ive been able to start an electric guitar setup and repair business with the tips ive learned with your channel man. building a whole new wiring harness for my very first customer in an Epiphone SG!
Thanks for the lesson sir! blunt and to the point. I wanted to let ya know that watching your videos I learnt it is unnecessary to cut the solder from the spool, haha I feel like a bone head. Thanks again! My melody makers gonna have a tip-top wiring job.
You probably don't need it but a little tip from schooly was to use a big paper clip(the peg type) to hold wires in place as they also free up your hand and absorbs a lot of the heat from the Iron so caps etc don't get damaged as much. Excellent job by the way , clean and simple with minimum amount of solder, you must have a good teacher as well as experience. Thanks for all your hard work.
Nice videos on soldering. I got here watching the toggle switch vid. I find using some additional rosin flux helpful for bonding more rapidly and readily to the pot. Also, I like working with a hot iron. I’m typically at 410F. I find I can heat a more localized area quickly without sinking heat into adjacent metal.
I would like to mention that if you might want to turn the potentiometer counter-clockwise all the way, before you solder to the back. This way, (if for some reason) the internal wiper gets burnt, it will be in the zero position, where there is no signal transmission. This will insure a happy outcome...
Excellent videos, thank you! Was wondering if it's really necessary to solder both sides?...your first side looked plenty strong to me. Thanks for the assistance.
Nah. I've heard you can burn out a pot but I don't know what it takes. I know it's gotta be real ugly. I've gotten CTS full size pots so hot that the casing has deteriorated visibly, like oxidized it all over or burned up the plating or something, but I haven't broken one yet. So far as I can tell, you REALLY gotta send it to hell to actually break it. I guess its different for different pots probably
Man your stuff is clean! Nice work. I was wondering, is it possible to wire an entire guitar with braided wire? Would that reduce buzz in a tele for example?
Hi. I was wondering. . . I'm changing a single wire neck humbucker pickup on my archtop. Since it's so tricky to get to the pot, I was wondering whether one can cut the old pickup wire close to the pickup and simply solder the new pickup wire there. Solder the black inner wire, solder the braided coverings of both wires, and tape it all with electrical tape. Watching videos, it looks like this works-at least for those who say so. Thanks.
i have a busted gibson sg and want to remove the bridge pickup only and use it in a guitar that i am building. the body only has 1 recess for a bridge pickup and wont be getting a neck p/u. what exact;y must i remove from the back cavity of my sg in terms of wiring that i will need to run my bridge only custom setup?
How come the ground shield pushes back so easily on your braided wire? Is it a special type? I've only come across the standard stuff from stewmac and aftermarket 2 conductor pickups which both need to be unbraided. Cheers
I avoid using a pot case as a solder connection point whenever possible. Sometimes the vintage solder look is important which uses the pot case as a solder connection point. When I do want to solder to the back of the pot I use the one and done method. Which is to only apply heat to the case one time. So no pre-tinning of the case or wire braid. Here in the USA I use eutectic tin-lead solder and additional RA liquid flux which is the same as the flux in the wire (3.3%). To apply heat quickly and maintain temperature you need a high power soldering station. A 50 watt will work but I like using my 100W PACE ADS200 with HD cartridges with a large chisel tip. You have to prep the pot and position the work with a fixture (third hand, etc.), and depending on the guitar layout you may have several push back connections and perhaps a bus bar wire, etc. which is soldered to the pot case all in one operation. One and done works nicely for these grouped connections. After soldering I remove any remaining flux residue with IPA. I have found RA flux is needed more so for the push back wire braid, which seems to always have a high level of oxidation, than the pot case after cleaning. But, overall the RA flux works better than RMA no-clean.
Braided cable is generally considered better at shielding as the ground surrounds the signal wire. This is why you’ll see some guitars with pickup wires or wires to the jack twisted tightly together. Having the ground surrounding the signal offers shielding properties.
Hi David - use a wiring diagram: www.sixstringsupplies.co.uk/les-paul-wiring-diagram, or failing that, this video covers it for you: ruclips.net/video/HxN01_q2Zvo/видео.html
This was the neatest solder joint I’ve seen for this type, the braided outer can be extremely difficult! My only question is, why not use the leaded solder? I understand the whole “lead free” idea but excessive heat can hurt the components. Leaded solder isn’t nearly as bad as some would have you believe.
hi, I use lead free silver solder, but only because I have to (Can't use lead in commercial products in the EU) but if you're just soldering at home and have no plans to sell products, use 60/40 tin/lead solder!
