HELPFUL SUGGESTION - Drill 2 holes at opposite ends into the HELPING HANDS base and then SCREW-IN the helping hands base to a 4X4 block of wood. Gives MUCH BETTER STABILITY and use of the Helping Hands. BTW - I bought mine at Harbor Freight Tools as well and it works great especially with the wooden block of wood base!!
Always enjoy your no nonsense approach to show how you do things. It always helps dummies like me to understand! Now I know why I always would get burned, as I was holding it like the photo on the right Lol
I've been soldering to class 3 Jstandard for years as my occupation, and always take for granted that most people don't have that experience. There are some useful parts like selecting what tip to use, and controlling the contact time with tip selection. If I want to get heat on the part fast I'll use a larger flat tip, and I can turn down the heat a little as well because the surface area is larger. A lot of terminals I would wrap and solder I'll only use 780 degrees Fahrenheit and be on the turret for like 2 seconds. Solder size plays a role in that as well... Another tip is if you are trying to remove a soldered part and the solder doesn't seem to be melting, instead of risking component damage by holding the iron on longer, add solder to the connection. Doing that will melt the surrounding solder and you can wick it off later.
Phil can you do one of these on truss rod adjustment. Whenever I adjust mine I'm caught in this zone of, am I going to break it or is it even doing anything. Maybe cover dual action truss rods, what to do if the truss rod is stuck and won't turn.
Just get a notched straightedge and look what happens. There is a shitload of videos already out there. It doesn't all have to come from Phil. All sorts of truss rod related problems (single&double action)can be found by Stewmac including the repairs. You can bend the neck by hand to make it easier for the truss rod if you do bigger adjustments.
Compliments regarding the thumbnail. Total wipe-out trophie, as certainly the first thumbnail I have EVER seen that actually made me chuckle and brought happiness to my life :) Thanks, Phil.
Huh, I've been holding it wrong this whole time. I just figured when they said "soldering is the most painful part of fixing a guitar" They were giving me a warning
So exciting-this was great! I am excited to see a whole series of this type of in depth tech tip video. Really well done. I'd love to see vids on Fixing a nut/replacing a nut, replacing pots, standard rewiring, different rewiring options, adjusting truss rod with what it should look like what is too tight or too loose, dealing with fret buzz/adjusting action, changing pickups, adding covers to uncovered pickups, setting pickup height, common issues-slight hum might need to fix ground wire etc., swapping necks on strat, adding capacitor for treble bleed, on and on.
Solder moves in the direction of heat, which is why you may often struggle to get the solder onto whatever you're trying to bond it with. What Phillip shows at 8:23 will greatly help to get a good connection. Tin your connection, and your wires beforehand and you'll have a far easier time. The longer you heat components, the greater the risk of damaging it; especially if you're soldering caps or circuitry.
So I guess I need a soldering iron. And I think "Damn it. Phillip McKnight mentioned on one of his videos which soldering iron to get -- but what are the chances of ever finding that video, and that content about the soldering iron again??? But just for the hell of it, I google "Phillip McKnight soldering iron." And I get taken directly to this video. Incredible. Phillip, I'm a professional technical writer. I write operations manuals, training manuals, etc. and I build help sites. I just built a help site for NYS government. And this is the essence of technical writing -- this is exactly what you want: to type in a few search words for your issue, and be looking at the answer in (my own rule) fewer than three clicks from the splash page of the manual or help system. I got to your video in just two clicks. That's some pretty good organization, some pretty good SEO (search engine optimization) on YOUR part. Kudos to you. And thanks for the info about the soldering iron.
Thanks for this. Borrowed a buddies soldering iron and rewired my output jack with this video. Had never done anything like that before. Saved me a trip, time, and money by not having to take the axe to the shop, so thanks for that.
That was helpful thanks Phillip, I bought a Les Paul that has active pickups, I'm soon going to swap them over to passives, it would be great to see you do a full video on Les Paul wiring.
