i know Im randomly asking but does anyone know a method to log back into an instagram account..? I was dumb forgot the account password. I would appreciate any help you can give me!
@Blake Kaleb Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site through google and Im in the hacking process atm. I see it takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
Great tutorial on soldering, I might add that if you don't want to burn your hands a lot you get a set of those "helping hands" that have alligator clips that you can rotate around and it holds all your soldering business together nice and keeps the hands from burning. Also you can do it Gibson style and make a template out of wood or metal to hold the components in place while being soldered. I sometimes use just regular old Vice Grips to hold a pot here and there.
I would like to suggest getting rid of your wet sponge. Every time you use it causes a thermal shock in the metal and a temperature drop of the iron tip. Get a kitchen metal scrubber for replacing the wet sponge. Please use a tiny drop liquid rosin for each joint. If you are using the correct heat and rosin the joint should shine like a mirror. This will help you from having a cold or weak joint which are hard to see if you do not solder a lot or have not been shown poor joints. Good soldering is an art form. When you do it enough you will be able to see if the joint is good or bad. For got; use a small brass brush to clean the tip well. Every time you are ready to set the iron down put a small amount of new solder. This will help preserve the health of the irons tip. When you are finished with the iron put a lot of new solder on the tip and then turn it off. When you project is done get some rubbing alcohol and us a tooth brush to clean off the excess rosin. If you have some old joints to clean get some acetone (do not use nail polish remover it has oils in it bad for your joints} and cut 50/50 with water. Will work real well. All you will need is a cap full full or two to clean things up. Hope I have not wasted my time. Takes time to learn good soldering techniques.
The short version, I used to teach, is soldering is about 90% cleaning. If the wire, the terminals, and the iron tip are clean, soldering is easy. If anything is dirty or your iron tip is burnt, it can be impossible. Quality 60/40 or 63/37 solder is worth the money. Some off brands are ok, some are miserable. Lead free is much harder to do well. It works more like mush than liquid and needs more heat. A good controlled soldering station is a plus if you do much soldering. Soldering guns tend to be hopeless for today's work.
Great stuff Dave ,,,Love the interlude on the slide guitar ..... The sound you get out of that beast is really great. Getting back to soldering,back in our days when we were young , 60's & 70's . we used to build amps, circuits , Etching boards , rewinding pickups & troubleshooting , point to point wiring of tube amps ... I now realize that the hand soldering has long been dead and no one teaches it in school or is it used much. Just want to say You are a new icon , Reality Trailer Park boys
SOLDERING - The secret to flowing solder is having clean parts and having the temperature hot enough to flow....I use sand paper or my Dremel to score the surface or back of a pot if it is dirty, may use solvent, but clean is very important. tin that TIP of the solder iron, and keep wiping it off, even if it is sitting and just heating wipe it off every few minutes, or roll the tip in solder...if the tip is dirty, it won't convect the heat to the part properly....and if you are soldering wires or even the lead on a cap or resistor, if they are clean then heat and add a little solder to them (the wire part of a resistor or cap) first, this way you have solder already on the surfaces, that is half the battle...but heating the parts properly is important. If you also just get solder on it and let it cool for a moment, it is like glue, so heat another area and add a bit more solder if it is needed, the joint should look silvery, if not it isn't a good joint...you can always re-flow the joint, and have a solder sucker for taking too much solder off of a joint, too much can also be a problem! Now - these are great videos Dave, I wish you were around the area, could use a good bass player, you Hoser! Take OFFF!!
I don't have holding tools, I usually strip the insulation off the end of the wire and twist it and dip it in rosin flux then double tin it and clean with a wet wipe between tinning layers. Then i clip half a mm off the end of the tinned wire and apply more flux. I pre-tin the contacts on what I'm soldering and i use a stripped twist tie to brush on flux on the contact to be soldered and i touch the soldering iron to the contact and feed the wire through. I have not had one cold joint ever since I've used my method. This might sound unorthodox but I don't feed solder wire to the parts i tin, I add just enough solder to the soldering iron to tin the part. I add flux to the part and touch the soldering iron to tin it and the solder flows towards it, I just make sure the solder doesn't change color while it's on the tip of the soldering iron because otherwise the solder will go bad and I'll have to wipe it off the soldering iron with a cold wet folded paper towel. However i usually don't have to do that since i keep the solder just a hair or two above melting point. again no cold joints.
Getting decent tools really can't be understated. I started tinkering with building my own stomp boxes a few years ago and I learned this the hard way. I went through 3 shitty soldering irons, a bunch of crappy snips and strippers and a whole bunch of other inferior crap before I finally invested in some decent equipment. When I look back at all the effort it took just to end up with a really bad finished product, it makes me glad I got my shit together when I did.
