Which affordable, readily-available soldering iron for guitar/pedal stuff?

bbill335

I'm sick of paying people to do my soldering for me, I have a couple of test subject guitars ready to practice on but I'm kind of overwhelmed by the choice of irons at different price points, types of solder, desoldering methods, etc.

Which irons around the £50 are good enough to solder a ground wire to a pot? Links to amazon/argos/wherever would be appreciated!

Gagaryn

This - https://www.technologysupplies.co.uk/antex-soldering-iron-tcs-50w-230v-silicone-cable.html

I prefer to a solder station as it's easier to put away in a drawer - it's temperature controlled, it's Antex so tips are readily available and with the right tip you can easily solder on the back of pots - without them even feeling warm afterwards - makes soldering a doddle - I have a 6mm tip that will solder anything!

thermionic

That looks pretty good - a degree of temperature control for the price of a bog-standard Antex.

Maybe get a bigger bit for soldering the back of pots (bigger bit retains/transfers heat better) and keep the original bit for more intricate work.

bbill335

Gagaryn said:

This - https://www.technologysupplies.co.uk/antex-soldering-iron-tcs-50w-230v-silicone-cable.html

I prefer to a solder station as it's easier to put away in a drawer - it's temperature controlled, it's Antex so tips are readily available and with the right tip you can easily solder on the back of pots - without them even feeling warm afterwards - makes soldering a doddle - I have a 6mm tip that will solder anything!

Thank you so much. Do you think I'm likely to overheat a pot by using a bigger/flatter chisel tip? Is that the kind of tip you mean?

My first foray into soldering a couple years back was with a very cheap iron and all it managed to heat was my fingertip. 

Sporky

bbill335 said:

Thank you so much. Do you think I'm likely to overheat a pot by using a bigger/flatter chisel tip?

No - less likely. A big tip transfers energy faster so you get to the melting point of the solder sooner; the result is that the pot is hot for a shorter period. Less risk therefore of damage.

Gagaryn

Sporky said:

bbill335 said:

Thank you so much. Do you think I'm likely to overheat a pot by using a bigger/flatter chisel tip?

No - less likely. A big tip transfers energy faster so you get to the melting point of the solder sooner; the result is that the pot is hot for a shorter period. Less risk therefore of damage.

Exactly - with the 6mm tip you can solder a star ground bundle of wires to the back or side of a pot instantly without the casing heating up noticeably. Can even solder on hum bucker covers without issue. With a smaller tip it can't transfer enough heat to melt the solder but it will continue to transfer enough heat to potentially bugger the pot. The big tip isn't much use for finer work like components though but the standard tip that comes with that antex is a perfect size for most other guitar and amp related stuff I've found. A tiny tip comes in handy if you want to start doing pcb work like pedal kits or modern amps.. 

bbill335

Great, I think I'm gonna order a few bits tonight and just fuck about with my recently-acquired Vintage SG special coz I don't love the sound of it right now.

Thanks to everyone who popped in to help!  

Gagaryn

No worries - I used to struggle with soldering until I got one of these and now it's a doddle! It gave me loads of confidence so  now do all my own (and friends) guitar work, build pedals and even built an amp - this stuff is addictive!!

PS - get a 6mm and a 1mm and with the tip that comes with it you'll be covered for just about anything guitar related.

JMP220478

Any wirestripper advice for pickups  ? 

Sporky

For pickups I use a scalpel to remove the outer sheath and foil shield, then a pair of these (or very similar) to strip the inner insulation around each wire:

https://static.rapidonline.com/catalogueimages/Product/S86-0350P01WL.jpg

https://www.rapidonline.com/anvil-light-duty-wire-stripper-30555

I've got various wire strippers, each for different jobs, but for the teeny little wires in pickups I like these best.