Phil what I do is examine the wire then cut the jack off behind any damaged wire, this leaves a small amount of the wire jacket on the jack usually about 1/8 of an inch. 2 reasons #1 when you put the new jack on you can refer back to the old jack to make sure it is right the first time #2 might be more of an opinion but when you desolder you are introducing heat unnecessarily into the wire you are going to reuse
Great vid!! I would highly recommend practicing with extra wiring before trying it out on an actual guitar part. Phil makes it look very easy, but it does take some practice. You can also skip a step and not tin the eyelet if you want. You can thread the wire through the eye, fold it so it stays in place, then solder it together. One thing he didn't really mention is a "cold" joint when you solder. When your solder joint is done properly, it is shiny and silver looking. If the solder joint looks dull and dark greyish, it is a "cold" joint and needs to be redone to assure that it conducts properly. I also personally prefer to "tin" the end of the soldering iron right before I used it and also again after. This assures that heat transfers evenly when you're working.
yeah, it is actually quite easy to melt the parts. if you overheat an output jack, it might still work. but it is quite easy to damage a pot because it has moving parts inside.
Plug a light with no switch into that power strip, so you have a visual indication when it's on. If it's a light that keeps you up at night, that's the best!
Perfect timing for me. Im 40 and have never soldered before. My long term plan is to learn pedal modding and possibly get a job at a local and well known pedal company. Wish me luck. Any and all advise is welcome!!
Please do one on soldering pots. I absolutely suck at those and I'm pretty sure I've fried a few from too much heat, or putting the iron on it too long. If I don't do that I typically end up making my pots look like those little lead figurines you see at stoner shops.
Thanks for the tips. I have a telecaster on the way with intention to modify. Almost zero experience with a soldering iron. I'll probably practice some when I get one ... then give it hell. You learn fast (or die) under fire. "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball" -- Dodgeball
A small dab of solder on the iron will protect the tip of the iron and greatly increase heat transfer reducing the amount of time you have to hold the iron onto the part. I always solder on my guitar projects at a 750 deg high heat actually helps you spend less time on the part without cold solder joints. A good rule of thumb is most solder joints shouldn’t take more than a “two thousand count”
Also, if your tip is well used and starts getting contaminated and won't load up with solder as well ... Just dip it in the flux and clean it off with a wet rag or sponge.
From Leo: Good tips. Been soldering as a tech on and off since the mid 1960's. I do not like breathing the smoke and fumes. Most of the smoke from rosin core electronic solder is the rosin flux, it is not vaporized lead. The soldering iron cannot get hot enough to really vaporize lead. A bigger concern is the smoke from any melting insulation. Burning plastic insulation is VERY toxic. This caused OSHA to make some pretty elaborate ventilation mandates for commercial soldering in the 1970's
"I'm holding this rod.... this is a pretty thick um um um ALLEN WRENCH... about 6 inches long..." LOL... Thanks for keeping it PG and thanks for the valuable information. I'm about to start soldering up my first Warmoth build.
Thanks Phil, I've really been enjoying the Tech Tips videos and look forward to watching them again as I start taking on some of these projects myself!
THANKS for the great vid. Eye protection ................ eye protection ................ eye protection. Burns on fingers/etc. aren't fun but eyes don't heal when hit by hot solder projectiles.
Thanks for these helpful instructions. I feel like the world's worst solderer after installing a bass guitar pickup. I finally realized I better learn more about soldering before I ever try this again. I got the pickup installed and it sounds great, but only after ruining the potentiometer on the first try. I think I overheated it and when soldered the next time I did it less slowly. The solder job looks awful, but its working fine so far. I may redo it soon.
Thank you, I'm sure I will be referencing this video in the future. I wish you had put it out about a year ago! I learned the hard way to take it easy on the coffee too...
Thanks for the video, but the best advice is in the thumbnail. I've always holded the soldering iron wrong and wondered why nothing happens to the wires and my hand constantly got like third degree burns
This applies to making 100's guitar cables only. I worked at a major manufacturer of cables for the music industry. The easiest set-up, the Iron is held still in a jig point down and never moves. A spool of solder hangs next to it. You have both hands free to strip and prep cables and jacks. You hold the Jack and wire to the Iron and use your middle finger bring in the dangling solder. Best for making an entire road productions need of cables. A cable a minute stripping both inner and outer and soldering both ends is common.
