Soldering Ground to Trem Claw

[ghostrider25]

Can anyone give me tips on how to do this? I'm having trouble getting the solder to stick. Do I need to rough up the surface of the claw? If so, how? I read on another site that recommended using the iron to heat and deform a point on the claw and then solder but I can't seem to get it hot enough with my iron. The claw is basically a heatsink, lol.

 

[AutoBat]

Sanding it to rough it up will definitely help.
You can solder the wire to the hidden side for a cleaner look.
Otherwise you can service it while it's already on as well:

Another solution would be to drill a hole through the claw & use a grounding tab.  It's not common to find, but they're out there.

Another wiring tip: if everything looks right and you're having volume issues & odd hum there is an excellent chance that you've wired the tip & sleeve backwards on the output jack.

 

[ghostrider25]

Good ideas. Thanks for the help!

 

[Cagey]

You should also be aware that many hobby-type soldering irons are too small (25 watts or less) or have the wrong tip for making that kind of joint. You don't want a pointed tip; the claw will act like a heat sink and will never get hot enough to melt solder. It'll just ball up and roll off. Same thing will happen on pots. You need at least a 40 watt iron, and a chisel tip. Even then, it'll take some time to get the area hot enough to flow solder.

Or, as Autobat suggests, drilling a hole in the thing for a 6-32 x 1/4" nut/bolt combo and using a wiring lug/terminal is a good way to go otherwise. I do that more often than not, although I tap my holes rather than use a nut.

 

[anorakDan]

Would it work to slip that grounding tab over one of the mounting screws so it snugs up against the claw plate when they're tensioned?

 

[swarfrat]

My 50W Sparkfun iron was able to get hot enough to solder to the trem block when removed the springs and grounded my Wilkinson. I wasn't actually expecting it to work. I just took one of the spring holes, roughed it up to remove the black oxide, turned my iron ALL the way up, and jammed enough wire down there that even if I did end up with a cold solder joint, I hope to have enough mechanical joint to stay grounded and not come out.

 

[Cagey]

Would it work to slip that grounding tab over one of the mounting screws so it snugs up against the claw plate when they're tensioned?

You would think so. But, it invariably ends up being a pain in the shorts for one of two reasons. First, most of the time they give you countersinking wood screws to mount the claw. Why? Dunno. Stupid. They're the wrong thing. But, you end up with a conical shape to the backside of them that doesn't want to clamp down on the lug. The other thing is the lug wants to turn under screw rather than stand still and take it like stoic, so in the process of adjusting the claw to get your bridge where you want it, you end up work-hardening the ground wire and breaking it off the lug. That's NFG.

 

[dmraco]

I actually utilized one of the holes on the trem block.  I only use 3 springs, there are 6 holes.  I drilled and threaded a hole, put a tab on the ground wire and screwed it in with a lock washer.  No sodder required...except fo the tab.  You can just crimp those but I like to add a spot of sodder for extra contact and strength.

 

[Cagey]

I'm sure that worked fine as far as grounding things goes, but I'd be concerned about work-hardening the wire from flexing the vibrato. Eventually the thing is gonna break off, and I wouldn't expect it to take long. The claw doesn't move, so attaching the ground wire to that doesn't impact the wire.

 

[swarfrat]

For jeff beck, who doesnt really even need frets, perhaps.  Mine is now blocked, but when it was movable, i considered that for the ghost wires. They're stranded, as any wire that needs to flex should be. I just taped the wires in a bundle, then made as big a loop as i could fit  in the space i had,  so the loop can spread out any flexing it needs to do.

 

[Cagey]

That's the way to do it, but I'd still watch it. Copper is soft. It work hardens easily. But, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get what you want.

 

[Dan025]

You should also be aware that many hobby-type soldering irons are too small (25 watts or less) or have the wrong tip for making that kind of joint. You don't want a pointed tip; the claw will act like a heat sink and will never get hot enough to melt solder. It'll just ball up and roll off. Same thing will happen on pots. You need at least a 40 watt iron, and a chisel tip. Even then, it'll take some time to get the area hot enough to flow solder.

Or, as Autobat suggests, drilling a hole in the thing for a 6-32 x 1/4" nut/bolt combo and using a wiring lug/terminal is a good way to go otherwise. I do that more often than not, although I tap my holes rather than use a nut.

yeah seems the market was flooded with really crappy irons for a while. i had some irons that semed to have thermal runaway and would over heat and oxidize the solder meaning i needed a wet sponge to regulate things and keep the tip clean but they didn't have the watts to stay hot for thick wires or componant cases like pots or switches.

recently my dad took my great uncles equipment out of hiding and there is a 45w iron and 75w iron that are older than myself and very robust. they dont burn the solder that my cheap 25w iron did but have all the power to solder to pretty much whatever i need. the 45w iron has cleaned up my work significantly over the cheap ones that somehow manage to be both too hot and not hot enough at the same time... so lesson learned. buy antique tools, not tools from china.

 

[Updown]

I have the soldering iron already to go, then on the bottom side of the term claw (looks cleaner there)
Do a light nail punch (on the bottom) towards one side, (More heat needed in the middle)
Then I use a Dremel with a pointed stone bit and grind away (about half way though)
That heats it .... Don't touch it, it'll be HOT !!  :doh:

Then while that has heated the crap out of it, then solder the wire into the ground out bit.
Just makes it real easy to solder.  :icon_thumright: .... plus a little cleaner looking.

:dontknow:  I can't find my pic's I did.

 

[AutoBat]

Alternatively speaking, you could go with some active pups like EMGs and forgo all the bother with grounding the trem.  If I decide to switch pups in my VIP I'll have to solder it, but I'll cross that bridge if I get tired of the awesome sound they make currently.

 

[dmraco]

this was easy...and will never come off unless I want it to.

 

[swarfrat]

I like EMG's, and there dont seem to be a lot of people who do. But I wouldnt even think about sticking a battery in a guitar just to avoid a string ground.

 

[ghostrider25]

You should also be aware that many hobby-type soldering irons are too small (25 watts or less) or have the wrong tip for making that kind of joint. You don't want a pointed tip; the claw will act like a heat sink and will never get hot enough to melt solder. It'll just ball up and roll off. Same thing will happen on pots. You need at least a 40 watt iron, and a chisel tip. Even then, it'll take some time to get the area hot enough to flow solder.

Or, as Autobat suggests, drilling a hole in the thing for a 6-32 x 1/4" nut/bolt combo and using a wiring lug/terminal is a good way to go otherwise. I do that more often than not, although I tap my holes rather than use a nut.

I think the 25 watt iron was my biggest problem. I upgraded to a 40 watt and roughed up the surface last night. The solder flowed so much easier and the connection looks a lot better.

I plugged it in for the first time and tested the pups, switch, and knobs. Everything passes the tap test  :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

I'm glad that worked out for you.

 

[Johnfv]

+1 on more heat. I use an old school gun (75 watt) for tough areas like claws and even the back of pots. Adding a little extra flux (you can get it at the hardware store) can help the solder flow better.

 

[swarfrat]

I built an amp in college, and I star grounded literally EVERYTHING. I probably had 6 or 8 feet of wire, in more than a dozen pieces all radiating out from the grounding point, which was bolted to the aluminum chassis. My iron wouldn't touch it. The mega high power, but low thermal mass soldering gun I tried couldn't touch it. An old timer that was letting me use his shop had this ancient iron for stained glass windows. It probably wasn't more than 50w, but the tip was MASSIVE. THAT got the job done.