You can't flop a small solder connection like that back and forth repeatedly. It will snap and you will be starting over. If the braided wire is coming out of a channel in a guitar, you physically can't flop it back and forth either. The best example of how to solder braided wire would be heating the pot and the wire in contact with each other and then feeding in the solder. What you've demonstrated can't be done in the real world.
I had been struggling putting the solder on the braided area. Somehow the solder doesn’t stick. Do I need an specific type of solder? I used the cheap one that was included in my cheap soldering 10 dll gun. It feels like the braided area doesn’t stick to the solder no matter what. I already put solder on the top of the volume pot is just the braided area that is hard to put the solder.. any clue?
This is easily one of the best, most straight forward tutorials I've ever seen. Thank you.
ive been able to start an electric guitar setup and repair business with the tips ive learned with your channel man. building a whole new wiring harness for my very first customer in an Epiphone SG!
1:33 I was in high school in the 80’s and my electronics teacher used to say this ALL THE TIME! “Tinning is winning”. Thanks for the flash back!
I had trouble with soldering a braided wire and your tutorial really helped me out
Glad to hear it! Thanks for watching!
Thank you for the clear tutorial. It helped me troubleshoot my crappy soldering job ;-)
Thanks for the lesson sir! blunt and to the point. I wanted to let ya know that watching your videos I learnt it is unnecessary to cut the solder from the spool, haha I feel like a bone head. Thanks again! My melody makers gonna have a tip-top wiring job.
You probably don't need it but a little tip from schooly was to use a big paper clip(the peg type) to hold wires in place as they also free up your hand and absorbs a lot of the heat from the Iron so caps etc don't get damaged as much. Excellent job by the way , clean and simple with minimum amount of solder, you must have a good teacher as well as experience. Thanks for all your hard work.
thanks Giulio, and yes that is a good tip. I have never needed them. They are known as "heat sinks"
peg type??? whats that
We call them hemostats in America @@yrulooknatme
Thanks for the video! I had no idea how this type of pick-up wire is solder, helped me a lot!!!!
Great job. Thank you for taking the time to post this.
Nice videos on soldering. I got here watching the toggle switch vid. I find using some additional rosin flux helpful for bonding more rapidly and readily to the pot. Also, I like working with a hot iron. I’m typically at 410F. I find I can heat a more localized area quickly without sinking heat into adjacent metal.
I would like to mention that if you might want to turn the potentiometer counter-clockwise all the way, before you solder to the back. This way, (if for some reason) the internal wiper gets burnt, it will be in the zero position, where there is no signal transmission. This will insure a happy outcome...
Great tutorial. Thank you. I'm trying this for the first time today.
Good tips for neat and tidy secure connections. Thank you.
TINNING IS WINNING...i like that!
Very nice job man !
AWESOME! I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS!
Excellent videos, thank you! Was wondering if it's really necessary to solder both sides?...your first side looked plenty strong to me. Thanks for the assistance.
No not really - one side will be fine 👍
You make it look so easy! Great, very helpful channel!
Thanks for this-super helpful
Great video, thank you! 👍😎🍺
Very nice, thanks!
Excellent work, thanks!
are you not overheating the pots with that much contact?
Nah. I've heard you can burn out a pot but I don't know what it takes. I know it's gotta be real ugly. I've gotten CTS full size pots so hot that the casing has deteriorated visibly, like oxidized it all over or burned up the plating or something, but I haven't broken one yet. So far as I can tell, you REALLY gotta send it to hell to actually break it. I guess its different for different pots probably
You definitely CAN overheat the pots and ruin them. I've done it. The key to not doing that is to use a low wattage soldering iron.
Can you solder Busrt Buckers to a coil splitting tone pots?
Great video thanks
What temperature are you using?
Man your stuff is clean! Nice work.
I was wondering, is it possible to wire an entire guitar with braided wire? Would that reduce buzz in a tele for example?
Is the outer braid connected to ground? is that material conductive?
Hi. I was wondering. . . I'm changing a single wire neck humbucker pickup on my archtop. Since it's so tricky to get to the pot, I was wondering whether one can cut the old pickup wire close to the pickup and simply solder the new pickup wire there. Solder the black inner wire, solder the braided coverings of both wires, and tape it all with electrical tape. Watching videos, it looks like this works-at least for those who say so.