Couple of things. Added solder to a wire is called "tinning" just like you did to the iron, a heat sink is a good idea to keep sold from traveling up the wire too far.
Hi, I'd like to get the hakko 888 station, which tips would you suggest me to get aside the one provided by the unit? Which size in mm. ? I suppose I'd need a bigger one for ground solderings to pots and similar things. Thank you!
Phil 1. I love your channel. Sorry your trip didn’t work out. Just to help since I fly with a guitar about once a month...I prefer Southwest....you made a few classic mistakes when flying with a guitar. Never travel with a prized instrument....Always get priority boarding(this ensures you will have a space for your guitar). And...avoid multi-leg stops, go for non-stops. This ensures you don’t get bumped to another flight because of delay,etc. which could cause you to lose your priority spot. If you haven’t seen it look into the nice Gator gig bag...about 150...lots less than the Mono bags and does a great job taking care of your guitar.
440℃ is very hot. For electronics work with lead-based solder, 300-320℃ is a much more appropriate temperature. Lead-free solder is in the same kind of ballpark but is a pain to use. The only time I would ever crank the heat up that high is if I needed to solder something with a large thermal mass (like a heatsink). Not an issue soldering connectors in guitars I suppose, but a temperature that high risks lifting pads off circuit boards or cooking semiconductors.
As a kid, I had a wood burning kit which is basically a 30W soldering iron. I was talking to my cousin while working, and got distracted. I went to grab the soldering iron, and I literally picked it up like a pen... right on the hot metal part. Yeahhh, I never made that mistake again. =P Also, i don't think you can get the output jack backwards. If you reverse it, the signal phase will just invert. (This will have no impact on sound in this case.)
I am going to do some soldering on parts today and I wanted to know about the types and thickness of the solder itself. What is best to use in different situations and parts prep like grounding on pot surfaces and cleaning up a previous mess that someone left on a pot. And using solder suckers, what kind and how to use them? I can always trust your info! Thanks!
Widening a nut for thick gauge strings would be a good one for me! Also, a related question: Is there a problem with nut slots being wider than your strings? The other way around obviously raises your action at the nut, but is there any issue with the nut slots being wider than the strings?
great vid. another example of spending a little extra to get a better tool - well worth it to at least have a temp and dial on such a tool. you might practice on something non-critical first.
I would like to see a vid on soldering ground wire to a pot. I find this very difficult. especially to do it and not over heat the components inside the pot. I'm getting a tinny thin sound from my pickups and i'll bet anything it is my soldering job on the pots.
I appreciate you sharing your message. Very much informative. I am curious though. Wouldn’t you want to ensure full contact from the wire to the component? From my understanding solder is not a great conductor. Thank you.
Pil I have heard a lot of ways to turn a strat into a hardtail, block of wood, coins, a crushed beer can with elec. tape, on and on. What is your recommendation on this subject please sir. Thank You
Can you do something about doing complex wiring jobs. I’ve tried to do the jimmy page wiring several times but always seem to have ground issues. (I know you always say to keep it simple) But could you maybe talk about how to organize your project. Such as using different color wiring to tell what is what or how to wire two wires to a tiny terminal etc. I’d love any information I can get. Also I’d love to see a video on how to become a guitar tech/ how you did it. I want to get better at this stuff but I don’t know where to start (other than watching your videos of course)
Thumbnail is brilliant
Ah yes fried hand
how did you know I suck at that
Bro
Bubby Adobe I'm your fan
Z
Habibi if you have not gotten better at it in five years then you are a failure.
I've been soldering for over 60 years, but Phil still showed me something new.
