Hi folks,
I'm hoping some of you guys can help me out! I'm planning on re-wiring my strat with a wiring kit I bought online, more as a learning experiment really, as my soldering experience so far is mainly made up of making guitar leads and xlr cables, and also I would love to do a custom build like some of the awesome ones on here, and I figure I need to start somewhere!

What I'm not too sure of though is what kind of solder would be best to use? also I've heard that some of the components can be ruined by heat from the soldering iron etc. is there anything I can do to prevent this? aside from holding the soldering iron too long in any one place.

Any help would be awesome, as I'm new to the forum and also to doing anything like this and I figured this would be the best place to ask

cheers, Drew

Hi Drew welcome to the forum, soldering .............where to start. Its not hard to solder well just maybe need to practice a bit first to get the hang of how much heat different things need, some small components attached to a board need little heat, soldering a bit of wire to the side of a pot casing needs a bit more.

Most multicore (resin) cored solder will do, its lead based so try not to breath too much in, hi fi stuff might use silver solder as a better connection ie lower resistance is needed for hi fi signals.

A good idea if you are likely to keep soldering is to buy a cheap solder station it gives you somewhere to park the iron and the heat can be turned up or down to get that ideal heat setting. If not just an iron around 25 watts will do fine.

Hope this helps ...... Al

Just use the same technique you used to solder the wires and you will be fine. Remember how if you keep the iron on a wire too long, the insulation will start to melt? It's the same with guitar wiring, like you said "don't leave the iron in one place too long." If you can do the guitar and XLR cables, that's good experience that will transfer to guitar wiring. And, standard 60/40 rosin core solder is fine. The thin solder is for electrical, don't use the really thick kind, it's for plumbing. There isn't much else in a guitar that you can hurt by soldering besides the wires.

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Hey guys thankyou so much for the help, it is very much appreciated I think it's just a bit daunting as I've never done anything really like it before other than changing pick up covers, but I guess everybody has to start off somewhere. You never know it might even improve the tone of the guitar

Thanks again, Drew

You shouldn't have any trouble...it isn't really a big deal.

A couple tips...protect your work area - it is worth the time to tape/mask off around where you'll be working. Also move uneeded wires out of the way to protect them from the iron barrel.

Also, I find is an iron of like 40watts with a wider tip (I have a nice Weller that is perfect) to work better for me - it takes just a very quick touch to melt a joint on a pot lug or wire, and is much better for the back of pots where more heat is needed. You don't want to leave it on there too long.

In a place like Radio Shack, they sell little copper-colored alligator clips with smooth jaws - these make great heat sinks - use them!

Enjoy!

Good post and good question. I am in the midst of wiring my first one too.

Thanks for the tips guys.

My problem is in deciding which wiring pattern to use. The vintage pattern that came with my 57/62's, or the standard pattern of today. ther are some small differences.

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I remember when we were free!

+1

The wider tips are also handy when soldering a ground wire to a trem claw.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Cool I'm glad its not just me taking my guitar apart for the first time, best of luck for when you decide what way to go with it, I'm sorry I can't offer any help as I'm not sure of what the differences are

And thanks again guys for the suggestions and helpful tips, its put my mind at ease so I'm not so nervous about doing it now!

Drew

You can also lightly sand the terminals w/a say 400 grit emery cloth n clean it off w/some 90% alkeehhall (burbon mite do, just kidn drink that when yer done). tin yer wire leads. apply heat w/iron. Dont put the solder on iron tip to start the flow but on the connection, as soon as solder starts to flow remove iron n solder will still be flowing. Your solder joint should be nice n shinny if not ya got a cold solder joint. Most importantly keep your iron sponge wet to keep yer tip clean n apply a little solder to tip every so often n leave it on when you put the iron back in the rack. Then wipe it off when yer ready for yer next joint. If yer tip is not shinny u wont get the capillary attraction you need for a good connection n overheat the conductor(wire) n melt the insulation on the wire n burn everything up(this is the most overlooked thing in the process, Iron maintenence). If your tip wont shine, chuck it n put a new one on,if its pre tinned still tin it w/some solder. Clean the joint up w/the alkee. I like to use a toothbrush for cleanin. N like the other forum members recomend, use heat sinks. Let It Flo Bro. N the best of luck. Gigfin

Thanks so much guys for all the advice, it is very much appreciated!

Forgive me if this is a silly question (I'm really new to this type of thing, electronics and stuff) say for example I used the smooth jawed copper crocodile clip as a heat sink, where would I place it on the component I was working on? I understand what a heat sink does just not sure where to attach it?

Thanks again for all the help,

Drew

Well I managed to fiinish the wiring, followed all the advice and stuff, but I think I must have done something wrong, as now when I plugged the guitar in, anxious to hear what it sounded like, I'm getting a lot of buzz

Back to the drawing board I suppose, will dismantle it again next weekend and start over

Best way to learn I suppose is to make mistakes!

Drew

Are the tone pots grounded to the volume pot? Are you grounding the volume pot to the trem claw?

In my experience, even pickguards with the thin foil adhesive will operate pretty quietly if everything is grounded correctly, even when control cavity is unshielded.

I'm not really sure if you can "over" ground a pickguard assembly but usually the above works for me.

Hey, yeah I did wire the trem claw to the Volume pot, although I can't remember if i wired both the tone pots to the volume pot, as I wasn't too sure whether I had to.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of taking it to pieces without really paying attention to how it was already wired, just excited to get going I guess

I will check it out tomorrow and make sure that all the grounds are secure, and I could put a touch more solder on them to make sure!

I really appreciate the help, I honestly didn't expect so many replies!

Cheers,

Drew

As long as the connections are secure I wouldn't add any more solder. I like to use as little as possible (within reason) so if I have to re-do something or re-use the parts for another project, there isn't lots of excess solder to clean up.

Ah ok, cool. I didn't think of that,not using too much solder incase I need to use any of the components again. I'll give it a look over in the next couple of days and post up for anybody that's interested

Drew