I was sent to NASA soldering school, and spent an entire week or two (24 years ago) just learning to solder. Some people have a certain way to solder and have success. But the way I solder, I have never had a solder joint go bad, and everyone I have shown agrees that my (NASA's) method is quick and easy. So if you wanna mess arround with rosin core solder go ahead, I don't care. But here is how it should be done.
Go buy a good soldering iron, 40-50 watts, the hotter the better, good solid core solder,something designed for electronics use, and some acid paste flux, I bought my acid paste flux at frey's electronics, If you can't find acid flux, use whatever paste flux you can find, I won't ever use flux core solder again, it blows chunks.
Buy a spray can of contact cleaner to clean up the leftover flux when done.
When soldering, you gotta do this. dip the end of your wire in the paste flux. take your hot iron and wipe it off with a damp sponge or cloth, let heat back up for a few seconds, dip the end of iron into the flux, then put solder on your iron. you should see a solder bulge on your iron, touch that bulge of hot solder to your wire.
Always keep your iron tip shiney, If it sits and turns black, wipe it off on a wet sponge, or even wire brush it-dip in flux and add solder.
You have just "tinned" your wire. Now, put a small amount of flux on the component that the wire will be attached too, then tin that spot just like you did the wire.
Always add the solder to the iron, then touch the iron to what you want soldered, this preheated solder, helps to quickly heat the components, and the flux allows the solder to "wick" over the area
So now you have solder on both the wire and the spot it will attach too, and by the way, try to have a fair amount on the post or pot cover. now holding the wire to the spot you want it attached, simply push the iron, with a fresh drop of solder, on top for a few seconds and thats it, hold your wire for about 5 seconds after you remove the soldering iron. Try to keep the eyelet holes open on the pot tabs, just poke the wire through the hole at a flat angle, add solder, done.
the finnished solder should be have a shine to it, or almost. if it looks dull like lead, you have a cold solder joint, just re-add heat and hold it steady.
as for soldering to the case of pots, and your trem spring claw if you got one, it's all about heat. the problem with a low watt iron is, the heat you apply to the pot is being wicked away almost as fast as you add it, so to get to the right temp, you over cook the pot and can damage it. This is true with all your components with a fair amount of metal, you need a lot of heat quick on one point. the regular wire terminals are fairly thin and easy to solder..
Hope this helps, good luck
Go buy a good soldering iron, 40-50 watts, the hotter the better, good solid core solder,something designed for electronics use, and some acid paste flux, I bought my acid paste flux at frey's electronics, If you can't find acid flux, use whatever paste flux you can find, I won't ever use flux core solder again, it blows chunks.
Buy a spray can of contact cleaner to clean up the leftover flux when done.
When soldering, you gotta do this. dip the end of your wire in the paste flux. take your hot iron and wipe it off with a damp sponge or cloth, let heat back up for a few seconds, dip the end of iron into the flux, then put solder on your iron. you should see a solder bulge on your iron, touch that bulge of hot solder to your wire.
Always keep your iron tip shiney, If it sits and turns black, wipe it off on a wet sponge, or even wire brush it-dip in flux and add solder.
You have just "tinned" your wire. Now, put a small amount of flux on the component that the wire will be attached too, then tin that spot just like you did the wire.
Always add the solder to the iron, then touch the iron to what you want soldered, this preheated solder, helps to quickly heat the components, and the flux allows the solder to "wick" over the area
So now you have solder on both the wire and the spot it will attach too, and by the way, try to have a fair amount on the post or pot cover. now holding the wire to the spot you want it attached, simply push the iron, with a fresh drop of solder, on top for a few seconds and thats it, hold your wire for about 5 seconds after you remove the soldering iron. Try to keep the eyelet holes open on the pot tabs, just poke the wire through the hole at a flat angle, add solder, done.
the finnished solder should be have a shine to it, or almost. if it looks dull like lead, you have a cold solder joint, just re-add heat and hold it steady.
as for soldering to the case of pots, and your trem spring claw if you got one, it's all about heat. the problem with a low watt iron is, the heat you apply to the pot is being wicked away almost as fast as you add it, so to get to the right temp, you over cook the pot and can damage it. This is true with all your components with a fair amount of metal, you need a lot of heat quick on one point. the regular wire terminals are fairly thin and easy to solder..
Hope this helps, good luck