HELPFUL SUGGESTION - Drill 2 holes at opposite ends into the HELPING HANDS base and then SCREW-IN the helping hands base to a 4X4 block of wood. Gives MUCH BETTER STABILITY and use of the Helping Hands. BTW - I bought mine at Harbor Freight Tools as well and it works great especially with the wooden block of wood base!!
Im 56 never soldered a dam thing in my life. You have helped me more than you know!
Always enjoy your no nonsense approach to show how you do things. It always helps dummies like me to understand! Now I know why I always would get burned, as I was holding it like the photo on the right Lol
Thanks!
I've been soldering to class 3 Jstandard for years as my occupation, and always take for granted that most people don't have that experience. There are some useful parts like selecting what tip to use, and controlling the contact time with tip selection. If I want to get heat on the part fast I'll use a larger flat tip, and I can turn down the heat a little as well because the surface area is larger. A lot of terminals I would wrap and solder I'll only use 780 degrees Fahrenheit and be on the turret for like 2 seconds. Solder size plays a role in that as well... Another tip is if you are trying to remove a soldered part and the solder doesn't seem to be melting, instead of risking component damage by holding the iron on longer, add solder to the connection. Doing that will melt the surrounding solder and you can wick it off later.
Thanks for the tips Phil! Managed to solder my first ever input jack!
Phil can you do one of these on truss rod adjustment. Whenever I adjust mine I'm caught in this zone of, am I going to break it or is it even doing anything. Maybe cover dual action truss rods, what to do if the truss rod is stuck and won't turn.
I second this idea Phil.
Yes please, I also want to know more about truss rod adjustment. Phil, please make an in depth video on this topic.
If the rod won't turn, don't force it.
Dual trust rods like on a long scale extended range bass would be awesome as well.
Just get a notched straightedge and look what happens. There is a shitload of videos already out there.
It doesn't all have to come from Phil. All sorts of truss rod related problems (single&double action)can be found by Stewmac including the repairs. You can bend the neck by hand to make it easier for the truss rod if you do bigger adjustments.
Compliments regarding the thumbnail.
Total wipe-out trophie, as certainly the first thumbnail I have EVER seen that actually made me chuckle and brought happiness to my life :)
Thanks, Phil.
Huh, I've been holding it wrong this whole time. I just figured when they said "soldering is the most painful part of fixing a guitar" They were giving me a warning
So exciting-this was great! I am excited to see a whole series of this type of in depth tech tip video. Really well done. I'd love to see vids on Fixing a nut/replacing a nut, replacing pots, standard rewiring, different rewiring options, adjusting truss rod with what it should look like what is too tight or too loose, dealing with fret buzz/adjusting action, changing pickups, adding covers to uncovered pickups, setting pickup height, common issues-slight hum might need to fix ground wire etc., swapping necks on strat, adding capacitor for treble bleed, on and on.
Had to click just because of the THUMBNAIL! Priceless! Score!
Solder moves in the direction of heat, which is why you may often struggle to get the solder onto whatever you're trying to bond it with. What Phillip shows at 8:23 will greatly help to get a good connection. Tin your connection, and your wires beforehand and you'll have a far easier time. The longer you heat components, the greater the risk of damaging it; especially if you're soldering caps or circuitry.
That shrink tubing tip for the helping hand is a great idea
Soldering is my weakness. This is helpful. Thanks!
when I gf and I are fooling around and she brings up soldering, It makes me so weak too
phreak1118 is Rabea your profile pic? 😂
So I guess I need a soldering iron. And I think "Damn it. Phillip McKnight mentioned on one of his videos which soldering iron to get -- but what are the chances of ever finding that video, and that content about the soldering iron again???
But just for the hell of it, I google "Phillip McKnight soldering iron."
And I get taken directly to this video.
Incredible.
Phillip, I'm a professional technical writer. I write operations manuals, training manuals, etc. and I build help sites. I just built a help site for NYS government.
And this is the essence of technical writing -- this is exactly what you want:
to type in a few search words for your issue, and be looking at the answer in (my own rule) fewer than three clicks from the splash page of the manual or help system.
I got to your video in just two clicks.
That's some pretty good organization, some pretty good SEO (search engine optimization) on YOUR part. Kudos to you. And thanks for the info about the soldering iron.
Love the thumbnail
Really enjoying your Tech Tip vids. Would love to see you do one specifically showing you removing an old pickup and installing a new one.
Always make sure your tip of your iron in tinned also, I always do it makes it easier.
Thanks for this. Borrowed a buddies soldering iron and rewired my output jack with this video. Had never done anything like that before. Saved me a trip, time, and money by not having to take the axe to the shop, so thanks for that.
Great advice Phillip!
the thumbnail wins! thanks for the cool basic video
Excellent video showing how to solder including useful tips and pointing out safety measures.
Thanks for the video. Wanted to start sautering now I'll replace input jack
Funny i use painters tape all the time,best stuff on the planet. Great video for beginners. This is one of the best solder videos i have seen.
That was helpful thanks Phillip, I bought a Les Paul that has active pickups, I'm soon going to swap them over to passives, it would be great to see you do a full video on Les Paul wiring.
Phil what I do is examine the wire then cut the jack off behind any damaged wire, this leaves a small amount of the wire jacket on the jack usually about 1/8 of an inch. 2 reasons #1 when you put the new jack on you can refer back to the old jack to make sure it is right the first time #2 might be more of an opinion but when you desolder you are introducing heat unnecessarily into the wire you are going to reuse
Great vid!!
I would highly recommend practicing with extra wiring before trying it out on an actual guitar part. Phil makes it look very easy, but it does take some practice. You can also skip a step and not tin the eyelet if you want. You can thread the wire through the eye, fold it so it stays in place, then solder it together.
One thing he didn't really mention is a "cold" joint when you solder. When your solder joint is done properly, it is shiny and silver looking. If the solder joint looks dull and dark greyish, it is a "cold" joint and needs to be redone to assure that it conducts properly.
I also personally prefer to "tin" the end of the soldering iron right before I used it and also again after. This assures that heat transfers evenly when you're working.
yeah, it is actually quite easy to melt the parts. if you overheat an output jack, it might still work. but it is quite easy to damage a pot because it has moving parts inside.
do you need flux or is this already in the solder wire
@@johnstudiob2481 Generally you do not need flux as it is already in the solder wire.
@@johnstudiob2481 I'd use flux to reflow, but on initial install you usually wouldn't need it.
Plug a light with no switch into that power strip, so you have a visual indication when it's on. If it's a light that keeps you up at night, that's the best!
Philip, this channel gets better all the time. Great video!
Shrink wrap on helping hand. I was just having this issue, thanks for the solution.
This is seriously useful stuff, I look forward to learning more about this sort of thing.
Thanks so much Phil! Another handy helpful video. I've been soldering for 2-3 years now and I still learned something new. Keep it up.
Perfect timing for me. Im 40 and have never soldered before. My long term plan is to learn pedal modding and possibly get a job at a local and well known pedal company. Wish me luck. Any and all advise is welcome!!
Please do one on soldering pots. I absolutely suck at those and I'm pretty sure I've fried a few from too much heat, or putting the iron on it too long. If I don't do that I typically end up making my pots look like those little lead figurines you see at stoner shops.
Love all the tech tips and tricks videos. Thanks Phil.
Thanks for the tips. I have a telecaster on the way with intention to modify. Almost zero experience with a soldering iron. I'll probably practice some when I get one ... then give it hell. You learn fast (or die) under fire.
"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball" -- Dodgeball
Holistic & Amazing Illustration GOD Bless You With More Good & Riches In Everything of Your Life
A small dab of solder on the iron will protect the tip of the iron and greatly increase heat transfer reducing the amount of time you have to hold the iron onto the part. I always solder on my guitar projects at a 750 deg high heat actually helps you spend less time on the part without cold solder joints. A good rule of thumb is most solder joints shouldn’t take more than a “two thousand count”
Also, if your tip is well used and starts getting contaminated and won't load up with solder as well ... Just dip it in the flux and clean it off with a wet rag or sponge.