Liquid flux makes soldering so fast, you barely have to touch the iron to the parts. The solder comes out less cold too, that is why I use it. I do agree that it is not absolutely necessary. I hate when people use plumbers flux for electronics.
you mentioned buying a magnifier headset or lamp. I took the poorman route and bought a set of really strong reading glasses from the discount shop. They are something like +2.5 or something. They are good for bringing things close into sharp focus, and have a slight magnification to them. I only use them for close-up work on the guitar, like soldering.
Great video again, Dave. Though, you didn't mention about not blowing on the solder to cool it down. That supposedly oxidizes it and makes it less conductive.
Your the real deal, thanks, going to gut the archtop, put in high end stuff, your a great big help, and entertaining, at the same time. SO PRAY FOR ME, YA KNOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you have a noisy pots and it's NOT your solder joints... just spray it thoroughly with Electronic Contact Cleaner (CRC)... get it inside... let it run all over the place. Won't hurt anything... amazing stuff. Just did a power switch on a very expensive Nikon camera. Wouldn't turn on. Works perfectly now. Have used this my whole life for cleaning anything sensitive.
I recommend 18-65W soldering irons, I have a 25W Griffin and it'as served me well for soldering my guitar's electronics many times during pickup and wire replacements in my guitars, I also recommend non-ROHS (leaded) solder if you can get hold of any, if not the lead free stuff works ok for guitar electronics, and if you fell the need to use flux. the potentiometers are normally clean so don't need any, but dipping wires in flux makes them take the solder better and means that you can get a pretty solid join... oh, and always keep a desoldering gun nearby in case of excess solder!!
I used to struggle a lot with getting the solder to stick to certain wire/surfaces. It would just kind of roll off, and wouldn't stick regardless of how hot I got the surface. I read somewhere that cleaning with denatured alcohol could help. Tried it, and I've never had any trouble with getting solder to stick since.
hahaha awesome vid man. thankyou. love the humor. a question. i found some nice old lead based solder. some 60% lead and 40 tin and some 40% lead and 60% tin. what would be better for installing a new set of pickups into my strat?
Dave, soldering to pots is a whole lot easier if you have a little holder for them. Some folks use that little alligator-clips-on-a-stand thing, but that is more trouble than it's worth. Cut a 6" length from a 2x4 and drill a few 1/4" diameter holes (1" deep) in the face and a few on the ends. The holes on the face accept pot shafts. The holes in the ends accept 1/4" plugs when you're making or repairing cables. Also, a brass pot scrubber works WAY better than a wet sponge. Don't buy a copper one because solder sticks to it and you'll be gooched.
Guitar Johhny. I do all my own repairs, mods and upgrades. When my old soldering station gave up the ghost, I ended up buying a Stahl Variable temperature Soldering Station online from Tube Depot for $16.95 +shipping and I've never looked back. This bad boy is variable from 5-40w and the tips are replaceable. I should add that it is 115v 60Hz AC only. I'd post the link but TH-cam doesn't allow for that.
hi Dave would like to find out how to clean the pots of a stacked bass and treble potentiometer if that would be ok if your not buy.... Thanks and power to you
The weller iron is temperature controlled so the actual wattage is not so important as long as its big enough. The temperature is controlled by the bit type
I use lead based solder, it's easier to work with but it's getting harder to find. Supposedly lead doesn't vaporize at soldering temperatures, while the crap they put in the other stuff does. That doesn't mean you should huff it though.
Hey man Im looking to buy a weller soldering iron myself its a 50w is a temperature control needed for guitar work theres a big difference in price between the ones with and without.
hey dave, thanks for the tutorial. a while back i did a little mod on the electronics of my active bass. it was nothing special, but i used the wrong kind of solder. do you think i should redo the job with the other solder? the bass has worked great til now
ya know...I guess I do it to myself. I didnt have to watch this ...but I did. so ..."what has been seen cannot be unseen". hopefully you all wont make the same mistake i did.This "hip slick and cool shit just fly down here in the states..A??. well congratulations for all your hard work!! ..you climed all the way to TH-cam!!!
***** Dear Dave..... My name is Barry Gregg and I tried to do someone a favor by showing him your vids and he responded with some really ignorant comments to you at my expense. Let me apologize for said statements and let me assure you that my trying to help that fool has ended.. Your videos have been of great help to me and saved me from many a "gooch". I look forward to your posts and thank you kindly for taking the time and effort to uplaod them. Again...please accept my apology and please continue to post and know that you have a warm place in Florida should the need ever arise... thank you Dave......thank you vey much... Barry Gregg
Soldering to pot covers... Most have a thin layer of varnish of some kind on them. If you buff it off where you want to solder (with a file, sandpaper or a Dremel wire wheel), it will be lots easier to solder to, go more quickly and MAYBE the pot won't get as hot.
