de-soldering a strat ouput jack

[BIGD]

okay, so you guys said soldering was easy. I'm trying to swap pickguards on 2 strats I have.

 

I can't for the life of me get the wires from the control jack to detach!! The ground wire in the trem cavity came off easily. I'm sure I've {censored}ed up the jack by now with how much heat I've applied, but what is the issue? I'm using a 40w weller iron.

[Bro Blue]

Go to Radio Shack and buy copper de-soldering braid. Lay it on the solder then place the iron on the copper. The copper braid will soak up the melted solder.

[smorgdonkey]

Sometimes people will 'tie' the wire to the contact first and then solder...one of the most popular ways is just to have a tight 'v' hook in the end of the wire and solder it after it had the leading edge fed through the hole in the contact.

[Wyatt]

Both these guys are probably right.

 

The wire has probably been twisted on.

 

So you need to desolder completely so you can just work with the bare-ish wire.

 

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[smorgdonkey]

I like that stuff better than the vacuum type solder suckers. I have one and can rarely get in just the right position to get any of the solder up so I end up just applying heat way too many times.

[megawzrd]

Biggest mistake for solder newbs is not tinning the tip. Google 'soldering iron tip tinning'

 

Even with de-soldering braid tip tinning is important. If the tip looks black or oxidized you'll have a hell of a time getting solder flowing.

[mike42]

Good argument for not doing the "mechanical joint" thing when you solder stuff up the first time. 40 years ago the Air Force taught us that you had to have a good "mechanical joint" before soldering. I think experience has subsequently shown that on 90% of solder joints, the solder alone will form a perfectly reliable joint without any twisting or bending of wires. Makes life a whole lot easier when you don't have to mess with something that's been all knotted together.

[Wyatt]

 

Good argument for not doing the "mechanical joint" thing when you solder stuff up the first time. 40 years ago the Air Force taught us that you had to have a good "mechanical joint" before soldering. I think experience has subsequently shown that on 90% of solder joints, the solder alone will form a perfectly reliable joint without any twisting or bending of wires. Makes life a whole lot easier when you don't have to mess with something that's been all knotted together.

 

 

Well, in all fairness to the Air Force, I prefer a Stratofortress it to be overbuilt compared to my Stratocaster.

 

But yes, and standard solder practice these days seems to be against the mechanical joint,

[DaleH]

Why do you want to just to swap a pickguard? You can do that without disconecting any wires on a strat.

 

Or you want to swap the entire assembly?

[DaleH]

You must have a dirty tip or something if your using a 40w iron. Should be plenty.

[Flatspotter]

 

But yes, and standard solder practice these days seems to be against the mechanical joint,

 

 

That's more of a cost thing. Making a solid mechanical joint takes longer, and time is money. A mechanical joint keeps the wire from moving while the solder cools. If the wire moves while the solder is cooling, it can cause a cold solder joint.

[Belva]

Biggest mistake for solder newbs is not tinning the tip. Google 'soldering iron tip tinning' Even with de-soldering braid tip tinning is important. If the tip looks black or oxidized you'll have a hell of a time getting solder flowing.

 

This times a bazillion.

 

How do I know?

[nighthawk15]

I must be old school (ironically considering I'm probably one of the youngest guys here) because I still do the mechanical connection. I just prefer knowing that even if I somehow make a for {censored} joint my connection will still be good. Desoldering is probably better, but something I've done before in a pinch is to just cut the wire off, strip and tin the end of the remaining wire, and bend it around the lug on the jack then solder it.

[ArpeggiateTHIS]

You shouldn't need to solder if you're only replacing the pickguard?

[Wyatt]

 

You shouldn't need to solder if you're only replacing the pickguard?

 

 

Depends on whether he's swapping loaded pickguards. The jack and the ground wire are the only things that have to be connected during installation.

[BIGD]

I'm swapping the entire assembly.

 

also, every time I applied heat, i tinned the tip. There still appears to be some solder on the jack, though.

 

I'm going to try the soldering braid, that's probably where the newb error is.

 

Thanks for your help.

[FXR]

Look up heat sinks and how to use them so you don't burn up jacks and components.

 

As for not de-soldering, I'd say it's a tool maintenance issue. 40 watts should melt the dam jack. I use 15 watts and think it's too hot.

[Metalrulez]

I will toss a couple more cents into the pot. As stated above the tip of the iron needs to be clean and shiny.Keep a sponge that is just damp at your soldering station if you see crap on the tip wipe it off on the sponge. If you are just wanting to remove the wires there is no need for solder wick/braid.Heat transfer is normally the problem if you just put the tip against a cold joint things can get over heated and still not come apart so,apply a little bit of solder to the tip of the iron what you are wanting to make is called a solder bridge that will have a wider area to transfer heat from the iron to the joint.YMMV

[milosch]

Get a new jack and toss the old one?

[BIGD]

Since you all cared so much, I had no issue desoldering the second jack in my project, so something is up with the first. So, I simply snipped the wires from the first jack so I could get the pickguard out, and everything worked out fine dropping it into the second guitar..until I put the Dimarzio Fast track 2 in and realize after soldering that the wiring is not the same as Seymour Duncan ( I lost the schematic), so I got nasty hum. I'll fix that tonight, looks like I have to swap the red and black wires. .

 

What I am doing is taking the pickguard assembly from my 1991 American Standard strat (S1 tone control) dropping it into a MIM body (lighter better sounding piece of wood), installing a fast track II in the bridge, and swapping necks.