using wire nuts instead of soldering for pickups replacement

[diverse379]

I tried a short cut
I was low on money and didnt want to spend the 20 dollars for the soldering iron
and 6 dollars for solder

so I tried to
take a short cut when replacing my jass bass pickups and bough the small plastic wire nuts
electricians use.


I Installed my Fender 55's
they seemed to work great but
now neck pick up will cut out
then may come back on then cut out.
I checked and rechecked my connections
when i take the connection apart and reconnect it works.
then it will cut out after playing for about 5-10 minutes in the lower register of the bass.
it seems like somehow
the connection is developing resistance.

the bridge pick up is fine

I will be going to get a soldering iron today and do this the right way.
I am just curious what was going. on? wire nuts work fine for electrical wires usually why the problem
with the pickup wires? or perhaps I have a faulty pickup

 

[fhm555]

Wire nuts don't do well with vibration. If you must connect without solder, twist and tape works better than wire nuts, but do yourself a favor and get the proper bit of kit and learn to solder. The sanity you save may well be your own.

 

[diverse379]

thanks for that. fhm555

I didnt think vibration would matter.
and come to think of it I used to use tape and twist and it was fine.
but I think you are right I need to just get a soldering iron and non lead solder and
do it correctly.

 

[Pilgrim]

There is a right way to do this and a wrong way. Soldering and using insulation over any inline solder joints is the right way. The alternative is easy to deduce.

 

[Double E]

The best solderless connection would be a crimp-on connector.

 

[diverse379]

Thanks I would have never thought vibration could be the cause.

i still dont have funds for a soldering iron unless I

There is a right way to do this and a wrong way. Soldering and using insulation over any inline solder joints is the right way. The alternative is easy to deduce.

I feel so lectured to right now.

But I knew i was going to get it

One more question you mentioned using insulation over the inline solder joints
I did not wrap up my wire nut connections with electrical tape
do you think that is why the signal path is dying out?

I am just curios to this phenomena.
I will be going to get a soldering iron today.
and tape etc.

 

[Pilgrim]

Thanks I would have never thought vibration could be the cause.

i still dont have funds for a soldering iron unless I



I feel so lectured to right now.

But I knew i was going to get it

One more question you mentioned using insulation over the inline solder joints
I did not wrap up my wire nut connections with electrical tape
do you think that is why the signal path is dying out?

I am just curios to this phenomena.
I will be going to get a soldering iron today.
and tape etc.

Good question! Actually, all of us learn this at one time or another. I have taken shortcuts on various kinds of work, and darn near each one of them has come back to bite me in the butt. Hopefully you will avoid learning this the hard way - which is how I learned it. So think of yourself as commiserated with rather than lectured.

Note that I wrote "inline solder joints," meaning that if you join two wires together, you cannot leave that solder joint uninsulated because there's a good chance thta it will eventually touch some other component and cause a short.

Tape is one way to provide the insulation, but please strive to be neat and to get a nice tight roll of tape over the joint. I sometimes wrap and secure a very small cable tie over the tape to keep it from coming loose, but that is probably overkill.

My preferred way to insulate inline connections is heat shrink tubing. This is tubing that comes in various diameters and which shrinks when exposed to heat. You may or may not find it when you look for a soldering iron - it can be cut to length and heat can be applied with a match or lighter.

Here's a nice tutorial on heat shrink tubing:



Incidentally, when you buy a soldering iron, don't get a tiny one - get at least a 25-30W iron, and I prefer one with more heat than those. The longer you have to hold a soldering iron on the work to heat it up, the more chance you will heat the component (like a pot) enough to damage it.

Here's a decent tutorial that will give you quite a bit of info on soldering...and near the end of the video, he uses heat shrink tubing to insulate the solder joint:

 

[iiipopes]

All the above. I encountered this issue in the mid-'70's when I was a teenager. It was only after I showed my mom that it was not working, and some gentle encouragement from my grandfather, that I got my first pencil-iron kit from Radio Shack, and never looked back.

 

[diverse379]

Thanks lots of helpful information plus you saved me the trouble of finding a good soldering how to video.