+Joe Dov It's normal for solder to dull a bit when it cools. Just make sure that the components remain _absolutely stationary_ as the solder cools so the solder doesn't either crystallize or "granulate". The resulting surface of the solder should be smooth, not lumpy, crazed, or granular, even if it isn't super-shiny. A really good solder joint looks like a coat of heavy lacquer except that it's opaque and metallic instead of transparent. The best technique is to heat the components evenly and simultaneously. Apply the solder to the components, _not_ the tip of the iron, as they're heating up. As soon as the solder starts to flow over the components, remove both the solder and the iron and keep the components from moving until the solder is cool -- you should be able to see the outline of the components underneath the solder when you're done. The basic idea is to have the components and the solder all at the same tempurature when the solder melts. If you apply solder directly to the tip of the iron, you can end up with a nice shiny ball of solder that doesn't actually join the components together (because the components didn't get hot enough to melt the solder and allow it to flow over them) and, in most cases, will simply pop off of the joint with very little force. So, it may look pretty but provide little or no electrical connection. Finally, I can't emphasize enough what Dave said about *NOT* using "plumbing solder" or acid flux. Dave is absolutely right about this. Not only is the acid flux going to cause damage over time, the solder itself is not the proper alloy for electrical joints. Its melting point is usually too high (which can lead to damaged components, especially when soldering to a pad on a printed circuit board) and it won't provide as good an electrical connection.
+Joe Dov You're welcome, Joe. Also, "lead-free" may explain why your joints look different from Dave's. As far as I can tell from reading the label on the spool in the video, Dave is using standard tin/lead solder, which is a different alloy. It's somewhat easier to work with than lead-free because lead-free's melting point is a bit higher, but not so much higher as to be a problem for the components. I've never worked with lead-free solder myself, so I'm not familiar with its appearance on a finished joint.
+Joe Dov As far as I know, the only reason lead-free solder even exists is because of health and environmental concerns. For example, all consumer electronics/appliances sold in the EU (and/or the UK) must be made with lead-free solder. I'm not sure if the US is that strict yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is. In fact, the major "problematic" element of solder for electronics is the tin, not the lead. Tin can cause failure over time, especially in harsh environments, because it can crystallize and grow microscopic "whiskers". Those whiskers can bridge gaps between very-closely-spaced conductors such as the pads on surface-mount chips on a PCB. This phenomenon has been conjectured to have caused the failure of at least one communications satellite.
rockin video. the only thing you could find usfull is a small vice. i had one on my desk till my brother caught his finger in it, and i had to take it off. but for tinning, and soldering the pots, it's much easier, and safer. that's all. ooh, and i hate solder wick. i can never get it to work, and yes i know you have to fluff it out a little. but yeah. good video.
hi Dave, im from Waterloo and have enjoyed your videos for quite some time. i never realized a world class guitar surgeon was within my reach. how would i contact you to get some work done,i would love to watch a video of you working on one of my guitars and cursing me for doing stupid things to it.i want to see you un gooch some of my boo boo's.
Can you say ADHD?! lol You're all over the place my man! You remind me of me. Don't make for a very coherent video, but you get my thumbs up for attitude and weirdly endearing predisposition! :) Video is still informative nevertheless.
You can get all sorts of contact cleaners from you local electronics parts store. BUT & I say BUT! Read the label. Do not buy any contact cleaners that clean carbon deposits. Why you ask. Your potentiometers are made with a carbon film. SO, if use a contact cleaner that removes carbon deposits, it will also remove the carbon film in your pots.
Can too much solder cause issues with sound? I have a lot of noise from my first build. The pickups work, volume works fine, master tone works, preamp, switch between active and passive tone, etc. But it is humming very loudly, especially when I boost the highs or increase passive tone. I am sure that it is a grounding issue. But I am pretty new at this so I don’t know if the issue is a cold solder joint(I might know where it is, if it is the problem.), too much solder, or if I just forgot to ground somewhere(but I did look it over several times.). I was also having trouble getting the solder to stick to the bridge. I got it to work, but I would like tips for that if you have any. Anyway, thanks for the vids. You have helped me out a lot on my first guitar build.
@davey4557 Nope, everything is in the pickguard, the pots , the pickup, nothing is touching the body at all...the bridge is a tailpiece style..what might need to be done?
