Benson Pickups, Fender Squier upgrade

[stan]

The result of the above join:



Just pull the covering back down and good to go.

An even slicker method would be to cut small bits of heat shrink plastic sleeve and feed it over the wire prior to soldering, and slide it over the joint when done. I got about 3/4 of the way through this job before I realised, oh well, next time...

This is the shape of the solder tip I am using. It is about 5mm across the tip, no one of those pointy Les, they have trouble getting enough heat in to the joint.

Notice how dirty it is. Another Reston that your soldering might not be going well. You can have like steel wool near the job, and rub the tip in it after each join. To clean up from here I simply hit it with a file, remember that it is still hot!

[stan]

A couple more wires and cap in place (legs of cap can be gently bent for reposioning if required)



When wiring , I try to leave it slightly too long, solder one end then position and then cut. It saves trying to work out how to make a piece that is too short fit, and trust me that they don't have much stretch.
Some people also choose to leave plenty of length and fold up the extra, especially with pickup wires.

Apart from bad joins, another issue that can plague guitar circuitry is bad earthing. You can usually trust contact with shielding to be the earth between the pots, or you can link them with an earth wire.
I've decided on the earth wire option.

The solder wick mentioned before is braided copper, an I personally think it makes good earth strap as well. I like using the sides of pots, so there is less chance of something that should be carrying signal from shorting out on it.

Earth highlighted in green, easy to miss on busy circuit diagrams:



Simply cut a bit of braid and solder to each pot:





The cap leg is further from the braid than it looks, but something to be aware of.

Check with a multimeter on the top of each pot for continuity and it's done...

More later!

[tonyw]

Looking good Stan.

I use Alligator clips as heat sinks, especially when doing the top of pots where you need to heat them up a bit.
I always sand the top of the pot the get my solder onto it before i put any earth wires to it.
I also often use 3 pair of hands, a small vice or the other one i have is a jewelers rotating clamp with a magnifying glass attached to it and 2 alligator clamps.

[stan]

Thanks Tony, yes all good ideas.
Those spare hands with alligator clips are just the thing at times, need to get one.
These pots seemed to take solder well without scruffing up, but another great idea to promote adhesion.
Everything must be CLEAN or the solder will not take, sanding the top of the pot not only gives a bit of key but also ensures you have a cleaner surface

[pablopepper]

Great use of desolder braid. Don't know what else it's good for, certainly not getting rid of solder. Solder sucker ftw.

[stan]

Cheers Pabs, 9 times out of 10 I solder the braid to the job, not remove solder with it: that's what gave me the idea, learn from mistakes, eh?

[pablopepper]

Freakin genius.

[DrNomis_44]

@ stan Good to see that you're using some Goot Solderwick, after trying a few different brands of Solderwick I found that Goot Solderwick seemed to be the best, yes you most certainly can use it as an earth strap since it'll provide a very low resistance electrical-path to circuit-ground, I like to link the metal-casing of the pots all together using some tinned copper wire as well as using shielding foil, if one of the pots goes loose, or the shielding wears through, the tinned copper wire provides an extra earth for the pots.

[stan]

thanks Doc, it's simply what Jaycar had, and seems to be good. Need a solder sucker too, much better for desoldering lugs etc

[andrewdosborne]

Nice job Stan

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