I hate wiring!!!

[peaveyuser]

why don't the wires stick to the pots even when, the iron is hot, and I've used flux and solder?


Its kiling me i just want my bass to work again Ive just bought new flats and want to hear em.

Ive used p bass schematics too. the things just won't stick.



Also can a soldering Iron overheat and eventually stop working after a while 2 of my soldering irons don't heat up correctly so that the metal melts properly.


Any advice i don't want to spend on a pro

 

[staindbass]

the wires should not stick to the pot, the wire is supposed to go thru the hole in the terminal, wrapped, then the joint is soldered. if its just stuck on there, its called tack soldering, those are the kind that fall off during a gig. its hard to say withoutknowingyour soldering abilities. soundslike you are right, soldering iron dead? get a 40 watt iron from radio shack, about 12$ the 25 watt is ok, but takes longer on larger terminals, and is mostly for soldering transistors ect. johnny a staind

 

[ErebusBass]

You also have to solder wires to the back of the pots, boss.

Try putting a little dab of solder on the back of the pot then sticking the wire to it. Wait until it dries before you let go of it. Make sure you're using enough, but too much is bad too.

 

[ChasBass]

First, get an emery board and clean the tip. Then pull the tip and clean the connector(s) to the solder gun. Reinstall tip - tight.

"Tin" the soldering iron tip and shake off the excess. Then, tin all your wire leads.

You need to tin the pot, too. Make sure a small pool of solder has bonded to the pot before you attempt to solder a lead to it.

Don't blow on your solder joints - this can cause a cold (bad) solder joint.

And, yes, it is a pain if you don't do this very often.

Have fun!

 

[Revvv]

One more thing; you can also lighty sand, or scratch the terminals. That will allow the tin to stick.

You also want to make sure the tip of your soldering iron is properly tinned. Otherwise you will have issues.

 

[Revvv]

Wow, we all three posted at the same time. That doesn't happen often.

 

[Rickett Customs]

You also have to solder wires to the back of the pots, boss.

Try putting a little dab of solder on the back of the pot then sticking the wire to it. Wait until it dries before you let go of it. Make sure you're using enough, but too much is bad too.

+1, always a good idea to "pre" solder your spots proir.

 

[Gintaras]

I like the new Audere which has the screw on posts. Still had to solder one wire. It would be nice if everything was screw posts because I am always changing parts.
I always put some solder on my iron and then heat the metal.

 

[Rodent]

some good advice above about preparing your iron

many pots have a cadmium plating to prevent corrosion. carefully sanding the cad plating off where you want to solder the ground wire to will greatly reduce the amount of "on time" you need to get the solder to properly adhere

proper soldering works in this order:

* allow iron to fully heat before proceeding
* when you have your wire ready to solder to the electrical component (wire pre-cut, covering removed to expose core, ends tinned) touch the iron to the component where you will be attaching the wire
* touch the solder to the electrical component, NOT the iron. the solder will flow towards the heat source
* let the connection cool without blowing or wiggling.

the end result should be a shiny solder joint. if it's dull it needs to be reheated else you could have problems associated with a 'cold' joint


practice your soldering on junk components. for many, it's one of the pleasurable tasks in building/customizing/repairing basses

all the best,

R

p.s. I loathe screw connection for electrical components. I have yet to have any of them pass the test of time - even a John East pre-amp screw connection will come loose on occasion - bummer when it happens mid-set and you can't stop to fix it (which only justifies the sound dude dropping the bass even lower in the mix) ... a properly soldered connection will virtually never fail

 

[chicago_mike]

okay, if you go cheap, you need a 40watt soldering iron with a msaller tip than is supplied with the iron.

You heat up the pad, or pot ring, you apply the solder to the wire and the pot lug, not the iron. Yes cheap irons will take a hile and yes that in turn could cook the pot.

you dont need a lot of flux but use a little on the wire and the pot lug.

first few times suck arse.

tin like as stated above.

 

[ReidK]

You also have to solder wires to the back of the pots, boss.

Not really. That's the most common way to tie a wire to ground, but it's not really the best way, just the cheapest and easiest. The right way, at least in theory, is to solder all the ground wires to one point, and run a single wire from that point to the jack sleeve, to prevent ground loops. I say "in theory", because ground loops aren't usually much of a problem, and star-grounding a bass in this fashion is probably overkill in most cases. But soldering to the pot case is never an absolute requirement.

Reid

 

[Rodent]

and be certain to only use ROSIN core solder - NOT ACID core - for your guitar/bass building activities!!!!

acid core is used for a different application other than instrument electronics

all the best,

R

 

[4Mal]

Not really. That's the most common way to tie a wire to ground, but it's not really the best way, just the cheapest and easiest. The right way, at least in theory, is to solder all the ground wires to one point, and run a single wire from that point to the jack sleeve, to prevent ground loops. I say "in theory", because ground loops aren't usually much of a problem, and star-grounding a bass in this fashion is probably overkill in most cases. But soldering to the pot case is never an absolute requirement.

Reid

not entirely true... that works IF all your pots & jack are grounded via another connection to each other and ground - as in a Jazz Bass control plate. Take he metal out of hte equation - like on a rear route bass and those pot chassis are going to require a ground wire ... there's a number of ways to do it. I prefer star grounding and a full foil shielding - with the shield pulled away from the pot chassis to avoid the potential for ground loop. Lot's of good soldering advice above. I would just add for the OP - soldering is easy enough but it does take a little patience and practice to get it down. So log a few hours of practice and next time around this will be a cinch.