From Leo: Good tips. Been soldering as a tech on and off since the mid 1960's. I do not like breathing the smoke and fumes. Most of the smoke from rosin core electronic solder is the rosin flux, it is not vaporized lead. The soldering iron cannot get hot enough to really vaporize lead. A bigger concern is the smoke from any melting insulation. Burning plastic insulation is VERY toxic. This caused OSHA to make some pretty elaborate ventilation mandates for commercial soldering in the 1970's
"I'm holding this rod.... this is a pretty thick um um um ALLEN WRENCH... about 6 inches long..." LOL... Thanks for keeping it PG and thanks for the valuable information. I'm about to start soldering up my first Warmoth build.
thanks alot phil its always good to get good knowledge on simple things like this, much appreciated!
Thanks Phil, I've really been enjoying the Tech Tips videos and look forward to watching them again as I start taking on some of these projects myself!
I like the shrink wrap idea on the jaws.
Thanks dude! I just picked up a set of new pick ups & turned on TH-cam. Shazam! There you were. Looks like I'm doing it tonight rather than tomorrow.
Really helpful information, I'll make sure to watch this before I do any soldering!
THANKS for the great vid.
Eye protection ................ eye protection ................ eye protection. Burns on fingers/etc. aren't fun but eyes don't heal when hit by hot solder projectiles.
This is ace. I wish I'd got a helping hand tool before my last soldering job. Awesome tip!
Thanks for these helpful instructions. I feel like the world's worst solderer after installing a bass guitar pickup. I finally realized I better learn more about soldering before I ever try this again. I got the pickup installed and it sounds great, but only after ruining the potentiometer on the first try. I think I overheated it and when soldered the next time I did it less slowly. The solder job looks awful, but its working fine so far. I may redo it soon.
I'm still laughing at the thumbnail :-)
Another great video Phil.
Thank you!
Thank You Mr. McKnight!!! Still a bit nervous as only one eye works lol!!!
Amen Phillip!!!
Do a push pull coil split.
Thanks.
Thank you, I'm sure I will be referencing this video in the future. I wish you had put it out about a year ago! I learned the hard way to take it easy on the coffee too...
Loved this one Phil
Thanks. This convinces me I am totally unqualified to do this and I need to take it to a guitar repair place.
didn't even watch vid, just had to comment that's the best thumbnail I've ever seen
Great vid Phil. I remember how many mistakes I made the first time I wanted to replace some pickups.
Thanks for the video, but the best advice is in the thumbnail. I've always holded the soldering iron wrong and wondered why nothing happens to the wires and my hand constantly got like third degree burns
Very informative as usual. Thanks Phillip!
This applies to making 100's guitar cables only. I worked at a major manufacturer of cables for the music industry. The easiest set-up, the Iron is held still in a jig point down and never moves. A spool of solder hangs next to it. You have both hands free to strip and prep cables and jacks. You hold the Jack and wire to the Iron and use your middle finger bring in the dangling solder. Best for making an entire road productions need of cables. A cable a minute stripping both inner and outer and soldering both ends is common.
Fixing an output jack was my first soddering project, I wish I had watched this video earlier, would've helped a lot!!
super useful! and now to put a rebel 90 in my epi korina v...
Couple of things. Added solder to a wire is called
"tinning" just like you did to the iron, a heat sink is a good idea to keep sold from traveling up the wire too far.
This video was just what I needed. Thanks so much for this.
Thanks, this is the exact task I need to accomplish, well done.
Hi, I'd like to get the hakko 888 station, which tips would you suggest me to get aside the one provided by the unit? Which size in mm. ? I suppose I'd need a bigger one for ground solderings to pots and similar things. Thank you!
Phil 1. I love your channel. Sorry your trip didn’t work out. Just to help since I fly with a guitar about once a month...I prefer Southwest....you made a few classic mistakes when flying with a guitar. Never travel with a prized instrument....Always get priority boarding(this ensures you will have a space for your guitar). And...avoid multi-leg stops, go for non-stops. This ensures you don’t get bumped to another flight because of delay,etc. which could cause you to lose your priority spot. If you haven’t seen it look into the nice Gator gig bag...about 150...lots less than the Mono bags and does a great job taking care of your guitar.
