broken or the winding itself has something. In that case you can bring it to a pickup doctor or just swap it. Cheers //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses thank you for the detailed reply. I’ll give it a shot.
I have a Fender TLAC-100 Telecaster from 1991. It has a 9-volt battery under the backplate where the electronics are. The black battery lead came unsoldered from wherever it was soldered to and I cannot figure out where to solder it back! Help!
Black wire of the battery usually should go the ring of the (stereo) output jack. When you plug in a (mono) cable this lug will be switched to ground (minus of battery), when you unplug, electronics will be switched off.
Sorry for my bad english!
Is Chris short for Krishna? soo many arms! Aside from that very informative, cheers
Ohh dude, you should've seen all my other arms under the table. They were playing the best Rock paper scissors game ever! LOL
//cheers, Kris
Me: I am gonna write something smart in the comments
Me also: sees other comments that have super complex stuff written
Me:🤐
Haha! There are NO lame questions or comments man. Don't feel intimidated here! :) This is not a master course and I'm sure there are many here who would love to help you if you need it or just chat about the subject. I definitely do. Let's gooooooo! :)
//cheers, Kris
I can't get the hang of it.I do everything you and the hundred of other videos say but no go.I thought perhaps my cheap iron was the problem so I spent $120 on a good one but once again nothing.I was a professional welder and welded submarines but I can't make a simple solder connection.I am so frustrated.
The flow is just different! Once you get the new timing it will flow. Old welder with vision difficulties, and had to learn the suttle differance as well ;)
@@popogejo7245 much gratitude.
I can’t find how to solder braided wire to the three-way switch and to the pots pick up diagrams, but they look ridiculous
Why do my solder joints go dull grey on the back of the pot? I understand this is a cold solder joint, which I don’t want, it what is causing this? I am using a good iron set to 350C, anybody know what my issue is? And also my tip is tinned nice and shiny.
Hey there. In order for the solder joint to be shiny, the solder needs to contain lead. However, inside of the EU the use of solder which contains lead is only allowed in safety relevant ares. I therefore assume that you have solder without any lead which is perfectly fine! Your solder joints won't be shiny but if you are working at around 350° (maybe 360° in some cases), you're doing everything correctly.
I do not know, or do not understand why my wire does not weld with the pod
Very helpful. But that wire stripping technique (with your thumb facing the blade) is a recipe for cutting yourself. Buy a wire stripper.
Indeed, you can also damage the wire that way. However, it’s not that risky when you know what you’re doing, like the guy in the video.
@@Waterinmenbenen Sure, but this is a how-to video for those of us who don't know what we are doing.
I tried once.
I tried twice.
I'll never try again! 🤣
:D Were you using a decent iron? I'm only asking because I was struggling with really bad soldering irons many years ago. As soon as I tried a proper one, it was easy peasy all of a sudden. Cheers buddy!
//Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses I don't think it was a good soldering iron! :)
It has NOTHING to do with the one you're using and its support, temperature etc! :)
why do they always SOLDER the third leg to the solder body and puddle of solder?
No flux?
When I try to get the solder to stick to the pots, it just rolls off. What am I doing wrong?
Do you mean soldering the backside of the pots? Yeah that needs some practice which you can do on old, faulty pots. You have to heat it up (already with a drop of solder on the tip of the iron) as long as that drop starts to spread on the pot. This takes quite a few seconds and you should have a capable soldering iron. At lower temperatures this might not work that easily.
On the other hand you should avoid heating the pot for too long, since that might ruin it. As told, it's a fine balance between not heating it up enough and cooking it. Good luck! //Kris
Hallo Kris, was für Lötzinn nutzt du? Bleihaltiges mit Seele ist schwer zu finden, soll aber am einfachsten zu verarbeiten sein...
Hi Jickles Jingles. Bleihaltiges Lötzinn darf innerhalb der EU nur noch in sicherheitsrelevanten Bereichen eingesetzt werden. Auch bleifreie Zinne erfüllen Ihre Aufgabe jedoch hervorragend und ist nicht schwieriger zu verarbeiten :)
@@d4c4n Danke!
Meiner Erfahrung nach hat bleifreies Lötzinn einen höheren Schmelzpunkt und benötigt somit mehr Hitze am Lötkolben und braucht entsprechend länger, bis es verarbeitbar wird. Daher muss man halt etwas achtsamer sein, was es ein wenig "komplizierter" macht...
@@jicklesjingles8134 Das ist korrekt, der Schmelzpunkt liegt höher. Die Temperatur von 350°C ist jedoch völlig ausreichend um es schnell zum Schmelzen zu bringen! Bei bleihaltigem Lötzinn gehe ich mit der Temperatur daher sogar etwas runter :)
My solder just turns into bubbles and runs away :)
Hey Chris, is guitar soldering bad for my health?
Here goes nuthin'...
how can I double subscribe?
Haha, thanks man! One sub will just do fine. 😄 Cheers //Kris
Of course Gibson cables are a pain because Gibson.
Ive been trying to solder a nazgul bridge pickup for 4 hours. I already had 2 of 3 parts soldered on only for them to come off 30 seconds later, i swear im about to kill someone
Jees oh peetes...how much heat you gonna put on that pot???....you didn't cover heat sinks.
This explains why guitar wiring is so bad
You guys need to learn to solder
I want to turn my squire strat into a beast, I’m pretty damn scared thoe but this made me feel a little better when my dads out of the hospital I’ll ask to barrow his kit and test on things before I rip my baby apart 🤣