Pickup Installation Issues

[marnold]

OK, I got my Area '61s yesterday and got them installed. While it is easier to work on a guitar with a pickguard, it is a million times harder to try to get it reassembled without pinching wires between the pickguard and body, etc. Anyway, I have two issues:

1) I removed the ground from the Floyd claw because they had it soldered to the middle hook which is stupid if I'd ever want to go down to three springs. The problem is that I can't solder the ground back on. I scuffed up the claw and cleaned it. Then I managed to get the ground to attach, but later I was able to pull it off without much force. Do I need to get a flux pen and flux the bejeezus out of it first?

2) When the ground was hooked up, I was getting this unusual hum. If I touched the bridge, strings, etc., the hum went away. To keep the leads from getting pinched on the body route from the middle and neck pickups, I taped them to the back of the humbucker. I doubt that could be causing the noise. There is also a slight bit of noise when I have the neck and middle pups selected. Not even touching the strings will make that go away. Thoughts?

The pickups are very quiet otherwise, even with lots of gain and the guitar facing my CRT. I didn't get a chance to play much last night, so the jury's out on the tone.

[marnold]

OK, so I answered my own questions. I cleaned the claw with rubbing alcohol again and used the 40W setting on my iron to heat the living daylights out of the claw. Since it's just a hunk of metal, nothing could be damaged. Now the ground is more firmly in place. Not only is the ground firmly in place but my humming problem is gone as well.

I think, however, that my switch has a short in it. Sometimes if I go to the second position (middle and bridge) the bridge won't kick in. A wiggle on the switch will take care of that. I think that's also a partial source of the noise.

[Tone2TheBone]

40watt setting on your iron??! Holy cow man you could have set yourself on fire! Next time buy one of those pen fluxes and just dab the area to solder to and use a low wattage soldering iron (not gun) heat up the area you want the solder to adhere to and the flux will start to run sorta then apply solder to the area and buildup the solder base until you have enough to attach wire to it. You don't need too much heat. Using rosin core solder helps too. No need to scratch or scuff any abrasions on the metal.

[marnold]

My iron is switchable 20W/40W. The 20W setting would have done the trick too, but I decided to cut right to the chase--especially since it's been so cold here lately (about -9F this morning). The solder I have is rosin core.

I forgot to mention that I successfully burned the back of my left index finger last night while trying to get that ground to stick. It's nothing major. I suppose I can't actually call myself a solderer if I never burned myself :)

[Spudman]

You need to get fluxed.


Sorry padre if that sounds obscene.

[Tone2TheBone]

Yeah Spud's right you still should flux your stuff with that nifty flux pen. That's the magic stuff man I'm tellin' you. Makes you solder like a pro without even trying and if you do things right your solder joints come out cherry father...I mean padre...I mean, ah you know what I mean Pastor Scary. :dude:

[mrmudcat]

Complete concurrence with above! Flux or go home:bravo:

[Plank_Spanker]

As my old MIL2000 soldering instructor would say in his fine Mississippi drawl - "Flux is yo friend!"

I won't solder a single joint without it.

Good to see you fixed your problems, Marnold. :AOK: