connecting output jack without soldering

[yejunjung]

Just got a DIY kit, everything is pre soldered, but It seems like I have to connect the wires from pots, pickups (about two or three wires) to the output jack.

I know that soldering is the best way to do it, but I, unfortunately, cannot access them. I am planning to just wrap and twist the wires to the output jack. Will that work and will it not influence the functionality of the guitar?

I am planning to firmly twist and wrap the wires to the output jack and cover them with some insulating tape.

Any oppositions or has anyone done it?

[PJSprog]

If you can't access them enough to solder, there's probably no hope of having enough room to twist and tape.

... and that will not work well at all. You'll never get it tight enough to make consistent, solid contact.

[yejunjung]

If you can't access them enough to solder, there's probably no hope of having enough room to twist and tape.

... and that will not work well at all. You'll never get it tight enough to make consistent, solid contact.

-> If so, will it work with some other "alternative to soldering method" that is not just simply twisting and taping?

[yejunjung]

I just thought of this silly thing, what if I try my best to wrap it tightly as possible and seal it with some sort of glue that contains metal? like a conductive super glue sort of stuff?

[fender3x]

You might be able to find something like these clips. You squeeze the blue part to clamp onto the wire, and the slip the clip over the output jack tabs.



I should say that I don't think this is a good suggestion. It's bound to come lose at some point, but it would be better than just wrapping or gluing.

I am not sure why you don't want to solder...that would be a better solution.

[Trevor Davies]

Can you solder some wires to the output jack when it is not on the guitar, and then connect the wires to the pot wires using a terminal strip. This is the way I've done it so that I don't need to solder while the components are mounted on the guitar.
I used this to connect the pickups on my FVB-4 (see pic below), and AG2 kit so that i can easily change the pickups at a later date.

[yejunjung]

Thanks for all the replies, I decided just to get the soldering kit. Seems like it is the cheapest, and the easiest way.

[Rabbit]

Thanks for all the replies, I decided just to get the soldering kit. Seems like it is the cheapest, and the easiest way.

Having the equipment to solder will probably be useful for other things further down the line.

[Simon Barden]

I've been looking around for reviews on the carbon-based wire glue. None were overly technical; a couple roughly measured the resistance but none tested the strength of the glue.

Being carbon-based, yes it does have a higher resistance per unit length than silver-based wire glues. Obviously the thicker and wider the layer of glue, the less resistance it will have overall, and it was hard to know how thick some of the blobs of glue being tested were. But you are probably looking at 10x or so the resistance of the silver-based 'glues'.

As a glue, it's not particularly strong and it wouldn't take much force to dislodge a wire help purely by the glue. Some of the glues were more viscous than the others, so the ability to keep it in place varied considerably. All reviewers commented that for any proper strength they'd then coat the joint in epoxy.

Drying times seemed to vary as well, but none were particularly quick. No reviewer I looked at did any time vs strength tests, but you are looking at quite a few hours minimum.

Also, nobody tested what happened when it was heated, so if you did twist a wire around something, cover that in wire glue and then put some heatshrink over the top for insulation, I don't know whether that would affect the glue's strength at all.

And the longevity of the joint, especially under tension and vibration, wasn't even considered by the reviewers, so there's no info on that.

So whilst it might have some uses in a few area like repairing broken PCB tracks in situ where it's too awkward to get to for soldering (as long as that part of the circuit can tolerate a few extra ohms in-line resistance), it's never going to replace good old solder for ease of use, low resistance, joint strength and quickness of application, at least with the glue in its current form.

[PJSprog]

Having the equipment to solder will probably be useful for other things further down the line.

It is amazing the number of things that pop up over the years. The majority of humans seem to survive just fine without ever owning a soldering iron. But, once you buy one, ...