Before you ever showed your face on these videos, I imagined how how you looked based on just voice alone. Once I saw what you looked like? Just exactly as I imagined. Hehehehe!
I just finished rewiring my LTD EC-50 and replaced the volume and tone pots while I was at it. For some reason though, now the tone control doesn't work properly. It seems to act like another volume control except it wont kill the volume completely. Any thoughts on what I did?
Definitely gooched, lol. I loosely followed the Seymour Duncan diagram. I figured out what I did last night.The only thing I did differently was that I wired the new tone pot the same as the original one in the guitar, which had the cap on the 3rd finger and output on the 2nd. All I had to do was switch the cap to the second and in/output to the 1st.
I couldn't figure out why my 2014 Fender Standard MIM bass would not work , opened up the electronics only to find the soldering came undone on 2 wires . I scotch taped the 2 wires back it works. I ordered a soldering kit from Amazon but never soldered before , its just 2 wires. Got to looking at other wires and they are cheaply soldered , you get what you pay for. So I move forward in the world of soldering and hope I don't gooch anything. Pray for me , I just paid this bass off last week.
Clean all components (brush and alcool) and avoid touching component part with finger to avoid contamination...and for a nice result make sure your solder is concave...not balloone ...if it's not shining egal a cold solder....(mat and not smouth) for the top of potentiometre I prefer using a bit larger tip...(ex solder inspector)
Umm...he did say "cleaning". Etching in essence. But I'd say he knows what he's talking about. If his name is on IMDB for SFX then I think that deserves some respect. Cheers Huck.
OK Dave I bought a guitar but the pickup buzzer unless I touch it , I know its not grounded properly I took out the pickguard and all the electronics are in the pickup noting touching the body of the guitar like a strat I had..help?
Darn you Dave! Now I have that word "Gooched" implanted in my head and now people all around me will be asking me "WTF does 'Gooched' mean?" I'll just have to send em to this video! Otherwise, this is a good video as I think I might have 'gooched' my bass before watching this vid. Now I know why it is!
The BEST way to repair a noisy pot is to REPLACE it! Cleaners only work for a short time and encourage the build-up of grunge. The pots will fail and need to be cleaned again. for $10 (or equivalent) you'll have a couple of clean pots that'll last 5, 10, 15 years.
I don't know why, I just really like this guy's attitude. Very informative video also, thanks!
"... now you're gooched!" LMFAO!! That line alone was worth the price of admission, buddy!
i know Im randomly asking but does anyone know a method to log back into an instagram account..?
I was dumb forgot the account password. I would appreciate any help you can give me!
@Jake Dariel instablaster ;)
@Blake Kaleb Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site through google and Im in the hacking process atm.
I see it takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
@Blake Kaleb it did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D
Thanks so much, you saved my account!
@Jake Dariel Glad I could help xD
‘’Oh look! We’ve got the f*cking noise maker! Let pause till that things done, ah screw it.” - Love this Guy...
Your videos keep getting better Davey.
Thanks.
"Oh look, we got the fucking noise maker!"
11:33 I dont know why, but I half expected him to say "good luck soldering you pieces of shit."
Great tutorial on soldering, I might add that if you don't want to burn your hands a lot you get a set of those "helping hands" that have alligator clips that you can rotate around and it holds all your soldering business together nice and keeps the hands from burning. Also you can do it Gibson style and make a template out of wood or metal to hold the components in place while being soldered. I sometimes use just regular old Vice Grips to hold a pot here and there.
I would like to suggest getting rid of your wet sponge. Every time you use it causes a thermal shock in the metal and a temperature drop of the iron tip. Get a kitchen metal scrubber for replacing the wet sponge. Please use a tiny drop liquid rosin for each joint. If you are using the correct heat and rosin the joint should shine like a mirror. This will help you from having a cold or weak joint which are hard to see if you do not solder a lot or have not been shown poor joints. Good soldering is an art form. When you do it enough you will be able to see if the joint is good or bad. For got; use a small brass brush to clean the tip well. Every time you are ready to set the iron down put a small amount of new solder. This will help preserve the health of the irons tip. When you are finished with the iron put a lot of new solder on the tip and then turn it off. When you project is done get some rubbing alcohol and us a tooth brush to clean off the excess rosin. If you have some old joints to clean get some acetone (do not use nail polish remover it has oils in it bad for your joints} and cut 50/50 with water. Will work real well. All you will need is a cap full full or two to clean things up. Hope I have not wasted my time. Takes time to learn good soldering techniques.
Paul C Johnson, you didn't waste your time. Sound like you know more than the guy in the video. Thanks for the tips.
