De-soldering issue

[Jazz Rock]

So I have finally pulled the trigger on a set of MQ for the Epiphone. I set out to swap the pickups last night just to find myself in for a big surprise.

The wiring as it was standing, was done by a luthier who replaced all the stock wiring and pickups to fit a set of SD '59. That was the first guitar I moded and at the time I knew virtually nothing about moding guitars so I had someone do it for me.

Now, I don't know what the guy used to do the solders but that's one hell of a tough material. I have a soldering station on which I can set the iron temperature between 120 and 420 degrees C, and having tried virtually the whole range, I could only get a couple of solder to melt. For the ground connection between the braided cables and the back of the volume pots, I had to resort to cutting the solder material. Thankfully I managed not to make a mess of it. The problem I have though, is the connections to the push/pull pots. Cutting is not really an option as it wouldn't allow me to re-use the eye of the connectors, and I am a lot more likely to do damages there.

What kind of material could he have used? Is there a way to unsolder these connection that will not require the acquisition of an expensive tool or a visit to a tech?

Cheers

[Oli]

Add some more solder to the joint when you apply heat with the iron-- the new (molten) solder will transfer head much better and will get he old solder flowing again :)

[Frank]

Add some more solder to the joint when you apply heat with the iron-- the new (molten) solder will transfer head much better and will get he old solder flowing again :)

+1 for this and use a desolder pump or you'll end up with huge blobs of old solder mixed with new solder

[Twinfan]

Sounds like your tech used lead-free solder - it's a bitch to remove  :(

[Jazz Rock]

Thanks for the tip guys.

I'll give it a try and see how it goes. Based on Twinfan's comment, though, I am expecting a long time spend behind the iron... That's the kind of thing one should do to occupy long winter nights. Not when spring is knocking on the door :(

[Kiichi]

Had the same problem recently, sat on one pot for ever...then I used some fresh solder on top, and suddenly, in a matter of seconds it, which previously could not be achieved in minutes. Must have been the heat not properly getting to the solder.

When the solder doesn´t melt, add more xD

[Transcend]

yup tinning the iron first and then flowing more solder into the old is the quickest and easiest way to remove it.

Old solder joints are probably the number 1 cause of heat damaged pots due to how annoyingly frustrating it can be.

My advice is if its taking too long and you dont seem to be getting anywhere take a break make a cup of tea or whatever just to let the pot have a chance to cool back down and then go back to it

[jpfamps]

Almost certainly used lead-free solder, which has a higher melting temperature and is sod to remove.

My technique is to remelt to the solder joint and add leaded solder to it.

This reduces the melting temperature and makes removal much easier.

[Dmoney]

is there any issue with having leaded and unleaded solder on the same joint?

[jpfamps]

is there any issue with having leaded and unleaded solder on the same joint?

There may well be.

However, if you can clean all the solder off the joint (which is good practice anyway) then I don't think that there will be a problem.

[HTH AMPS]

I've had some of those Chinese-made AC30s in for repair in the past year and they seemingly use lead-free solder and it really is a pain in the arse to remove.

The (previously suggested) method of adding some 'leaded' solder works a treat.

[Philly Q]

is there any issue with having leaded and unleaded solder on the same joint?

There may well be.

However, if you can clean all the solder off the joint (which is good practice anyway) then I don't think that there will be a problem.

I was thinking the same question as Dmoney.

Lead-free solder stinks, too, I hate using it.

I'd be inclined to just bin the pots and get some new ones.

[Jazz Rock]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

I haven't got round to try again yet, but was wondering, as I never came across one so far, what kind of effect a shot (through over heating) pot has on your tone. Is it just a question of no signal getting through or is it more subtle then that, like tone alteration of some sort?

[Transcend]

generally it makes the pot not have a full range or no range at all and will just function as an on and off kinda thing then nothing for the rest of the travel

[Jazz Rock]

Right. I through myself back at teh wiring of the Epi... As you can imagine, the reason I am reviving this post is... something is still going wrong.

I have followed your advice about adding some flux. First off, turns out, and I never really tweaked, I am myself using lead free solder, but before this episode, it didn't give me any trouble. Secondly, When I try to apply more flux, it creates a bubble of additional solder which doesn't spread over the existing solder. I believe that this usually happen when the substrat is not hot enough, but believe me, the thing is "boiling hot". I touched it with gloves and I could definitely feel the heat through in a matter of half-second.

So I dispair, what the hell is going on? I have gone up to 300 degree C this time only, and I was working on trying to detach the hot lead to the jack. The worst is, at some point I had a break through, when I tried without the heat sink plier, but not enough to loosen the wire... Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!

"Help me Obiwan Kenobi, you are my only hope"