Awesome video! Was really interested in a soldering video.
440℃ is very hot. For electronics work with lead-based solder, 300-320℃ is a much more appropriate temperature. Lead-free solder is in the same kind of ballpark but is a pain to use. The only time I would ever crank the heat up that high is if I needed to solder something with a large thermal mass (like a heatsink). Not an issue soldering connectors in guitars I suppose, but a temperature that high risks lifting pads off circuit boards or cooking semiconductors.
750 or bust
I feel like desoldering the input then cutting the ends off are a bit redundant? Why not just cut the wires and not desolder?
Awesome. Thanks, Phil.
Thanks Philip
Very cool and informative video. Thanks man!!
Awesome video Phil as always. Tech tip request -- What is you process for determining the source/cause of a ground hum in a guitar?
As a kid, I had a wood burning kit which is basically a 30W soldering iron. I was talking to my cousin while working, and got distracted. I went to grab the soldering iron, and I literally picked it up like a pen... right on the hot metal part. Yeahhh, I never made that mistake again. =P
Also, i don't think you can get the output jack backwards. If you reverse it, the signal phase will just invert. (This will have no impact on sound in this case.)
I am going to do some soldering on parts today and I wanted to know about the types and thickness of the solder itself. What is best to use in different situations and parts prep like grounding on pot surfaces and cleaning up a previous mess that someone left on a pot. And using solder suckers, what kind and how to use them? I can always trust your info! Thanks!
I use play dough for keeping parts steady, as a third hand can be a bit cumbersome sometimes
I really appreciate this!!! I'm going to solder my first strat in a few days.
Another good vid Phil, how about doing a vid on coil tapping/splitting or maybe you have already. Regards from Ireland.
Widening a nut for thick gauge strings would be a good one for me! Also, a related question: Is there a problem with nut slots being wider than your strings? The other way around obviously raises your action at the nut, but is there any issue with the nut slots being wider than the strings?
great vid. another example of spending a little extra to get a better tool - well worth it to at least have a temp and dial on such a tool. you might practice on something non-critical first.
Great vid Phill
Please bring some of your weather with you when you visit us in Indiana. It is currently snowing
I hear that! We got about 5" in northern lower Michigan...
I tin & clean first, then apply flux, b4 actual soldering. Still good stuff, keep them coming...
Shrink tubing is a good idea!
Great tip. These sure are helping me
Great video Phill, and very helpful, Thank You Cheers
Nice job- how about a video about high e string sliding off neck fret when soloing. Cause and fix
I would like to see a vid on soldering ground wire to a pot. I find this very difficult. especially to do it and not over heat the components inside the pot. I'm getting a tinny thin sound from my pickups and i'll bet anything it is my soldering job on the pots.
Should I get a 30 watt Delcast, or spend a little more for the Weller 40 watt station?
I appreciate you sharing your message. Very much informative. I am curious though. Wouldn’t you want to ensure full contact from the wire to the component? From my understanding solder is not a great conductor. Thank you.
Pil I have heard a lot of ways to turn a strat into a hardtail, block of wood, coins, a crushed beer can with elec. tape, on and on. What is your recommendation on this subject please sir. Thank You
Hey Phil,
I think a video on intonation would be great!
Thanks for sharing.
Truss rod importance. So many people have no idea it exists.
I needed this
Can you do something about doing complex wiring jobs. I’ve tried to do the jimmy page wiring several times but always seem to have ground issues. (I know you always say to keep it simple) But could you maybe talk about how to organize your project. Such as using different color wiring to tell what is what or how to wire two wires to a tiny terminal etc. I’d love any information I can get.
Also I’d love to see a video on how to become a guitar tech/ how you did it. I want to get better at this stuff but I don’t know where to start (other than watching your videos of course)
Oh! And how to troubleshoot!