soldering .

[slaphappychappy]

I could not solder to save my life. Is there a glue or other alternative? I was thinking of those plugs you can crimp onto wires.

[carl h.]

Depends on application.

[slaphappychappy]

On a guitar, I just by pre wired pots. I'm thinking of making a bypass pedal.

[ZubenElGenubi]

Crimping connectors may be fine for wire-to-wire connections - and handy if you wanted a re-configurable harness. But sometimes, soldering is your only reliable method for connecting metallic elements together.

For example, wires or capacitors or resistors to pots (potentiometers): they just have to be soldered.

You can learn how to do this; it just takes practice. The most common mistake I see is cold connections or flux insulation and both happen when the connection is not heated properly. This can be due to one or more of these causes:

• too cool soldering tip
• too quick/short heating of connection
• improperly tinned wire
• poor physical connection before soldering

All of these are easily remedied with a little patience. There are dozens of YouTube videos that show how to make good soldering connections. With minor variations, most recommend making a good, steady connection, heat the connection (not the solder) and allow the solder to flow over the connection.

[Buster Mudd]

Originally Posted by slaphappychappy

I could not solder to save my life. Is there a glue or other alternative?

There actually are electronically-conductive epoxies (do a Google search for "Wire Glue") but I'd think learning to solder will be a more rewarding endeavor. Rewarding both in terms of your personal growth, but more importantly also in terms of the reliability of the electrical connection.

[96tbird]

Problem with crimping is corrosion causing intermittent/no connection. The current generated by P'ups is so weak, it is easily degraded. If you choose to do it, use a dielectric grease on all joints to prevent corrosion.

Better yet, learn how to solder. Once you are good at it, you will find more satisfaction in doing the job right by yourself. Be the guy in the band that is "go to" for minor repairs

[T2k5]

Learning how to solder (and mess around with electronics in other ways) will seriously pay off later. I've lost count of all the times some of my effects etc. have crapped out and it's been easy to fix by myself. As was said before, check some tutorials and practice on some old electronics. The only bad side is that people will always ask you to fix their stuff.

I wouldn't count on the alternative ways all that often. A few years ago I had to go all MacGyver on our guitarist's Pro Co Rat with extremely limited tools, though. His input jack was busted (the connector had broken and fallen off) and I couldn't be assed to fetch a new one. I took a spring from an old AA-battery box, wrapped that into the input jack's wire and melted some paracord on it and the pedal's frame to hold it in place. Still works perfectly!

[Munjibunga]

Here's an excellent soldering tutorial by a guy who really appreciates his own work.

[Philonius]

Soldering gave me fits for the longest time. 'Really frustrating, considering the fact that it really is a simple skill. I was using an old Craftsman pistol grip iron and though the tip got red hot, it still just wouldn't work for shizz.
I bought a fairly cheap pencil type iron with a clean tip, watched a few tutorials, and now it just works like a charm for me. You can do it too, and you'll be glad you did.