Thanks.
Can I use this to solder a
hamburcker pickups with the braided wire.
Yes
How do you wire braided guitar wire to none braided guitar wire pickups?
i have a busted gibson sg and want to remove the bridge pickup only and use it in a guitar that i am building. the body only has 1 recess for a bridge pickup and wont be getting a neck p/u. what exact;y must i remove from the back cavity of my sg in terms of wiring that i will need to run my bridge only custom setup?
Can the outside wire touch itself?
How come the ground shield pushes back so easily on your braided wire? Is it a special type? I've only come across the standard stuff from stewmac and aftermarket 2 conductor pickups which both need to be unbraided. Cheers
I avoid using a pot case as a solder connection point whenever possible. Sometimes the vintage solder look is important which uses the pot case as a solder connection point. When I do want to solder to the back of the pot I use the one and done method. Which is to only apply heat to the case one time. So no pre-tinning of the case or wire braid.
Here in the USA I use eutectic tin-lead solder and additional RA liquid flux which is the same as the flux in the wire (3.3%). To apply heat quickly and maintain temperature you need a high power soldering station. A 50 watt will work but I like using my 100W PACE ADS200 with HD cartridges with a large chisel tip. You have to prep the pot and position the work with a fixture (third hand, etc.), and depending on the guitar layout you may have several push back connections and perhaps a bus bar wire, etc. which is soldered to the pot case all in one operation.
One and done works nicely for these grouped connections. After soldering I remove any remaining flux residue with IPA. I have found RA flux is needed more so for the push back wire braid, which seems to always have a high level of oxidation, than the pot case after cleaning. But, overall the RA flux works better than RMA no-clean.
Nice and neat. You wouldn't wanna see the loaded pickguard I just bought used what a mess
Haha thanks. I’ve seen a few iffy ones in my time.
What is the difference between using that wire and the one without the out cover?
Braided cable is generally considered better at shielding as the ground surrounds the signal wire. This is why you’ll see some guitars with pickup wires or wires to the jack twisted tightly together. Having the ground surrounding the signal offers shielding properties.
So If my tone switch is done where does the 3 cables from my tone switch go? To the Volume, Pickups, Tone, or Jack?
Hi David - use a wiring diagram: www.sixstringsupplies.co.uk/les-paul-wiring-diagram, or failing that, this video covers it for you: ruclips.net/video/HxN01_q2Zvo/видео.html
Bridge switch position wire to center lug of bridge volume pot. Neck switch position wire to center lug of neck volume pot. Center wire to jack.
What would you use to shield the braid so it wont ground out? Just simple electrical tape?
Hi; heat shrink rubber tubing
This was the neatest solder joint I’ve seen for this type, the braided outer can be extremely difficult!
My only question is, why not use the leaded solder? I understand the whole “lead free” idea but excessive heat can hurt the components. Leaded solder isn’t nearly as bad as some would have you believe.
its just bad for your health thats all 😂
What brand of solder or tinning do you recommend?thanks
hi, I use lead free silver solder, but only because I have to (Can't use lead in commercial products in the EU) but if you're just soldering at home and have no plans to sell products, use 60/40 tin/lead solder!
Now show us how to do it on a harness mounted in the guitar!
Hi! Thank's for sharing your knowledge! Same technique for the toggle switch's braided cloth wire ?
no problem...and yes :)
You forgot to mention not allowing too much solder on the braid because it seeps through the cloth and onto the hot wire ...........
You can't flop a small solder connection like that back and forth repeatedly. It will snap and you will be starting over. If the braided wire is coming out of a channel in a guitar, you physically can't flop it back and forth either. The best example of how to solder braided wire would be heating the pot and the wire in contact with each other and then feeding in the solder. What you've demonstrated can't be done in the real world.
I hate braided wire for this one reason! Nightmare
I can barely ever get any solder to flow onto braided stuff! 🤬🤬🤬
I had been struggling putting the solder on the braided area. Somehow the solder doesn’t stick. Do I need an specific type of solder? I used the cheap one that was included in my cheap soldering 10 dll gun.
It feels like the braided area doesn’t stick to the solder no matter what. I already put solder on the top of the volume pot is just the braided area that is hard to put the solder.. any clue?
use some flux
This is easily one of the best, most straight forward tutorials I've ever seen. Thank you.