Soldering Iron

Wizard

I have decided it's time to replace my little soldering iron I bought in my youth.
Please recommend an appropriate replacement ... to be used for typical guitar stuff.

dee

I bought a little 30W at Builders Warehouse that works quite well. It came with the interchangeable flat and a sharp points. Can't remember the brand though.

Renesongs

After burning out many expensive soldering Irons I buy cheap disposable soldering Irons from OSMANS a thrift store at the bottom of Landsdowne Road. Their soldering Irons are typically under R10 each

Gearhead

Magnum 2002 soldering station: temperature controlled, can put different tips in.

The good thing about this is that you do not have to switch from your 15W soldering iron for the signal wires to the 40W for the shield earth. The separate soldering irons used to drive me mad until I discovered that a Magnum temperature controlled station is about as expensive as a single Weller iron.

IceCreamMan

haqving just gone thru this exercise high end soldering irons are damn expensive. unless you a serious hobbyist the el cheapo's should be good enough. I eventually bought a 40 w for about 120 from builders warehouse.

guitarboy2828

I have a magnum 2000 station.. I love that thing. My dad has so many irons as that is his business, so he gave me one. ? I hardly use it anymore because I don't have anywhere to set it all up, but spending the extra money on a nice station like a magnum is definitely worth i in my eyes!

AlanRatcliffe

Gearhead wrote: Magnum 2002 soldering station: temperature controlled, can put different tips in.

+1. R760 from Magnum: http://www.magnumproducts.co.za/price.html

For the occasional user, Rabtron have soldering stations for under R200.

chris77

I had an old one that I buggered up properly. The cheapest new ones I could find was also in the 100-150 region, which seemed a bit steep. Eventually I bought a dremel versatool thingy that works with butane. Costs a bit more, but you get a lot of different tips for soldering, crimping, cutting etc. It was a bit of an impulse buy, but not one that I regret.

nick

Yebo (www.fort777.co.za I think is their website) sell a temperature controlled soldering iron station for around R250. I bought one a while ago and its fairly decent, its not a Magnum but beats the pants off a generic one.

FenderBender

I have a Weller TCP-S station that I bought in 1990 for R400 that is still going strong. I would not like to know what they go for now.

Wizard

Bought an 18w Antex and stand from Yebo.
Will see how it works.

AlanRatcliffe

Perfect for contacts and wires, but will struggle to solder a wire on to the back of a pot.

Wizard

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Perfect for contacts and wires, but will struggle to solder a wire on to the back of a pot.

Good point.

So .... now I've also got a 100w Antex iron for the "heavy" jobs.
?

For reasons I don't really understand, I don't like the idea of soldering onto the back of pots.
It just somehow seems wrong.

For my strat I'm going to use Alan's alternate wiring approach, using a central earthing lug.
Just seems a lot neater, cleaner and well ... proper.

Gearhead

So how are you going to shield the insides of the pot properly, then? They do want to be earthed...

AlanRatcliffe

Gearhead wrote: So how are you going to shield the insides of the pot properly, then? They do want to be earthed...

The pot covers get their earth from the shielding.

Wizard

Discovered two useful soldering tricks:
a) A "magic hands" thing ... with magnifying glass, arms and crocodile clips for holding things in place
b) Suitably sized piece of MDF that can be put on the diningroom table & convert it into a workbench safe for soldering (and hidden behind couch afterwards)

Gearhead

Just now you're going to tell us you found an old sweater to be useful for covering guitar bodies while soldering on them, right? 8)

Wizard

Gearhead wrote: Just now you're going to tell us you found an old sweater to be useful for covering guitar bodies while soldering on them, right? 8)

Haven't needed to yet.
Working on the electronics connected to the pickguard separate from the guitar
?