Don't solder to pots - Use solder lugs

[Cagey]

I touched on this in another thread, but I wanted to start a dedicated thread on it so it doesn't get lost...

A lot of people have trouble soldering wires, sheilds, and capacitors to the housings of their volume/tone pots. It's no real surprise - those parts aren't designed to be treated that way, and it's poor practice anyway. You run a very real risk of ruining or at least deteriorating the pot's internal integrity by getting it too hot and deforming or burning something, and the connection may not be that good. Plus, a lot of people have trouble soldering either because it's not something they do all the time, or they have the wrong equipment.

The better, professional way to accomplish the same thing would be to use solder lugs.

Put one or more of these over the shaft between the pot's body and the pickguard when mounting the pot, and it contacts the metal shaft flange, which is contact with the pot's back. Connect any wires or components you need to be grounded to the small tab off the side of the thing, and Poof! You've got a shielded pot, and a handy tie point for commons. With the parts in the picture above, you might want to bend the tab up a tad so it's not flush with the back of the pickguard material.

They're not easy to find, but you can get 8 for $2.49 at Guitar Parts Resource.

Makes grounding your pots/pickups,etc. one helluva lot easier and prevents you from burning the little rascals up. Plus, if you have to replace a pot due to failure or the desire to change values, it's a lot easier to do that, too.

 

[baskruit]

Thanks for the heads up. Great advice.

I don't seem to have troubles soldering to a housing but I did damage a pot recently this way so I had to replace it.
Funny thing: It was actually a dual concentric pot and I realize now that I didn't have to connect the housings of the two individual pots because they already are (just tested that with a spare concentric pot).

 

[m4rk0]

Great tip!!! I will order some right away!!!!
I don't mind soldering all that much, except for wiring the backs of pots!!! I hate it, and it takes me ages to get it to stick!
now, if you have any tricks for soldering to trem claws, that would be great especially Gotoh WIlkinson trem claws!! no matter how much I clean, sand, scratch, I never get it to stick.. I had to drill a hole in one of them to get it to stick!!!!!

 

[m4rk0]

hmm, I noticed they have some really cheap (dual rail) pickups on that website.. I wonder if they are any good..
I guess I will have to open a new topic so I don't hijack yours

 

[Cagey]

I don't mind soldering all that much, except for wiring the backs of pots!!! I hate it, and it takes me ages to get it to stick!
now, if you have any tricks for soldering to trem claws, that would be great especially Gotoh WIlkinson trem claws!! no matter how much I clean, sand, scratch, I never get it to stick.. I had to drill a hole in one of them to get it to stick!!!!!

The problem with soldering to trem claws is the same as it is soldering to pots - the part acts like a heat sink, and the soldering iron's tip gets cooled down. Plus, the part itself never gets hot enough for solder to flow/adhere. What you need is MORE POWER! <grin> Seriously, you gotta have at least a 40 watt iron with a chisel tip to to get the claw hot enough. It's also helpful to heat the part directly without the ground wire under the iron's tip so you have better contact with the metal and heat transfer takes place more efficiently, then flow some solder onto the part. Then, move the wire into the puddle of solder you've got going and let that heat up. Also, try to solder closer to an edge if you can, to minimize the heat sink effect of the part.

Generally speaking, you shouldn't need to touch the solder to the iron, the part should be hot enough to melt solder itself. If it's not, the surface tension of the molten solder will force it to just ball up and roll off, or if it flows at all it'll cool too quickly and crystallize, forming what's known as a "cold solder joint". If it takes more than a couple/few seconds to get the part hot enough to melt solder, the iron's underpowered or you might have a too pointy a tip.

 

[Cagey]

Incidentally, drilling a hole in the trem claw is not a bad idea. Another one of the secrets to a good solder joint is having a good mechanical joint, which is easier to get if you have a hole to run the wire through. Solder itself is fairly soft stuff, so it doesn't have a lot of mechanical integrity. If the wire's attached in such a way that it wants to stay in place anyway, then the solder is just a guarantee for permanent solidity, like glue in a dovetail joint.

 

[BigBeard]

Y'all are overlooking the obvious:

FLUX

I clean the coating off of the back of a pot (I don't know what that coating is some sort of something is on all of the pots I've ever worked with) with your dremel and a wire brush, or some sandpaper or a file.  Also, try for the corner of the pot's housing.  Add a little flux, which is designed to chemcally clean metals to make them accept solder.  When you solder properly, you are actually heating up the metal, causing the pores in the metal to open up and the solder flows into the pores.  Then everything cools and should hold

I solder pots with my little pencil radio shack iron, with no problems at all.  But I do use flux liberally for this application.

