I use regular, not large, needle nose pliers with rubber handles. Never gets hot to burn my hand like tweezers might.

Use leaded solder. I get mine at Radio Shack in about 1mm diameter, no affilliation. Radio shack carries the rosin core and you can buy it in small quantities for about five dollars.

When removing your old pup wires from the pots etc. you may encounter the problem that the solder will not melt. Repeat, the solder may not melt with your iron.

If this happens what I do is hold my low power pencil type iron on the solder for a few minutes until it finally melts, sometimes a little flus helps or rocking the side of the tip of the iron against the solder joint.

Why is this? Because the new manufacturing standards require that the big companies use the new lead free solder that melts at a higher temp. At first the assemblers in the other parts of the world didn't know how to effectively do a quality solder joint with the new hard to melt lead free solder and many problems ensued, such as cracked solder joints, especially noted on the Hot Rod Deluxe amps. I had mine resoldered by a pro tech under warranty shortly after I bought my HRDx. Very smart preventative measure. On that Kid's old Hot Rod Deluxe page which is still refered to extensively today he has pictures of burnt out PCBs because of the cracked solder joints from the early days when those assemblers didn't know how to handle the lead free solder. Ruined many an amp.

So, be patient and don't be surprised if you burn yourself with the iron. Also try not to let the hot side of the metal on the iron touch any surrounding wires or it will definitely melt the insulation off of them, I've done it. Try to move non target wires out of the way of where you are going to be working with the iron, gently of course. Remember where any wires you knock, break off came from and resolder them back in the same place.

Label wires if you need to with masking tape or something, this way you won't forget what goes where.

I sometimes even take a digital picture of the inside of the cavity with everything in place stock before I start modding. That way if I forget something I can go back to the photos and see where I may have gone wrong.

If you see a wire stripped bare about 3/4 inches long just laying against the wood under the bridge, this is normal and should remain this way. This is a common way of grounding the guitar but not a substitute for grounding your pups to the top of the pot where all the other grounds are.

It should be fun even though it sounds like a lot to it, it isn't.

We are just trying to share our past experiences with you so you are really ready for the job. I'm sure after reading all of our comments you are going to be completely prepared to do an acceptable, if not outstanding job.

When are you going to tackle the project?

Duffy