Solderless solutions

[HarrySound]

EMG have nice solderless solution but if you want active pickups you a fool

Gibson apparently have a solderless solution that looks like this...

Last night I decide to give it a go.

It works really well but I wish PRS made a solderless solution. Isn't it about time they did?
My dream would able to buy any PRS pickup without a single worry about having to dismantle the guitar or solder and have the option to very easy reverse phase or change the configuration.

 

[Boogie]

Every interface point in a circuit adds resistance. It may be small, but in one of the most simple circuits, it's an impact. Unless it's a labor reduction measure for ultra-high production levels, I don't see a benefit to the end user. A soldering iron is not that tough to own and operate.

 

[rugerpc]

Going solderless might be useful for something like Chris' pup shootout where he was changing pups daily, but I'm with Boogie on this one.

 

[toothace]

^^^^ what they said

 

[kes7u]

A soldering iron is not that tough to own and operate.

Oh yeah? I changed out my pickups and the guitar no longer functioned (at least as an electric!) Required a trip to the PTC! Please don't speak to my incompetence!!

But I agree. I'd rather have the best quality sound from my guitars. I'll leave the simple work to the pros from now on!

Kevin

 

[drdoom8793]

Every interface point in a circuit adds resistance. It may be small, but in one of the most simple circuits, it's an impact. Unless it's a labor reduction measure for ultra-high production levels, I don't see a benefit to the end user. A soldering iron is not that tough to own and operate.

While I agree that I wouldn't want this due to the possible impact on the tone of the pickups, I would beg to differ about soldering irons. I've tried numerous times and I just suck at it. I let the professionals handle anything that requires soldering in my guitars.

 

[JustRob]

I did something like this with Strat pick guards wired in differ not configs. It was fun and easy to swap. But I used gold contacts. I have heard that Paul tried something similar and wasn't satisfied with how it changed the tone.

 

[Mixstar]

Soldering is easy but there are a few rules to follow:

1. Keep your sticky paws off the surfaces to be soldered.
2. Always tin the wire ends before you solder them.
3. Always scrape pot bodies that have wires attached with a sharp knife.
4. Always tin the surface to be soldered to.
5. Preparation, preparation preparation.
6. Make sure the iron you use has a large enough wattage rating for the job your doing.

etc . . .

Basically cleanliness is next to godliness in soldering terms.

I prefer soldered joints to dry connectors every time. They are mechanically better and if soldered properly won't alter your tone. There are billions of audio type devices be it guitars, amplifiers or whatever that are soldered. The thing is, once it's soldered you probably won't ever look at it again.

 

[Drew]

The Duncan Liberator pots are a good solution to those who just want to make quick pickup swaps.

 

[HarrySound]

All that being said I would be extremely interested to hear what yourselves or Paul would say if you/he was handed 2 guitars and asked what the difference was without saying a thing about the electronics inside.

The dream is to have spare parts ready to go if a switch or knob gets old or needs changing.
To have 5 different pickups on a shelf and thinking......."you know what I'm gonna go for a Tremonti and a 85/15 today" while re stringing your guitar would be amazing.

You would have ability to reinvent your guitar if and when you felt the need. Different tones can do wonders for inspiration.

 

[Drew]

All that being said I would be extremely interested to hear what yourselves or Paul would say if you/he was handed 2 guitars and asked what the difference was without saying a thing about the electronics inside.

The dream is to have spare parts ready to go if a switch or knob gets old or needs changing.
To have 5 different pickups on a shelf and thinking......."you know what I'm gonna go for a Tremonti and a 85/15 today" while re stringing your guitar would be amazing.

You would have ability to reinvent your guitar if and when you felt the need. Different tones can do wonders for inspiration.

No human being alive will hear the difference between soldered and mechanical connections. The reason mechanical connections have been slow to catch on is cost. Durability might be another concern. Vibrations won't cause a soldered connection to come apart but theoretically a mechanical connection could fail after a few thousand cycles of vibration.

 

[John Beef]

The only reason big G has gone solderless is because they can separate the skilled labor of soldering from the unskilled labor of assembling parts, thus saving a few dollars per instrument. They pay the solderers more and they solder all day making those PCB electronics layouts*. They pay a relatively unskilled assembler less $$ to snap parts together and twist in screws. It's the Henry Ford manufacturing model.

*On second thought, they probably have a robot that does that part of it, thus saving even more $$ per instrument.

 

[kawaivpc1]

Solder is indeed an old stuff...

EMG has proven that we don't need to use solder and soldering iron for installing pickups.
It's 100% possible to make pickups work without solders...
I hope more companies follow this route.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

while "ease of use" would be nice and make swapping pickups much easier, I'm with Boogie man on this. In general, the lower the signal level the more some small added resistance can be a negative, and in the chain of things this is a low level signal area.

I have a friend who plays PRS guitars with high end amps. He had his guitar rewired with 100% pure silver wire and swears it made them sound even better. I wouldn't want to add resistance anywhere inside the guitar.

 

[ozboy]

I am fairly certain the the resistance of solder is higher than the resistance of copper (I have done a lot of electric model plane racing) and as such if lowest resistance was your prime consideration solderless might be better.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Not to get far off topic, but I used to race R/C electric cars, and the top classes of guys never used connectors and would always solder their batteries direct and unsolder them to change batteries after every race. I never did that, I always used the good connectors, but the super serious guys ALL did it.

 

[pac90]

Soldering is easy but there are a few rules to follow:

1. Keep your sticky paws off the surfaces to be soldered.
2. Always tin the wire ends before you solder them.
3. Always scrape pot bodies that have wires attached with a sharp knife.
4. Always tin the surface to be soldered to.
5. Preparation, preparation preparation.
6. Make sure the iron you use has a large enough wattage rating for the job your doing.

etc . . .

Basically cleanliness is next to godliness in soldering terms.

I prefer soldered joints to dry connectors every time. They are mechanically better and if soldered properly won't alter your tone. There are billions of audio type devices be it guitars, amplifiers or whatever that are soldered. The thing is, once it's soldered you probably won't ever look at it again.

Ahh but you dont scrape the back of CTS pots prior to setting down some solder

Good cored flux 60/40 tin lead resin solder.......im still messy and enfant but until i got correct solder, was getting nowhere fast

 

[The Fight]

Even if PRS went to solderless connectors, I don't see my self swapping pickups out of the new models. But perhaps this is a good idea for some of my older models, would have saved me some time that's for sure.

 

[Kazz]

If you really like the idea of having a solderless setup, you can always modify it yourself (or have someone do it). One option is Mad Hatter Guitar Products; a small, local (to me) company sells kits you can use for $99 or less, depending on what you need, and it doesn't look too difficult to set up. They even have videos showing how to do it. Here's one of several they have up:

My guess is that soldered is going to sound a little "better", or more like what we're used to, but it's kinda' cool to be able to quickly try different things, to have switches that let you easily change between 250k and 500k pots, etc. and who knows, maybe I wouldn't hear the difference if I A/Bed the same guitar with solder and without, or maybe I'd even like it better without. Might give it a shot sometime and find out.

Here's one more video showing an example of creative wiring on a push/pull tone pot:

Edit: Looking back at the OP, I guess he already got what he needed, but maybe this is still worth checking out for another guitar or for someone else who's interested in solderless modding.

 

[Mixstar]

I am fairly certain the the resistance of solder is higher than the resistance of copper

Indeed it is but you have to take the tin in to account as well, the conductivity of silver is about 105%, copper 100%, tin 15% and lead is 7% - copper being the benchmark. Presumably the 'silver' wire is coated, it will have a copper core and I've used such wire when using a wire wrapping method which is THE BEST way of making electrical connections bar none but would be impracticable in guitar terms as special tools are required. Wire wrapped connections are actually more reliable than soldered connections because of the amount of contact the wire makes with the post. I hate this saying but "if it ain't broken don't fix it", I doubt the push on connectors would make a sound any different from soldered connections personally, it's purely a convenience thing as far as I can see.

My other question would be "how often do you need to de-solder and solder a pickup or a pot?". Two or three wires is five minutes tops unless you fall asleep half way through.