The short version, I used to teach, is soldering is about 90% cleaning. If the wire, the terminals, and the iron tip are clean, soldering is easy. If anything is dirty or your iron tip is burnt, it can be impossible. Quality 60/40 or 63/37 solder is worth the money. Some off brands are ok, some are miserable. Lead free is much harder to do well. It works more like mush than liquid and needs more heat. A good controlled soldering station is a plus if you do much soldering. Soldering guns tend to be hopeless for today's work.
Great stuff Dave ,,,Love the interlude on the slide guitar ..... The sound you get out of that beast is really great.
Getting back to soldering,back in our days when we were young , 60's & 70's . we used to build amps, circuits , Etching boards , rewinding pickups & troubleshooting , point to point wiring of tube amps ... I now realize that the hand soldering has long been dead and no one teaches it in school or is it used much. Just want to say You are a new icon , Reality Trailer Park boys
I'd like to have a beer with this dude if possible
Love this guy. Reminds me of one of my teachers who taught a class on soldering audio electronics.
SOLDERING - The secret to flowing solder is having clean parts and having the temperature hot enough to flow....I use sand paper or my Dremel to score the surface or back of a pot if it is dirty, may use solvent, but clean is very important. tin that TIP of the solder iron, and keep wiping it off, even if it is sitting and just heating wipe it off every few minutes, or roll the tip in solder...if the tip is dirty, it won't convect the heat to the part properly....and if you are soldering wires or even the lead on a cap or resistor, if they are clean then heat and add a little solder to them (the wire part of a resistor or cap) first, this way you have solder already on the surfaces, that is half the battle...but heating the parts properly is important. If you also just get solder on it and let it cool for a moment, it is like glue, so heat another area and add a bit more solder if it is needed, the joint should look silvery, if not it isn't a good joint...you can always re-flow the joint, and have a solder sucker for taking too much solder off of a joint, too much can also be a problem! Now - these are great videos Dave, I wish you were around the area, could use a good bass player, you Hoser! Take OFFF!!
Soldering is one of those things that's not hard to do once you know how to do it....Good info for the newbie.
Not sure what I learned but it was 12 minutes of fun!
I don't have holding tools,
I usually strip the insulation off the end of the wire and twist it and dip it in rosin flux then double tin it and clean with a wet wipe between tinning layers. Then i clip half a mm off the end of the tinned wire and apply more flux. I pre-tin the contacts on what I'm soldering and i use a stripped twist tie to brush on flux on the contact to be soldered and i touch the soldering iron to the contact and feed the wire through.
I have not had one cold joint ever since I've used my method.
This might sound unorthodox but
I don't feed solder wire to the parts i tin, I add just enough solder to the soldering iron to tin the part.
I add flux to the part and touch the soldering iron to tin it and the solder flows towards it, I just make sure the solder doesn't change color while it's on the tip of the soldering iron because otherwise the solder will go bad and I'll have to wipe it off the soldering iron with a cold wet folded paper towel. However i usually don't have to do that since i keep the solder just a hair or two above melting point.
again no cold joints.
Getting decent tools really can't be understated. I started tinkering with building my own stomp boxes a few years ago and I learned this the hard way. I went through 3 shitty soldering irons, a bunch of crappy snips and strippers and a whole bunch of other inferior crap before I finally invested in some decent equipment.
When I look back at all the effort it took just to end up with a really bad finished product, it makes me glad I got my shit together when I did.
I have not even watched 2 min of this video and I got to say great job in the filming aspect. Also good knowledge for the people.
Liquid flux makes soldering so fast, you barely have to touch the iron to the parts. The solder comes out less cold too, that is why I use it. I do agree that it is not absolutely necessary. I hate when people use plumbers flux for electronics.
I really needed help and your tutorial was just the thing to fix my mistakes. Wasn't expecting to laugh watching a soldering video but I did. Thanks
Dave, your videos are the best!
you mentioned buying a magnifier headset or lamp. I took the poorman route and bought a set of really strong reading glasses from the discount shop. They are something like +2.5 or something. They are good for bringing things close into sharp focus, and have a slight magnification to them. I only use them for close-up work on the guitar, like soldering.
Great video again, Dave. Though, you didn't mention about not blowing on the solder to cool it down. That supposedly oxidizes it and makes it less conductive.
Gooched is becoming my favorite word!
Great video. Informative and the guy is hilarious!
this new two camera thing is excellent thanks Davey, keep up the good work.
let's say a prayer to the solder Gods..ROFL Dave you're the best!