Also with a trem claw, if it isn't installed in the guitar, you can solder it with a propane torch like your plumber uses to sweat copper water lines, or if you have a gas range, you can turn on the burner and hold your trem claw with a pair of pliers.  Get that sucker to the point where you see the metal starting to change color, hold the wire to it, and the solder will flow, you'll have a joint that won't come off!!!

Part of this problem is this solder we are forced to use these days.  Back in the day of acid core solder, you didn't have these problems as the acid etched the metal.

Yeah, you should have flux for these tougher solder jobs, and it cleans your soldering iron tips really well.  I keep it on my bench for that reason alone.  I get the pencil good and hot and dip it in the flux, that cleans the old oxidized solder residue right off of it!!

 

[dNA]

Thanks a bunch, Cagey! I've wasted time struggling to wire grounds to the pots in so many guitars. I'll probably put those tabs in every guitar I ever work on.  :rock-on:

 

[baskruit]

Y'all are overlooking the obvious:

FLUX

Well, it's not that obvious. Many advise against the use of flux when soldering fine electronics because it's corrosive and can damage the components (resistors, capacitors etcetera. Pots may well fall into the same category).
IMHO: Always use solder with a resin core and you should be fine.

 

[Superlizard]

Great suggestion.

Another neat trick for taking away the heat whenst soldering:

Tiny little alligator clips.

 

[-CB-]

Thats what I did when using those NASA quality stainless steel fully enclosed pots.  Could not solder to them, no way, no how, "like kissin' yer sister... nuthin!".

 

[Cagey]

Well, it's not that obvious. Many advise against the use of flux when soldering fine electronics because it's corrosive and can damage the components (resistors, capacitors etcetera. Pots may well fall into the same category).
IMHO: Always use solder with a resin core and you should be fine.

You have to use flux, but for electrical work you need to use rosin, not acid flux. As you pointed out, acid flux will eat the copper up, which is NFG. But, generally speaking, it's not an issue unless you're using solid core solder such as for plumbing work. All electrical solder sold these days has a rosin core, so you get exactly as much as you need to do the job. As I mentioned earlier here or perhaps in another thread, I've never bought or used any flux in 40 years of soldering except for sweating copper pipes, and I've done one helluva lotta soldering.

 

[Cagey]

Thats what I did when using those NASA quality stainless steel fully enclosed pots.  Could not solder to them, no way, no how, "like kissin' yer sister... nuthin!".

Where do you even find those anymore? I used to use them years ago, but for my last build I searched high and low without success. If those are the pots I remember, they're some wicked parts. Make the CTS pots look like surplus junk from a toy factory.

 

[BigBeard]

Y'all are overlooking the obvious:

FLUX

Well, it's not that obvious. Many advise against the use of flux when soldering fine electronics because it's corrosive and can damage the components (resistors, capacitors etcetera. Pots may well fall into the same category).
IMHO: Always use solder with a resin core and you should be fine.

I'll tell you why I recommend and use flux for this application.  Simply put, it makes soldering something like the back of a pot easier.  I'm not saying to dunk your pot into a flux bath, but a tiny dab you pull out with your solder and just a little dab will do ya.  I normally aim for the corner of the pot case.  Of course after I wire brush the pot till it looks like chrome.


But yeah, if soldering pots seems a little daunting, those tab thingies look like the cat's ass or the bees knees!!!

See they wouldn't work well for me, being a lefty (and I just recenty learned there are such things as left handed pots) when I turn my controls up  (which is counter-clockwise) they after time, loosen up.  I have started using loc-tite on the nuts, but if a pot were to come loose on me with one of those tab thingies, I'd have an ungrounded pot!!!!

 

[Cagey]

I wouldn't worry about it. The pot would have to become completely undone with the knob fallen off so it could drop inside the control cavity and out of the ring of the solder tab. I suspect if that were even possible, you'd have a lot more problems than simply an ungrounded pot <grin>

 

[BigBeard]

I wouldn't worry about it. The pot would have to become completely undone with the knob fallen off so it could drop inside the control cavity and out of the ring of the solder tab. I suspect if that were even possible, you'd have a lot more problems than simply an ungrounded pot <grin>

Yeah if that happened during a gig or something, the end result would be a guitar that looked like Pete Townshend was having problems with :dontknow:

I'm one of those stubborn solder guys.  I worry more about frying mini switches than pots, though.  I have fried quite a few of those buggers!!!

