Seymour Duncan now making a solderless wiring system

[Disco Scottie]

Having a plumbing background, soldering has always been relativly simple for me. As with most anything, it takes practice and patience.

Well, that's really great, if you want to become a luthier/electrician/plumber.  But some people just want to have a different pickup in their favorite guitar.

:toothy12:

That's a great visual. And with those skills you could build a guitar with lighted fretboard dots, while still using 40% less water when soloing.

 

[Firebird211]

And why is it that people that solder well have no patience for those that can't?

I have never done any plumbing soldering, but have plenty of experience soldering the most miniscule things, like circuit boards, surface mount components.  Guitar wiring is actually a comfortable step-up in size for me, and I enjoy soldering in that range of wire and component size.  I just think most people that can solder well don't understand little inventions, such as this, that would reduce wiring down to screw terminals, or eventually turn wiring into a modular swap-swap fiasco, which would cause more wiring problems down the road. I think this is a great thing for someone who is starting out new and wants to experiment or someone who absolutely can't solder.  Long story short those that solder may feel like this is no substitute for hard-wiring for a long-term installation, and soldering is tricky at first, but just give it a shot.  I just remembered an old invention by Sprauge that is a coil of wire coated with solder, which was meant to hold leads together long enough to verify connections work, then you just touch it will a soldering gun and yer done. I like the smell of flux in the morning too :icon_biggrin:

 

[nexrex]

My advice to people who struggle with soldering guitar electronics is this. Go to Radioshack, and buy yourself a few of those pre-fabricated electronics kit (listening device, electronic whistle etc). Basically, if you start out working on small pre fabricated PCB's, then stepping up to guitar wiring will be easy.

 

[hannaugh]

The crappy thing about doing my own wiring is when I'm trying to solder to the back of the pot and I can't get solder to stick to it, even after I've scratched the hell out of the pot with sandpaper.  So annoying!  If it wasn't for that part, I would probably enjoy it more. 

 

[JamesL]

Found mine at my local hardware store, for $38 aussie dollars

I was talking about the liberator haha, Ironically I was interested in looking into getting one of those!
Thanks!  :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

The crappy thing about doing my own wiring is when I'm trying to solder to the back of the pot and I can't get solder to stick to it, even after I've scratched the hell out of the pot with sandpaper.  So annoying!  If it wasn't for that part, I would probably enjoy it more. 

Not hot enough. Iron's too small. The pot's housing is acting like a heat sink for your soldering iron's tip.

 

[line6man]

The crappy thing about doing my own wiring is when I'm trying to solder to the back of the pot and I can't get solder to stick to it, even after I've scratched the hell out of the pot with sandpaper.  So annoying!  If it wasn't for that part, I would probably enjoy it more. 

Not hot enough. Iron's too small. The pot's housing is acting like a heat sink for your soldering iron's tip.

Exactly.

You need a hotter iron.

 

[hannaugh]

Lame.  It's a new iron too.  I guess I'll have to invest in a better one next time I build a guitar.

 

[nexrex]

"Strike while the iron is hot as they say".  Sounds like exactly the issue that Cagey mentioned

 

[Cagey]

Lame.  It's a new iron too.  I guess I'll have to invest in a better one next time I build a guitar.

Or, Don't solder to pots - Use solder lugs

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

With me, it ain't the heat.  I've used a gun and an iron.  The gun does it instantaneously.  I just can't solder to pots.

 

[Cagey]

I like that system, too.

 

[CrackedPepper]

Lame.  It's a new iron too.  I guess I'll have to invest in a better one next time I build a guitar.

I picked up one of these Xytronics Soldering Stations.

It's not outrageously expensive (you can certainly spend more) but it's well worth it, IMO, if you see yourself building more guitars.  It makes soldering a breeze.

 

[Klark]

..I found that those screw terminals hold better when you tin the tips of the wires with solder.

If you research the actual installation instructions provided by the various phoenix type connector manufacturers, you'll find they absolutely do NOT want solder on the wires.  I have my own ideas on what's better, but I tend to trust a corporate entity that's literally spent millions in R&D on which method is truly better.

I agree everyone should learn to solder, but there's nothing wrong with a terminal installation.  In fact, while most of you agree that soldering would be better (based purely on guitar normality), there's just as many field service techs that will tell how much easier and more reliable a terminal installation truly is.  Firing up a soldering iron during a set break totally sucks, but hot swapping a pot or switch via a phoenix type connector takes merely seconds.

 

[Firebird211]

..I found that those screw terminals hold better when you tin the tips of the wires with solder.

If you research the actual installation instructions provided by the various phoenix type connector manufacturers, you'll find they absolutely do NOT want solder on the wires.  I have my own ideas on what's better, but I tend to trust a corporate entity that's literally spent millions in R&D on which method is truly better.

I agree everyone should learn to solder, but there's nothing wrong with a terminal installation.  In fact, while most of you agree that soldering would be better (based purely on guitar normality), there's just as many field service techs that will tell how much easier and more reliable a terminal installation truly is.  Firing up a soldering iron during a set break totally sucks, but hot swapping a pot or switch via a phoenix type connector takes merely seconds.

I have had wires pop right back out on the phoenix connectors even after the screw was tight with minimal tension on the wire.  I have had to fix many that had frayed wires sticking out, on bad installs.  My boss tells me to tin the tips preferably, but maybe he is just wrong in having the same assumption as me.  I do it in situations where the wire isn't thick enough for the connector to grab it tight.

STDC has a really great system of grounding.  Mine is a little different, but simillar.  I use a piece of solid copper wire wrapped around one pot where it's securely held close to the copper tape shield. I then have that solid wire sweeping over the components where all ground wires can connect to the ground bus.  Checked with a ohm meter, I don't get a peep above 0.00 ohms on the meter between any ground connections.

 

[CrackedPepper]

Hi Firebird - can you please show a picture of that?  Thanks!

 

[tfarny]

More complication, more PCB, more expense, more things to go wrong, so that you don't have to solder to a volume pot? I don't get the appeal unless you really are new to electronics.

 

[Firebird211]

It's hard to see, but on this particular guitar the wire goes straight through the tape and the wire hole, and got soldered to the tape.  On a previous Strat build the wire goes south on the last pot, then it's bent around and locked between the nut, washers, and the copper tape.  It might not seem necessary to solder the wire to the tops of the switches, but I found no reliable continuity between the pot and the switch, as well as the solder points hold the wire tight and secure. The wire is actually the solid-copper, not copper-clad, center of some RG-6, I had laying around.  It keeps everything, nice and grounded as a copper wire that long has almost no DC resistance.

 

[jay4321]

Man I have no idea what's going on in that mess at all.

If I'm a happy 2- or 3-pickup + one volume + one tone sort of guy, should I just stop reading now? 

 

[Firebird211]

Lol, this one only has two pickups, two volumes, and a tone control.  The push-pulls are one phase switch, and the other set act like a series/parallel/coil selector, similar two a P-rails configuration.  The other one, my strat, has many more switches and wiring than that.  That's the good thing about the ground wire, wherever the wire is at whatever length it's easy to find a place to attach it to the ground bus without having to bunch everything in one spot.  In that picture it's easier to see the copper wire, but the spaghetti incident was still getting cleaned up right up to the point when it was completed.  Everything works like a champ. :laughing7:  I just offered up the picture for Cracked Pepper to see what I was talking about. I should probably show the completed picture, but you can't see too much of where the connections are going.