Cost of Assembly

[mullyman]

Yeah, I gotta go with the people that say do it yourself. I agree that you should grab your sisters Squire and practice on it. Soldering isn't hard at all. The toughest part of the wiring is knowing where to put the connections. The soldering is an after thought really. I have to agree with whoever said to stay around 30w with your iron. 40 won't ruin anything but stay away from anything more than that. I'm telling you, man, you'll enjoy that bass so much more if you know that you did all the work on it. And, for myself, 250 bucks sounds like a whole lot of cabbage to be spending on something like that. Hey, give it a shot at least. If it doesn't work out then you can take it down there and pay the guy to do it up for you.
MULLY
hoping to hear a good story out of this :guitarplayer2:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

For me, the toughest part is always aligning the tuners.  I spend more time aligning, marking, standing back and looking, re-measuring.  That's always the most stressful for me with any build because it has to be perfect.  Soldering, it doesn't have to look pretty to work.  Electrons don't care how pretty it is.

 

[m4rk0]

Yeah go for it! it will make you extra proud of your creation!

just watch that 8 part video a couple of times!

 

[mullyman]

For me, the toughest part is always aligning the tuners.  I spend more time aligning, marking, standing back and looking, re-measuring.  That's always the most stressful for me with any build because it has to be perfect.  Soldering, it doesn't have to look pretty to work.  Electrons don't care how pretty it is.

I guess I'm a little laxxed there. I line them up by eye, lay a straight edge across the tops of the casings to make sure they match up, then start drilling. Then again, my background is in design so I can usually spot something if it's not sitting right.
MULLY

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I get it right despite the stress.

 

[mullyman]

I get it right despite the stress.

When I say that measuring to exact points is being really anal I don't mean it as an insult. I can fully appreciate it when someone takes the time to do something like that and can understand why. I'm not that anal with my guitars but there are quite a few things in life that have to be just right or I'm not comfortable. Example, CD's and DVD's.....I can't stand it if they are put in the cases upside down or sideways. I also have to have all the money in my wallet facing the same direction or it drives me up a tree. I never really thought about it until someone pointed out that I always turn the bills the same direction. The next time I got change I didn't check it, I just put it in my wallet. I didn't even make it to my car before it got to me enough to pull out my wallet and make sure the bills were straight. I'm like that with a lot of things. I don't know why I don't measure off my tuning keys though, just never thought about it. They look straight to me so I go with it. After seeing that tool from stewmac though I may go ahead and order one before my next build. If I have that tool then eyeing it won't be good enough for me. hehe!!
MULLY

 

[chrisg]

The best thing about doing it yourself is being able to say to everyone "I put it together myself" - lots of self satisfaction in that.

 

[ocguy106]

I get it right despite the stress.

When I say that measuring to exact points is being really anal I don't mean it as an insult. I can fully appreciate it when someone takes the time to do something like that and can understand why. I'm not that anal with my guitars but there are quite a few things in life that have to be just right or I'm not comfortable. Example, CD's and DVD's.....I can't stand it if they are put in the cases upside down or sideways. I also have to have all the money in my wallet facing the same direction or it drives me up a tree. I never really thought about it until someone pointed out that I always turn the bills the same direction. The next time I got change I didn't check it, I just put it in my wallet. I didn't even make it to my car before it got to me enough to pull out my wallet and make sure the bills were straight. I'm like that with a lot of things. I don't know why I don't measure off my tuning keys though, just never thought about it. They look straight to me so I go with it. After seeing that tool from stewmac though I may go ahead and order one before my next build. If I have that tool then eyeing it won't be good enough for me. hehe!!
MULLY

You can't eyeball sperzal since they have a blind pin on the back that needs a hole drilled for so you can;t really lay them flat and line them up. You need to do them one at a time pain in the a@@

 

[whyachi]

For me, the toughest part is always aligning the tuners.  I spend more time aligning, marking, standing back and looking, re-measuring.  That's always the most stressful for me with any build because it has to be perfect.  Soldering, it doesn't have to look pretty to work.  Electrons don't care how pretty it is.

