installing pots and jack

[Lowner]

I am still waiting for the neck to dry after the defret. now the bass also needs a new jack, and volume and tone pots. I dont want to take it to the guitar shop since they will charge me arouind 80.00 to rewire. This includes parts and labor. but i have never worked with a soldering iron before and I dont know where to order parts from. I want to get them for a reasonable price. Also is a volume and tone pot the same or two seperate items?

[Vic Winters]

Soldering is pretty straight forward. Though I don't have one myself, I've borrowed my friend's soldering pen on many occasions. You just have to be careful not to burn yourself or your bass. With a little practice, you can be decent at it in about an hour.

Tone and volume pots are different.

As for parts, check out Carvin.

http://www.carvin.com/products/group.php?CID=BEP

500k vol. pots: ($4.00)
500k tone pots: ($4.00)
.047 mf tone capacitor: ($1.00)
Output jack: ($3.00 or $5.99) depending on which style
Shielding/wire kit: ($9.99)

I've never heard someone complain about Carvin's electronics. I plan on swapping the electronics in my SX for Carvin.

Hope this helped.

[lilboo77]

The main thing with soldering is to get what you want soldered hot enough to melt the solder not just the iron hot enough to.

http://www.guitarnuts.com/index.php

I know it's a guitar page, but they do have some interesting articles on shielding and electronics replacement. They also have a section on soldering.

Stewart McDonald would be a good choice to order parts from: http://www.stewmac.com/

Tone and volume pots may not necessiarly be different: IE a Fender Jazz Bass uses the same 250K pots for volume and tone. They are just wired differently and the tone pot has a bleed off capacitor on it.

[Bass Aficionado]

This might sound like an odd suggestion, but there are times you can't avoid working near the bass body, putting paint and finish in peril.

One thing I do in these instances is get a disposable aluminum baking sheet and make a shield for the body. It is easy to cut and mildly form. You have to be careful not to let the sheild build up heat, but it is a god send against the occasion drip or brain fart with the pencil.