New Boy Help Needed

[Frank]

This illustrates a good rule of fixing things - have a try at doing it yourself as long as you're sure you can't a) injure yourself or b) damage anything worse then it's already damaged.

Fixing guitars and amps is nowhere near as difficult as the repairmen would have you believe, get stuck in.

[HTH AMPS]

Fixing guitars and amps is nowhere near as difficult as the repairmen would have you believe, get stuck in.

I don't think that statement is strictly true, especially with amps.  If you don't know what you're doing you could make things worse and also give yourself a nasty shock which could also very well be your last.  I've had stuff brought to me where the guy has tried to 'fix' the problem themselves and I've had to repair their handywork in addition to repairing the original fault.  Outcome - they ended up paying more than they would have in the first place.

[Frank]

That's why I added points a) and b) to the post. I'm not suggesting everyone should attempt to rewind a 1954 Strat pickup or unplug their JCM900 and stick their tongue on the HT supply. But small repairs like replacing pots, pickups and jack sockets are well within the capabilities of most people and it's really not worth leaving equipment with a repairman for a week and shelling out cash for things that you can learn to do yourself.

The important thing is that people realise when they really DO need a qualified technician - anything involving routing, truss rods or the high voltage sections of amps is definitely the exclusive domain of the experienced repairman.

I do take the point that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and this is especially true of valve amps. People aren't accustomed to power supplies that can stay charged for hours after the power is turned off, if in doubt then PUT THE COVER BACK ON AND STOP TINKERING.

[kbambury]

Well just to give you all an update, I had another crack last night at re-soldering the pickup and even though I believe there's a marginal improvement, I still don't think it's 100%  :(

Unfortunately, my iron (which although 30W was part of one of these electricians kits from B&Q) isn't the best quality and the flat headed tip now looks more like a fork - haven't a clue how that happened but am hoping that it's a poor quality component.

I'll try and get a replacement iron tip today but am not feeling very confident about successfully resolving this. I'd very much like to be able to suss this out but it's looking more likely that I'll have to take it to a man that knows his onions!

Am now worried that if I keep hacking away that I'll end up creating a bigger job than when I started which is ultimately going to cost more to resolve when I concede defeat and take it to an expert.

Most frustratingly of all is that even though I tried to adhere to your advice about heating the component and allowing the solder to flow onto it rather than the iron tip, I could not get this to happen. I'm hoping this is because the tip was screwed but it's also quite possible that soldering is very low on my list of strengths!!!

All very depressing really!  :(

[Frank]

No harm done, if you're really out of your depth then it's time to cut your losses and hand the job over to the experts

[kbambury]

The worst thing is in theory, it all makes perfect sense - I understand the wiring diagrams fully both for straightforward installation and also push/pull pots for split coil - it's just my soldering technique (and iron) that is letting me down.

I guess it doesn't help having not seen someone else doing it correctly - I reckon that once I've seen for myself the correct application then I'm sure I'll get it cracked.

Anyone know of any decent YouTube videos displaying good soldering technique?

[Frank]

first result for "how to solder"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLfXXRfRIzY

[kbambury]

Thanks Frank - that certainly clears things up a little. I might approach this more methodically and clean away all my existing botched solder lumps first before attempting to re-solder again.

[Twinfan]

The rubbish solder won't help - I've found it's really hard to re-heat...

[kbambury]

I think that was the issue I had last night - the tip of my iron was seriously disfigured and I found that it was taking ages for the solder to melt.

I've order some replacment tips and 60/40 lead solder so hopefully once I've cleaned away the old then I'll work on each join and hopefully get better joints.

As well as the desolder braid and pump, do you recommend a method to 'scr@pe' away old solder that forms a thin mottled layer on the pot surface?

[Philly Q]

As well as the desolder braid and pump, do you recommend a method to 'scr@pe' away old solder that forms a thin mottled layer on the pot surface?

It sounds a bit heavy-handed, but I prefer to file off the big chunks of solder so I'm not over-heating the pot too much.  And when you've got rid of most of it, sandpaper works very well to remove the last little bits. 

Once you've got it clean, flush out the inside of the pot with some contact cleaner (also available at your friendly neighbourhood Maplins).

[kbambury]

Cheers Philly Q, I'm assuming you mean to remove the pot first in order to be able to file it efficiently. I was leaning towards removing the affected components to make it easier for me to clean before starting again anyway so this will be a very useful tip.

I shall grab some contact cleaner as well and this time I'll be practising my soldering before moving onto the real thing. This is probably another stupid question but if I don't have old parts to practise on, what's the best improvised surface to work with - I'm guessing not all metallic surfaces would be suitable?

[Frank]

if you're totally new to soldering, maybe a better place to start is making your own guitar cables

buy some jack plugs and screened cable and give that a go, everyone needs more patch cables

just ditch that rubbishy lead free solder and get hold of some proper rosin cored stuff, you'll find it much easier to work with

[Philly Q]

Cheers Philly Q, I'm assuming you mean to remove the pot first in order to be able to file it efficiently.

Yeah, as a general rule I'd do as much as possible outside the guitar to minimise risk of damage!  I usually make a cardboard template with the same pot/switch layout as the guitar and put all the parts on that.

For something to practice on, I don't know.... I don't think aluminium would be suitable, but tin cans should be OK.  Cut them into little pieces though, or you'll end up heating the whole can!

[kbambury]

I thought I'd give a quick update on my 'failed' pickup installation after receiving all your help on the issue!

After much deliberation, I took my guitar along to Jonathan (and Ben) at Feline Guitars who after a quick glance established that the pickup had in fact been succesfully installed (although much work is needed on the appearance of my solder joins  :lol:).

It turned out that although the bridge pickup was at the required height (slightly higher than recommended) the neck pickup was way too high (I'd raised it after removing the scratchplate to ensure it was securely fixed in place) and therefore this was the reason why it was completely overpowering the bridge.

After the pickup heights were suitably adjusted (similarly the screw coils) the guitar sounded perfect. In addition Jonathan installed 2 Vitamin Q oil & paper capacitors and the difference in the tone pot functionality is amazing - I now have a far greater range of tones available to me via volume and tone pot combinations and I'm now chuffed with how good the guitar sounds.

So much so that for now the (stock) neck is giving me a smoother alternative to the more agressive bridge Riff Raff which is what I was hoping to get when considering installing a Stormy Monday in the neck.

So a number of lessons learnt here but all in all am very happy with the net result.

I think I would still consider attempting my next pickup upgrade but I'll always be mindful of the fact that the experts are experts for a reason!

Cheers for all your help.