Your the real deal, thanks, going to gut the archtop, put in high end stuff, your a great big help, and entertaining, at the same time. SO PRAY FOR ME, YA KNOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice little vid Davey Good basic info and multipal cameras and picture in picture every snassy
If you have a noisy pots and it's NOT your solder joints... just spray it thoroughly with Electronic Contact Cleaner (CRC)... get it inside... let it run all over the place. Won't hurt anything... amazing stuff. Just did a power switch on a very expensive Nikon camera. Wouldn't turn on. Works perfectly now. Have used this my whole life for cleaning anything sensitive.
Thank you. For your time and energy I am grateful. This video helps me out a lot.
I know this was supposed to be an instructional video, but I couldn't help laughing my ass off!! Great Vid!! My new favorite!!
I recommend 18-65W soldering irons, I have a 25W Griffin and it'as served me well for soldering my guitar's electronics many times during pickup and wire replacements in my guitars, I also recommend non-ROHS (leaded) solder if you can get hold of any, if not the lead free stuff works ok for guitar electronics, and if you fell the need to use flux. the potentiometers are normally clean so don't need any, but dipping wires in flux makes them take the solder better and means that you can get a pretty solid join... oh, and always keep a desoldering gun nearby in case of excess solder!!
Wish I watched this video before I effed up the pots in my Epi sheraton 2! Great video, thanks,
Thanks Dave, it really is a lost art (unless you work in China)! I work in electronics and we use de-mineralised water on our sponges.
Aye, aye; awesome video - quite informative - and great humour. Cheers!
I used to struggle a lot with getting the solder to stick to certain wire/surfaces. It would just kind of roll off, and wouldn't stick regardless of how hot I got the surface.
I read somewhere that cleaning with denatured alcohol could help. Tried it, and I've never had any trouble with getting solder to stick since.
hahaha awesome vid man. thankyou. love the humor. a question. i found some nice old lead based solder. some 60% lead and 40 tin and some 40% lead and 60% tin. what would be better for installing a new set of pickups into my strat?
Spend some money use 100% silver. Actually I use screws, it makes it easier to mount or remove them not to mention adjusting them.
Very informative and great video and tips.
Dave, soldering to pots is a whole lot easier if you have a little holder for them. Some folks use that little alligator-clips-on-a-stand thing, but that is more trouble than it's worth. Cut a 6" length from a 2x4 and drill a few 1/4" diameter holes (1" deep) in the face and a few on the ends. The holes on the face accept pot shafts. The holes in the ends accept 1/4" plugs when you're making or repairing cables. Also, a brass pot scrubber works WAY better than a wet sponge. Don't buy a copper one because solder sticks to it and you'll be gooched.
Excellent video Dave! Thanks man !
Awesome channel mate keep up the good work
Thank you! This was the exact advice I was looking for.
This video is great, thanks for uploading it.
Great stuff Dave.
Guitar Johhny. I do all my own repairs, mods and upgrades. When my old soldering station gave up the ghost, I ended up buying a Stahl Variable temperature Soldering Station online from Tube Depot for $16.95 +shipping and I've never looked back. This bad boy is variable from 5-40w and the tips are replaceable. I should add that it is 115v 60Hz AC only. I'd post the link but TH-cam doesn't allow for that.
hi Dave would like to find out how to clean the pots of a stacked bass and treble potentiometer if that would be ok if your not buy.... Thanks and power to you
Great video, really informative. What is the semi you are playing at the end?
thanks for your help dave,also cracked me up,thx
Was that a House of Guitars sticker on your soldering machine?
The weller iron is temperature controlled so the actual wattage is not so important as long as its big enough. The temperature is controlled by the bit type
good advice and the funniest i've seen today
Dave always good vid....thanks....
I use lead based solder, it's easier to work with but it's getting harder to find. Supposedly lead doesn't vaporize at soldering temperatures, while the crap they put in the other stuff does. That doesn't mean you should huff it though.
Hey man Im looking to buy a weller soldering iron myself its a 50w is a temperature control needed for guitar work theres a big difference in price between the ones with and without.
hey dave, thanks for the tutorial. a while back i did a little mod on the electronics of my active bass. it was nothing special, but i used the wrong kind of solder. do you think i should redo the job with the other solder? the bass has worked great til now
ya know...I guess I do it to myself. I didnt have to watch this ...but I did. so ..."what has been seen cannot be unseen". hopefully you all wont make the same mistake i did.This "hip slick and cool shit just fly down here in the states..A??. well congratulations for all your hard work!! ..you climed all the way to TH-cam!!!