I guess I'm a little laxxed there. I line them up by eye, lay a straight edge across the tops of the casings to make sure they match up, then start drilling. Then again, my background is in design so I can usually spot something if it's not sitting right.
MULLY

A straight edge isn't going to lay right on anything with these, but measuring isn't something I'm worried about.

 

[jimh]

Just to second CB...... Make sure you get a soldering IRON,  not a soldering gun!

25-40W is perfect.

 

[mayfly]

I get it right despite the stress.

When I say that measuring to exact points is being really anal I don't mean it as an insult. I can fully appreciate it when someone takes the time to do something like that and can understand why. I'm not that anal with my guitars but there are quite a few things in life that have to be just right or I'm not comfortable. Example, CD's and DVD's.....I can't stand it if they are put in the cases upside down or sideways. I also have to have all the money in my wallet facing the same direction or it drives me up a tree. I never really thought about it until someone pointed out that I always turn the bills the same direction. The next time I got change I didn't check it, I just put it in my wallet. I didn't even make it to my car before it got to me enough to pull out my wallet and make sure the bills were straight. I'm like that with a lot of things. I don't know why I don't measure off my tuning keys though, just never thought about it. They look straight to me so I go with it. After seeing that tool from stewmac though I may go ahead and order one before my next build. If I have that tool then eyeing it won't be good enough for me. hehe!!
MULLY

You can't eyeball sperzal since they have a blind pin on the back that needs a hole drilled for so you can;t really lay them flat and line them up. You need to do them one at a time pain in the a@@

Or just use the groovy stu-mac tool  :headbang:

 

[mayfly]

Just to second CB...... Make sure you get a soldering IRON,  not a soldering gun!

25-40W is perfect.

+10,000 

Use a soldering iron, not a gun.  Also stay away from that acid core solder ... :icon_jokercolor:

 

[baskruit]

Just to second CB...... Make sure you get a soldering IRON,  not a soldering gun!

25-40W is perfect.

+10,000 

Use a soldering iron, not a gun.  Also stay away from that acid core solder ... :icon_jokercolor:

Exactly

 

[TBurst Std]

Just to second CB...... Make sure you get a soldering IRON,  not a soldering gun!

25-40W is perfect.

+10,000 

Use a soldering iron, not a gun.  Also stay away from that acid core solder ... :icon_jokercolor:

Exactly

And again.
Use the higher range for the pot backs. Lower range elsewhere.
Also use 63/37 solder. Works much better than 60/40.

 

[hannaugh]

Okay, there are 3 of these pdfs.  On has info on buying soldering stuff, one is how to solder, and the other is mostly pictures of how to solder.  They really should go into one pdf, but for some reason they came in 3 seperate files.  But here they are:

 

[hannaugh]

And #2

 

[hannaugh]

And 3

 

[m4rk0]

Just to second CB...... Make sure you get a soldering IRON,  not a soldering gun!

25-40W is perfect.

hahah that is great to know! I almost bought a soldering gun last weekend... but decided to finish the job with my 15 dollar (40w) iron and pick it up for my next project!

curious though... why not a soldering gun?

 

[m4rk0]

I have soldered about 6 or 7 projects now (I used prewired pgs or harnesses for the others) without making too much progress, and only now I am seeing all these helpful hints??? about time  :icon_biggrin:

 

[mayfly]

Just to second CB...... Make sure you get a soldering IRON,  not a soldering gun!

25-40W is perfect.

hahah that is great to know! I almost bought a soldering gun last weekend... but decided to finish the job with my 15 dollar (40w) iron and pick it up for my next project!

curious though... why not a soldering gun?

The gun has far to much power and will overheat and damage any part it touches.  Guns are best for, er, not sure what.  Copper pipe maybe.