Basic Guitar Soldering. Sharpen My Axe

#knowyourgear #sharpenmyaxe #mcknightrepair

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Soldering tools to check out

The Snark tuner I'm using in this video
Radius Gauge with slots
Fret Rocker
Precision Notched Straightedge
The Music Nomad gauge I use
Digital Caliper
Digital Multimeter
Clip On Tuner in this video
My Favorite set up tools
Helping Hands
Here are some other products from a dealer I trust and buy from online

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[j.d.schultzsr.]

I've been soldering for over 60 years, but Phil still showed me something new.

[WebbChannel]

HELPFUL SUGGESTION - Drill 2 holes at opposite ends into the HELPING HANDS base and then SCREW-IN the helping hands base to a 4X4 block of wood. Gives MUCH BETTER STABILITY and use of the Helping Hands. BTW - I bought mine at Harbor Freight Tools as well and it works great especially with the wooden block of wood base!!

[gdaddychuck]

Im 56 never soldered a dam thing in my life. You have helped me more than you know!

[MikeB-ngol]

I've been soldering to class 3 Jstandard for years as my occupation, and always take for granted that most people don't have that experience. There are some useful parts like selecting what tip to use, and controlling the contact time with tip selection. If I want to get heat on the part fast I'll use a larger flat tip, and I can turn down the heat a little as well because the surface area is larger. A lot of terminals I would wrap and solder I'll only use 780 degrees Fahrenheit and be on the turret for like 2 seconds. Solder size plays a role in that as well... Another tip is if you are trying to remove a soldered part and the solder doesn't seem to be melting, instead of risking component damage by holding the iron on longer, add solder to the connection. Doing that will melt the surrounding solder and you can wick it off later.

[neonlights_]

Huh, I've been holding it wrong this whole time. I just figured when they said "soldering is the most painful part of fixing a guitar" They were giving me a warning

[phreak]

Soldering is my weakness. This is helpful. Thanks!

[isaacjohnson.]

So exciting-this was great! I am excited to see a whole series of this type of in depth tech tip video. Really well done. I'd love to see vids on Fixing a nut/replacing a nut, replacing pots, standard rewiring, different rewiring options, adjusting truss rod with what it should look like what is too tight or too loose, dealing with fret buzz/adjusting action, changing pickups, adding covers to uncovered pickups, setting pickup height, common issues-slight hum might need to fix ground wire etc., swapping necks on strat, adding capacitor for treble bleed, on and on.

[amensanghera]

Thanks for the tips Phil! Managed to solder my first ever input jack!

[chrisofnottingham]

I'm still laughing at the thumbnail :-)

[daedalusjones]

So I guess I need a soldering iron. And I think "Damn it. Phillip McKnight mentioned on one of his videos which soldering iron to get -- but what are the chances of ever finding that video, and that content about the soldering iron again???

But just for the hell of it, I google "Phillip McKnight soldering iron."
And I get taken directly to this video.
Incredible.

Phillip, I'm a professional technical writer. I write operations manuals, training manuals, etc. and I build help sites. I just built a help site for NYS government.

And this is the essence of technical writing -- this is exactly what you want:
to type in a few search words for your issue, and be looking at the answer in (my own rule) fewer than three clicks from the splash page of the manual or help system.

I got to your video in just two clicks.
That's some pretty good organization, some pretty good SEO (search engine optimization) on YOUR part. Kudos to you. And thanks for the info about the soldering iron.

[barbmelle]

From Leo: Good tips. Been soldering as a tech on and off since the mid 1960's. I do not like breathing the smoke and fumes. Most of the smoke from rosin core electronic solder is the rosin flux, it is not vaporized lead. The soldering iron cannot get hot enough to really vaporize lead. A bigger concern is the smoke from any melting insulation. Burning plastic insulation is VERY toxic. This caused OSHA to make some pretty elaborate ventilation mandates for commercial soldering in the 1970's

[benjaminaustnesnarum]

Solder moves in the direction of heat, which is why you may often struggle to get the solder onto whatever you're trying to bond it with. What Phillip shows at 8:23 will greatly help to get a good connection. Tin your connection, and your wires beforehand and you'll have a far easier time. The longer you heat components, the greater the risk of damaging it; especially if you're soldering caps or circuitry.

[wesleymorris]

Always make sure your tip of your iron in tinned also, I always do it makes it easier.

[oldguysguitarvlog]

Great vid!!

I would highly recommend practicing with extra wiring before trying it out on an actual guitar part. Phil makes it look very easy, but it does take some practice. You can also skip a step and not tin the eyelet if you want. You can thread the wire through the eye, fold it so it stays in place, then solder it together.

One thing he didn't really mention is a "cold" joint when you solder. When your solder joint is done properly, it is shiny and silver looking. If the solder joint looks dull and dark greyish, it is a "cold" joint and needs to be redone to assure that it conducts properly.

I also personally prefer to "tin" the end of the soldering iron right before I used it and also again after. This assures that heat transfers evenly when you're working.

[chrissoares]

Phil can you do one of these on truss rod adjustment. Whenever I adjust mine I'm caught in this zone of, am I going to break it or is it even doing anything. Maybe cover dual action truss rods, what to do if the truss rod is stuck and won't turn.

[scillyautomatic]

Had to click just because of the THUMBNAIL! Priceless! Score!

[kevintrick]

Phil what I do is examine the wire then cut the jack off behind any damaged wire, this leaves a small amount of the wire jacket on the jack usually about 1/8 of an inch. 2 reasons #1 when you put the new jack on you can refer back to the old jack to make sure it is right the first time #2 might be more of an opinion but when you desolder you are introducing heat unnecessarily into the wire you are going to reuse

[Sentient]

Really enjoying your Tech Tip vids. Would love to see you do one specifically showing you removing an old pickup and installing a new one.

[kahwigulum]

Thanks for this. Borrowed a buddies soldering iron and rewired my output jack with this video. Had never done anything like that before. Saved me a trip, time, and money by not having to take the axe to the shop, so thanks for that.

[moparbryan]

A small dab of solder on the iron will protect the tip of the iron and greatly increase heat transfer reducing the amount of time you have to hold the iron onto the part. I always solder on my guitar projects at a 750 deg high heat actually helps you spend less time on the part without cold solder joints. A good rule of thumb is most solder joints shouldn’t take more than a “two thousand count”