The only problem I really see with using these tabs is when you only have enough threads to catch a nut, but that is an easy fix with the old dremel, or a forsner bit.  I don't know if warmoth leaves their rear routed tops thick, but I had to rout for all of my controls.  I routed down to the black accent stripe material for all the controls so I could even get a nut on the top.  I insist on using a washer between the wood and the nut, so I just took out a little material inside the control cavity.  I know I could have used long shaft pots, but I wasn't in the mood to find long shaft stacked pots and a long shaft blend pot and a long shaft 25k push pull.  Get it?  So I just routed out some wood in the cavity so my regular pots would work!!

On the note of the above paragraph, I think on all of my future builds, I am going to forget about the washer and inlay the nuts for the controls, so they are flush and use a backing nut to determine the controls height.  That just came to mind.......I know it's totally off the subject of soldering pots, but  "once and a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right!!!!"

 

[Superbeast520]

I just do it the old fashioned way and solder to the pots and trem claw with a good Iron and scratch things up real good first, why would I want to have, one more thing to worry about coming loose, when I can do whats been done for as long as the strats been in existence, seems to me theres a reason they soldered to the pots and claw....because it works and its one less connection to worry about, I have only melted one pot and it cost a whole 5 bucks...woopdy doo....

 

[-CB-]

Thats what I did when using those NASA quality stainless steel fully enclosed pots.  Could not solder to them, no way, no how, "like kissin' yer sister... nuthin!".

Where do you even find those anymore? I used to use them years ago, but for my last build I searched high and low without success. If those are the pots I remember, they're some wicked parts. Make the CTS pots look like surplus junk from a toy factory.

The ones I've got are from Clarostat, still made.  You have to search for 'em, but the shafts are stainless, the bushing stainless and the cover is stainless.  The lugs are copper plated, then tin plated, over stainless.  The substrate is about 1/8 inch thick.  They were expensive 10 years ago, and I think they're over $30 each now.

 

[-CB-]

Y'all are overlooking the obvious:

FLUX

Well, it's not that obvious. Many advise against the use of flux when soldering fine electronics because it's corrosive and can damage the components

AFAICT, there is no "acid" flux made for small users any more.  Old time plumbers had it.  But even as far back as the 60's, it was a rosin type paste flux used in plumbing.  Acid flux would instantly "clean" and "brighten" copper pipe, no steel wool needed.  Solder in rolls has always used rosin flux as a core, same stuff used as in plumbing.  There are also "compliant" fluxes used with lead/tin solders, and also with lead-free solders (which nobody likes).  Plumbing has now also gone to "compliant" fluxes, and "flux" with lead-free solder micro powdered into it - which makes things very easy to work with.

 

[BigBeard]

Y'all are overlooking the obvious:

FLUX

Well, it's not that obvious. Many advise against the use of flux when soldering fine electronics because it's corrosive and can damage the components

AFAICT, there is no "acid" flux made for small users any more.  Old time plumbers had it.  But even as far back as the 60's, it was a rosin type paste flux used in plumbing.  Acid flux would instantly "clean" and "brighten" copper pipe, no steel wool needed.  Solder in rolls has always used rosin flux as a core, same stuff used as in plumbing.  There are also "compliant" fluxes used with lead/tin solders, and also with lead-free solders (which nobody likes).  Plumbing has now also gone to "compliant" fluxes, and "flux" with lead-free solder micro powdered into it - which makes things very easy to work with.

Ok, so I guess I stand corrected?

Really in the long run, is a little flux on the back of a pot going to destroy the pot?  My Grand-dad and my dad both always told me to use flux every time I solder copper pipe, and I do.  Along with the brushing the ends of the pipe and the whole emory cloth thing.  In fact my old man is a flux junkie of sorts, man he uses that stuff on every single solder job he does.  Period. He has ran to the hardware store specifically just for flux only to come back to find his wires all soldered up by me with a cigarette lighter!!!!  Wow you want to see a really mad 350 pound man, soldering with a cigarette lighter while he is out getting flux,  well lets just say for my own sake i'm just fast enough to outrun him.  You wouldn't think a guy his size can run, but he can for about 50 yards.  Good thing I can make it 75 yards or I would have been dead 15 years ago!!

I don't know, I'm not an electrical anything.  What  I do know is I have tried to solder pots with nothing but a soldering iron and solder, and got a really bad cold solder joint.  So after I cleaned up that mess, I used some flux and BINGO, everything held, nice and shiny.  I just thought it was a plumbers trick that could be used in this application.  I mean I use it and I don't have any problems with any of my hardware in any of my guitars  or any of the guitars I ever did surgery on.  So take that for what it is or isn't worth......