 

[Cernael]

and be certain to only use ROSIN core solder - NOT ACID core - for your guitar/bass building activities!!!!

acid core is used for a different application other than instrument electronics

all the best,

R

Um, yeah. Why is that, exactly? I read that acid core can be harmful to printed circuit boards, but in regular pot&stuff soldering, as in a standard passive bass, that's hardly an issue, is it?

So why is rosin core better there?

 

[chicago_mike]

Rosin core wont corrode the connections. Acid core will. HVAC guys use acid core. Acid core will eat thru pot lugs. And its not really for an electrical connection like we do.

Rosin core also helps the solder flow more evenlly across the pads, or wires, pots, etc..And it does help to take the time to tin all the connections first.

 

[Rickett Customs]

Rosin core wont corrode the connections. Acid core will. HVAC guys use acid core. Acid core will eat thru pot lugs. And its not really for an electrical connection like we do.

Rosin core also helps the solder flow more evenlly across the pads, or wires, pots, etc..And it does help to take the time to tin all the connections first.

It's more plumbers than HVAC, HVAC doesn't use solder, they use silfloss (Silver,copper and zinc (No tin), on copper for refrigerant lines, silifloss has a lower melting point, for the fact that most refrigerant lines are virgin copper (soft copper) and therefore has a lower melting point than hardened (rigid) copper. Acid core solder is used for Mostly (rigid)copper in waterlines and sprinkler systems in homes and some commercial properties, although the alternative is CPVC.
I did HVAC for about 12 years + my pops owns an HVAC business, so I grew up around that trade.

But yes +1, rosin core is the way to go. 60/40 Baby!

 

[ReidK]

not entirely true... that works IF all your pots & jack are grounded via another connection to each other and ground - as in a Jazz Bass control plate. Take he metal out of hte equation - like on a rear route bass and those pot chassis are going to require a ground wire ... there's a number of ways to do it. I prefer star grounding and a full foil shielding - with the shield pulled away from the pot chassis to avoid the potential for ground loop.

I don't see the reasoning here. Instead of soldering wires to the pots and pulling away the foil... why not just leave the foil? It does the job just fine. The only time you might derive some benefit from soldering wires to the pot cases is when there's no metal plate and no foil (or conductive paint); in other words, a completely unshielded cavity. In that case, you might reduce noise somewhat by grounding the pot cases, but you'll still have a lot of noise; it's a half-assed fix.

Reid

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Not really. That's the most common way to tie a wire to ground, but it's not really the best way, just the cheapest and easiest. The right way, at least in theory, is to solder all the ground wires to one point, and run a single wire from that point to the jack sleeve, to prevent ground loops. I say "in theory", because ground loops aren't usually much of a problem, and star-grounding a bass in this fashion is probably overkill in most cases. But soldering to the pot case is never an absolute requirement.

Reid

+1 You are absolutely correct on the last part. There are no ground loops in passive basses, and not even in active basses. It's not really possible.

Ground is ground, and unless you are plugging your bass into an AC outlet you cannot get a ground loop. It's a myth perpetrated by well meaning, but misinformed web sites.

ground loops occur when you have two pieces of AC powered gear, and each one has it's own ground via the AC plug, and they are in two different circuits. You connect them together with a patch cord, and now one ground is at a higher potential than the other, and current flows to the lower point, and you get hum. This is why there are ground lifts on DI outputs.

The reason you can't have a ground loop in your bass is that you only have one ground point, and that is at the output jack, which makes the ground connection to your amp. Nothing inside you bass has a higher potential than anything else, and all grounds in the bass are as good as any other.

Think of an effects box. It has a metal case, usually aluminum, and all the jacks connect to the case. This forms a closed shield. The same is true in your bass. The pot cases form part of the same ground plane as the foil they might be touching, all the way out your shielded cable.

People have been soldering ground connections to the backs of pots for as long as there have been pots!

So don't bother with star grounding... just make all your connections neatly and with proper solder joints. Star grounding might actually make some of your ground wires longer than they need be.

Back to the original question. Some pots, both the cases and the terminals are plated, and the solder wont stick to that. So you need to lightly sand or file it. Then heat the part up and melt some solder on it before you try and solder your wires. This is called tinning. You should also tin your wire ends, and start by tinning your iron tip.

Also make sure the iron tip is screwed in tight... they get loose.

And don't over heat your parts!

 

[PilbaraBass]

Here’s a little thing I learned from watching Nino Valenti’s posts (Nino posts too many good pics )

Do AS MUCH wiring outside of the bass as possible…hold your pots on an old drilled piece of pickguard material or something similar….it makes life MUCH easier…

Why struggle in such a tiny space? It makes sense.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Do AS MUCH wiring outside of the bass as possible…hold your pots on an old drilled piece of pickguard material or something similar….it makes life MUCH easier…

Why struggle in such a tiny space? It makes sense.

+1!

Great suggestion. You can even use cardboard to hold the pots in position. And get one of those "helping hands" things.

I do simple wiring inside the bass, but if I'm installing something with a bunch-o-wires like an Aguilar or Bart preamp, I wire it up outside the bass on a cardboard template.