I wouldnt have even have imagined i could hurt a pot by holding heat to it.

makes sense once you say it though

sigh

 

[PDX Rich]

+1 for heat shrink tubing. I used to race 1/10th scale offroad RC cars back in the 80s. That is one hobby where you learn how to solder rather quickly. Basic soldering skills certainly help a ton! A few things:

- Hot iron (it had been mentioned before, but is worth repeating)
- Silver your wire (lightly coat the wires you are connecting and then apply the heat to bind them together) as opposed to using a glob of solder
- Heat shrink tubing (slip the pre-cut tubing on one of the wires before joining them, then simple move into place and heat it up a bit)
- Maintain your iron and tips! Clean tools are happy tools.
- It is much easier than you think! There are also many accessories available such as vices, helpy-helper alligator clips and magnifying glasses to make the task easier.

 

[diverse379]

I think chewing gum will work better. as both a binding agent as well as an insulater since chewing gum comes from gum trees it is non conductive. right????

Sorry I couldnt resist.
seriously i am taking all this good advice to heart.
Certainly lots of money can be saved if you have three or four basses you are going to
start modifiying
especially when we start getting into pre amps
and new pots. etc.

I am actually leaving the house now to see if I can get a soldering iron
money is real short
this month
as I bought 5 basses at the beginning of the month
SMH

 

[testing1two]

If you are twisting the wires together (clockwise) and using the right size wire nut you should be fine. Hint: if the nut doesn't get tight you aren't using the right one. When I was a lad I used wire nuts in my #1 bass thinking I would swap pickups and when I finally got around to it ten years later the wire nuts were still tight. There is simply not enough vibration in the control cavity of a bass to loosen a property tightened wire nut, let alone in 5-10 minutes.

 

[diverse379]

i just came back from the hardware store
but while discussing the issue

the rep felt i may be experiencing something getting over heated

since the neck pickup will cut out and then return after 5 min or so

and it only cuts out when i am jamming in the first four frets on a motown groove
then it just dies out.
not really a cut out but a fade out

perhaps I didnt follow the wiring diagrams completely

well I know i didnt i sort of took a short cut or two.
like instead of grounding both wires to the back of the pot
i just twisted them both to one wire that was already grounded to the pot

perhaps that one wire is being over loaded.

 

[Double E]

i just came back from the hardware store
but while discussing the issue

the rep felt i may be experiencing something getting over heated

since the neck pickup will cut out and then return after 5 min or so

and it only cuts out when i am jamming in the first four frets on a motown groove
then it just dies out.
not really a cut out but a fade out

perhaps I didnt follow the wiring diagrams completely

well I know i didnt i sort of took a short cut or two.
like instead of grounding both wires to the back of the pot
i just twisted them both to one wire that was already grounded to the pot

perhaps that one wire is being over loaded.

This seems highly unlikely...the overheating bit. I am assuming your bass is passive though. I will leave it up to an electrical guru to explain.

 

[testing1two]

Assuming this is a passive setup (i.e. no batteries) there should be no discernible heat whatsoever. I would be more inclined to say you have an intermittent connection on your output jack or a loose ground.

 

[Philonius]

Is this an active bass? Pickups generate really small currents, and it doesn't make sense that they are overheating Anything.

[edit] too slow!

 

[Pilgrim]

Any time you use the words "twisted wires" in describing an electronic circuit that should be soldered, you have most likely pinpointed the source of your problem.

That is: A (twisted wires) generally = B (problem point.)

 

[diverse379]

Any time you use the words "twisted wires" in describing an electronic circuit that should be soldered, you have most likely pinpointed the source of your problem.

That is: A (twisted wires) generally = B (problem point.)

gotcha.!!!

 

[Bodhammer]

You need to be careful about creating antenna with sticking pointy bits in the air, especially if your electronics are not well shielded. Think "Spinal Tap at the Air Force Base"...

Small, clean, tight, solder joints are always better than twisty bits with tape, foil, and gum.

 

[LoveThatBass]

Until you can afford to solder them try this: Twist the strands of of each individual wire tightly clockwise THEN twist the two wires around each other clockwise. Now insert the correct size wire nut (very small white ones) on the end of the bare portion of the twisted wires and turn clockwise until tight