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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on November 18, 2014 at 1:41am

Here's a tip that keeps the number of wires to the back of the pot at just one (technically). When making the lead for your jack ground, strip the end of the ground wire that will attach to the pot about 1" & tin (I believe this is your string/bridge ground wire). Then feed that end thru the ground lug of the pot (lug #1) and then bend the tip of wire so it curves and lays flat on the back of pre-tinned pot. (don't solder yet). Then attach the ground wire from the piezo to the #1 lug as well (only the lug). At this point you can solder the #1 lug. Then, strip & tin the "third" ground wire, and solder one end to the back of pot, along with the long tag you ran thru in the first step. The benefit of this is only needing to hold one wire while soldering the back of the pot. Then you can move on and do the jack + and piezo + to their respective lugs on the pot, and Bob's your uncle.

Don't forget to attach that first wire to your string/bridge contact. After all that, would be a shame to forget it.

Cheers.

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on November 18, 2014 at 3:07am

First, use some 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper to sand the back of the pot. This will remove any oils that might keep the solder from sticking.

Then I use tape to temporarily hold the wires in the spot that I want them. Then solder the wires. Then remove the tape. Voila!

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on November 18, 2014 at 3:38am

Huh. I just twist the wires together after tinning them, then run that through the lug, and solder that to the back of the pot. Seems to work, can't remember the last time I had a cold joint there.

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on November 20, 2014 at 3:58am

I would just like to add, you can either solder the wires together or separately. I've done both, and doesn't make any difference electronically.

A hotter iron (such as 30 watts) with a bigger tip will make this job easier, as the pot is big enough to suck up heat and create a cold solder joint. I've actually burned up pots trying to use a 20 watt iron.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Leslie/Runaway Veal Music on November 20, 2014 at 12:20pm

Thanks everyone. Hot glue is my friend...wew. Sanding the back helped. Very hard for me to get the solder to stick with an even coat...blobs worked and then I tested and used hot glue...good thing no one really sees the knob in the box

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on November 20, 2014 at 1:16pm

My technique is to sand the back of the pot, as already suggested. Then, smear some flux on the spot you just sanded. Just use a little teeny dab, you don't need much.

Make sure you have a beefy enough iron, again as already mentioned. Melt enough solder onto the tip of the iron until you have a blob of solder that is just about ready to drip off.

Very slowly touch just the bottom of the blob to the back of the pot, and just hold it there. As soon as the back of the pot is hot enough, the blob of solder will just flow off the tip of the iron and you should have a nice shiny solder joint.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Leslie/Runaway Veal Music on November 20, 2014 at 2:09pm

Thanks for this !

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