***** Dear Dave.....
My name is Barry Gregg and I tried to do someone a favor by showing him your vids and he responded with some really ignorant comments to you at my expense. Let me apologize for said statements and let me assure you that my trying to help that fool has ended.. Your videos have been of great help to me and saved me from many a "gooch". I look forward to your posts and thank you kindly for taking the time and effort to uplaod them.
Again...please accept my apology and please continue to post and know that you have a warm place in Florida should the need ever arise...
thank you Dave......thank you vey much...
Barry Gregg
Soldering to pot covers... Most have a thin layer of varnish of some kind on them. If you buff it off where you want to solder (with a file, sandpaper or a Dremel wire wheel), it will be lots easier to solder to, go more quickly and MAYBE the pot won't get as hot.
Great information Dave thanks.Just one question I get my solder to flow very well but it turns dull when I pull the iron off.
+Joe Dov
It's normal for solder to dull a bit when it cools. Just make sure that the components remain _absolutely stationary_ as the solder cools so the solder doesn't either crystallize or "granulate". The resulting surface of the solder should be smooth, not lumpy, crazed, or granular, even if it isn't super-shiny. A really good solder joint looks like a coat of heavy lacquer except that it's opaque and metallic instead of transparent.
The best technique is to heat the components evenly and simultaneously. Apply the solder to the components, _not_ the tip of the iron, as they're heating up. As soon as the solder starts to flow over the components, remove both the solder and the iron and keep the components from moving until the solder is cool -- you should be able to see the outline of the components underneath the solder when you're done.
The basic idea is to have the components and the solder all at the same tempurature when the solder melts. If you apply solder directly to the tip of the iron, you can end up with a nice shiny ball of solder that doesn't actually join the components together (because the components didn't get hot enough to melt the solder and allow it to flow over them) and, in most cases, will simply pop off of the joint with very little force. So, it may look pretty but provide little or no electrical connection.
Finally, I can't emphasize enough what Dave said about *NOT* using "plumbing solder" or acid flux. Dave is absolutely right about this. Not only is the acid flux going to cause damage over time, the solder itself is not the proper alloy for electrical joints. Its melting point is usually too high (which can lead to damaged components, especially when soldering to a pad on a printed circuit board) and it won't provide as good an electrical connection.
Thanks Greg I do use rosin core lead free solder.
+Joe Dov
You're welcome, Joe. Also, "lead-free" may explain why your joints look different from Dave's. As far as I can tell from reading the label on the spool in the video, Dave is using standard tin/lead solder, which is a different alloy. It's somewhat easier to work with than lead-free because lead-free's melting point is a bit higher, but not so much higher as to be a problem for the components. I've never worked with lead-free solder myself, so I'm not familiar with its appearance on a finished joint.
I was always told to use lead free on guitars.
+Joe Dov
As far as I know, the only reason lead-free solder even exists is because of health and environmental concerns. For example, all consumer electronics/appliances sold in the EU (and/or the UK) must be made with lead-free solder. I'm not sure if the US is that strict yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is.
In fact, the major "problematic" element of solder for electronics is the tin, not the lead. Tin can cause failure over time, especially in harsh environments, because it can crystallize and grow microscopic "whiskers". Those whiskers can bridge gaps between very-closely-spaced conductors such as the pads on surface-mount chips on a PCB. This phenomenon has been conjectured to have caused the failure of at least one communications satellite.
Thanks, nice Video 🙂
rockin video. the only thing you could find usfull is a small vice. i had one on my desk till my brother caught his finger in it, and i had to take it off. but for tinning, and soldering the pots, it's much easier, and safer. that's all. ooh, and i hate solder wick. i can never get it to work, and yes i know you have to fluff it out a little. but yeah. good video.
I found your video amusing. I laughed all the way through. LOL
hilarious. enjoyed the video Dave
Thanks.. Informative video
I love the House of Guitars sticker on the soldering power supply. Are you from the Rochester area?
hi Dave, im from Waterloo and have enjoyed your videos for quite some time.
i never realized a world class guitar surgeon was within my reach.
how would i contact you to get some work done,i would love to watch a video of you working on one of my guitars and cursing me for doing stupid things to it.i want to see you un gooch some of my boo boo's.
les Paul clone
Can you say ADHD?! lol
You're all over the place my man! You remind me of me.
Don't make for a very coherent video, but you get my thumbs up for attitude and weirdly endearing predisposition! :) Video is still informative nevertheless.
Man, i loved this video.
I'm about to do my first solder job a fully loaded pickguard and u answered all my questions. Oh yeah, funny as F*** too !
You can get all sorts of contact cleaners from you local electronics parts store. BUT & I say BUT! Read the label. Do not buy any contact cleaners that clean carbon deposits. Why you ask. Your potentiometers are made with a carbon film. SO, if use a contact cleaner that removes carbon deposits, it will also remove the carbon film in your pots.
I'm writing a new song: She Gooched Me All Night Long.
Do we have to remove the parts from the guitar or can we just attach a disconnected wire while everything else is in place?
Helps to know what poles on the pot are the right ones.
Can too much solder cause issues with sound? I have a lot of noise from my first build. The pickups work, volume works fine, master tone works, preamp, switch between active and passive tone, etc. But it is humming very loudly, especially when I boost the highs or increase passive tone. I am sure that it is a grounding issue. But I am pretty new at this so I don’t know if the issue is a cold solder joint(I might know where it is, if it is the problem.), too much solder, or if I just forgot to ground somewhere(but I did look it over several times.). I was also having trouble getting the solder to stick to the bridge. I got it to work, but I would like tips for that if you have any. Anyway, thanks for the vids. You have helped me out a lot on my first guitar build.
What's wrong with directly attaching the pin to the casing without a capacitor?
Is it true you must scratch up the the back of the pot before adding components?
@davey4557 Nope, everything is in the pickguard, the pots , the pickup, nothing is touching the body at all...the bridge is a tailpiece style..what might need to be done?
Thanks for the video!
Before you ever showed your face on these videos, I imagined how how you looked based on just voice alone. Once I saw what you looked like? Just exactly as I imagined. Hehehehe!
I just finished rewiring my LTD EC-50 and replaced the volume and tone pots while I was at it. For some reason though, now the tone control doesn't work properly. It seems to act like another volume control except it wont kill the volume completely. Any thoughts on what I did?
Definitely gooched, lol. I loosely followed the Seymour Duncan diagram. I figured out what I did last night.The only thing I did differently was that I wired the new tone pot the same as the original one in the guitar, which had the cap on the 3rd finger and output on the 2nd. All I had to do was switch the cap to the second and in/output to the 1st.
So very true good sir! Thanks for your time
hello dave again from yooper town uncle dave keep er moist!
Once again, lmao. It was worth waiting for the last bit.
honestly dont breath that shit in, id get the worst sinus headaches the day after......probably a few brain cells too
Dave! Im new to this shit, do i solder again after i tin the pot or use the existing solder thats on the pot?
+Adam boss! Thanks adam, i really want to avoid a royal fuck up. Much appreciation!
I love this guy
I couldn't figure out why my 2014 Fender Standard MIM bass would not work , opened up the electronics only to find the soldering came undone on 2 wires .
I scotch taped the 2 wires back it works. I ordered a soldering kit from Amazon but never soldered before , its just 2 wires.
Got to looking at other wires and they are cheaply soldered , you get what you pay for.
So I move forward in the world of soldering and hope I don't gooch anything.
Pray for me , I just paid this bass off last week.
Clean all components (brush and alcool) and avoid touching component part with finger to avoid contamination...and for a nice result make sure your solder is concave...not balloone ...if it's not shining egal a cold solder....(mat and not smouth) for the top of potentiometre I prefer using a bit larger tip...(ex solder inspector)
Umm...he did say "cleaning". Etching in essence. But I'd say he knows what he's talking about. If his name is on IMDB for SFX then I think that deserves some respect. Cheers Huck.
OK Dave I bought a guitar but the pickup buzzer unless I touch it , I know its not grounded properly I took out the pickguard and all the electronics are in the pickup noting touching the body of the guitar like a strat I had..help?
Darn you Dave! Now I have that word "Gooched" implanted in my head and now people all around me will be asking me "WTF does 'Gooched' mean?"
I'll just have to send em to this video! Otherwise, this is a good video as I think I might have 'gooched' my bass before watching this vid. Now I know why it is!
this guys is fucking hilarious he doesn't give a fuuuck
Reiterating his point at roughly 8:20: it's easy for a novice to heat a pot so much that it stops turning. Be careful as fuck.
The BEST way to repair a noisy pot is to REPLACE it! Cleaners only work for a short time and encourage the build-up of grunge. The pots will fail and need to be cleaned again. for $10 (or equivalent) you'll have a couple of clean pots that'll last 5, 10, 15 years.
Thanks Dave!
Cheers Dave :)
Cleaning pots is rarely permanent. Replacement is better
Yer' Gooched!
thanks again dave
What is this wiring at 2:55?
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff that's a complete different set up to the one I'm used to, must try. Thanks for the quick answer.
"Get a good huff of that" haha
how do you put your profile picture on your video
Next time you have strippers on your videos, please focus. :p