Super newbie wiring question

[AprioriMark]

So, I've never wired a guitar from scratch.  I've always had whomever was building it do it, or spliced existing wires when replacing pickups.  I'm trying to get my super-light P-bass up and running for tomorrow night's rehearsal before going out of town on gigs this weekend, and wiring the one P-bass pickup is stumping me.

Here's my dumb question:  How the expletive deleted do i solder to the back of the pots?  I honestly can't get anything to stick, let alone the 3 wires to one that they're suggesting.  Any advice would be much appreciated.

-Mark

 

[Mor Paul]

Steel wool it.

(nevermind, then)

 

[line6man]

You have to rough up the surface before anything will stick.
I usually use a dremel tool sanding bit to make clean box shaped areas that i solder to.
If you have a piece of fine sanding paper (I have even heard of some people using emory boards) you can scrape up the back of the pot so the solder will stick.

 

[line6man]

Steel wool it.

No!
You will get shavings in the pickup.
It can't be good if it gets inside the pot either.

 

[tfarny]

You don't have to solder to the back of the pots, by the way. You can screw an eyelet or something into the side of the body cavity and solder all the gounds to that. I'm going to go that rout on future builds - cleaner, no chance of ruining pots by overheating, simple ground path. See pic for one example.

 

[AprioriMark]

Hmm, thanks all.  I did try the dremmel thing, and it didn't seem to work.  I wonder if my ghetto soldering irons just isn't getting hot enough.  I loaned out my good one years ago, and well... you know how that goes.

I might try grounding it to a separate location idea. 

You guys rock!

-Mark

 

[Superlizard]

Hmm, thanks all.  I did try the dremmel thing, and it didn't seem to work.  I wonder if my ghetto soldering irons just isn't getting hot enough.  I loaned out my good one years ago, and well... you know how that goes.

I might try grounding it to a separate location idea. 

You guys rock!

-Mark

50W should cover it... just be quick about it so's not to overheat the pot.

 

[line6man]

Hmm, thanks all.  I did try the dremmel thing, and it didn't seem to work.  I wonder if my ghetto soldering irons just isn't getting hot enough.  I loaned out my good one years ago, and well... you know how that goes.

I might try grounding it to a separate location idea. 

You guys rock!

-Mark

50W should cover it... just be quick about it so's not to overheat the pot.

Better be quick indeed! I would not feel comfortable with that kind of power on small components.
If you get too hot, the plastic parts inside the pot can melt.
I use a 30 watt iron, and it does the job just fine.

 

[line6man]

You can ground everything to the output jack if your on a control plate.

If you are mounted on a pickguard, as long as you have proper shielding on the pickguard, you can use the same method..

Here is an example of one of my basses wiring with no pot grounds: (bad picture though)

 

[Superlizard]

Better be quick indeed!

That's the whole point with soldering (the actual process)... *quickly* heat, apply solder and release.  bing bam boom

I moved up to 50W back in the day for small stuff like geetars because I found myself
holding the 30W for far too long just to get the solder to melt when doing the ground to the back of the pots.

As well, one can always use tiny alligator clips as heat sinks if they fear overheating components.

 

[rockskate4x]

that's a great tip... I'll do that on my next build...

 

[AprioriMark]

Thanks for the help.  I'd only ever used my beastly soldering iron in the past (anyone else have nightmares about wiring TRS patch bays above your head while laying on your back under a desk?), and I was used to using it quickly and cleanly at high heat.  I bought a decent one and everything went together quickly, and the bass sounds awesome.

Again, thank you all for being so helpful!

-Mark

 

[dbw]

Pics please.  :rock-on:

 

[thumb55]

I swear!!! I cannot get anything to stick to the back of this EMG volume pot!!!!  I've dremeled it, I've bought a new soldering iron, and the stuff just pops off.  is there such a thing as bad solder?

 

[mayfly]

I swear!!! I cannot get anything to stick to the back of this EMG volume pot!!!!  I've dremeled it, I've bought a new soldering iron, and the stuff just pops off.  is there such a thing as bad solder?

One last thing to try - some additional flux.  It's possible that the solder you are using does not have enough flux in it to properly clean the area for the solder to stick.  Head on down to your local electronics store and get some rosin flux.  Kester makes some in a little pen-like applicator (well, ok, it's more of a magic marker).  Get that, give the back of your pot a swipe of that sweet smelling flux, heat it up, and touch your solder to it.  I bet it will stick then.

 

[bigdaddy]

It sounds kinda like a problem I had when I didn't know proper soldering technique. What is your technique here?

 

[big bob]

silverbering solder, ruff up the pot first with sand paper.

 

[Megabyte]

Conductive Epoxy  :hello2:
I know this is way late to respond, but I've had great luck with 60/40 lead solder and a big iron.  Lead-free solder seems to need more heat and a very clean surface, but with a dab of solder flux, lead-free or silver works good too.  But if ALL else fails, or you just don't want to heat up your pots, try conductive epoxy... great stuff but you only get one chance, if you change your mind after the epoxy sets, you will need to cut the wire and glue another spot.