SOLDERING: Can't "unsolder" a connection

[jimmijim]

tl;dr: My soldering iron won't unsolder connections and I don't know why. Even the technician at my local guitar shop had a struggle unsoldering the connections too. any ideas?

Hey all, so today in preparation for modding my newly acquired and already heavily modded "Kurt Jaguar Clone" (a recent name I've given to the guitar) I was spending some time looking at my old 3pu SG Special.
The special had been lightly modded with an extra pickup installed and a few pickup changes but nothing else really.
- Back to the jag -
My planes for this Jag involve adding a pickup cover to the neck, a new bone nut and eventually changing the finish on the guitar to make it slightly less "Cobainy" as I feel despite how much I like Nirvana there's enough wannabeKurts in the world today.
So leading up to this I decided to take out the middle pickup in my SG (stock Gibson) and remove the cover, I never really used the middle humbucker anyway so I'm sure I'll put it to good use in another guitar.


Backstory:
Now when it comes to guitar mods I'm very inexperienced. My modding skills so far only serve when I want to change the aesthetic in a "roadworn in a hurry" sort of way but I have done a bit of Soldering in an previous amp mod project.

While I was trying to remove the pickups I found that the soldering iron wouldn't heat up the solder on the pots enough to move the wires or anything. I tried putting some fresh solder on and soldering the tip, tried using different sides of the iron as well but nothing seemed to work.

I decided to take what was left of my guitar (body/neck and pickups) to a local guitar shop to get one of their tech's to have a quick look and offer their suggestion. Half an hour later the tech was having a go a removing the solder on the connection and was having a bit of difficulty; even with the soldering iron on maximum he still took a bit of time and effort and seemed to be struggling.

I took the guitar back home and tried to remove the solder from the pickup selector. With my soldering iron on the hottest setting, a solid half hour of work and trying everything I could think of I got nowhere and had to settle with snipping the wire at the connection to get somewhere.

This has raised a few questions.
1. Why was it so hard to remove the solder? Granted it is very old and the last time it would have been looked at may have been between 2011/2012 but for the technician to struggle as well seems weird for me as he would do this sort of thing every day.
2. What's the best way to tackle these stubborn connections
3. I have reason to believe my soldering iron may be failing me as I find it easier to get a hot connection using the side of the tip as opposed to the tip itself. Has anyone dealt with something similar and found a solution or is it best to get myself a better iron.

Also if anyone can set me on the right path to getting more sound knowledge covering guitar modifications/repairs/setups/etc. that would be great as its something I've wanted to get into ever since I picked up a guitar but I've found it hard to find the resources to learn.

[mackerelmint]

Sounds like the solder that was used to make the connections in the first place has a really high melting temperature and was put on with a really hot iron?

[HorseyBoy]

This is going to sound counterintuitive, but if you're faced with a stubborn old solder joint like that, try flowing a little new solder on top of it. That usually does the trick. Just make sure you have your solder sucker handy when you do it.

[countertext]

Also, while unlikely in most cases, I've come across joints where the wires were inserted through contact holes and twisted back around themselves, making them nearly impossible to pull out regardless of solder condition.

[julius2790]

Yes try applying more solder and sucking it off with the solder sucker. You might also be able to use a braid to remove the solder. Good luck!

[eggwheat]

how many watts is your iron?

[spacecadet]

More than likely the problem is a soldering iron that won't get hot enough and/or a tip that won't heat up. You could try a better tip, but most likely you just need a better soldering iron/station.

You can actually find cheap Chinese ones that do the trick; you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars. The Chinese ones are usually clones of the popular professional level models; they're not usually built as well but they work more or less the same (assuming they're safe, and you do need to be careful of that). I have this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MC ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've never found anything that I need a hotter iron for; I usually keep it turned down to around 1/3 power. That said, you could just go straight to an 80 watt model if you want to be safe.

[fat finger]

That sounds like lead free high temp solder to me.

I tried using that stuff and it sucks even with a nice thermostatic Hakko soldering iron turned up to the max.

At some point (pretty quickly) your time becomes more valuable than a new pot.

I would buy new pot(s), some suitable wire and a little heat shrink tube to get it done and looking pro.

[Peckhammer]

At some point (pretty quickly) your time becomes more valuable than a new pot. I would buy new pot(s), some suitable wire and a little heat shrink tube to get it done and looking pro.

+1. Great advice.

You can ruin an iron by letting leaving it on for extended periods and not having tinned the tip. If you can replace the tip, that's a good place to start. I have struggled removing wires in two recent MIM Fenders that I worked on. I turned the iron up to 750 degrees and that did the trick, but that puts the pot at risk of being damaged. Pots are $3 each, so why not just make life easy and start fresh.

[Embenny]

At some point (pretty quickly) your time becomes more valuable than a new pot. I would buy new pot(s), some suitable wire and a little heat shrink tube to get it done and looking pro.

+1. Great advice.

You can ruin an iron by letting leaving it on for extended periods and not having tinned the tip. If you can replace the tip, that's a good place to start. I have struggled removing wires in two recent MIM Fenders that I worked on. I turned the iron up to 750 degrees and that did the trick, but that puts the pot at risk of being damaged. Pots are $3 each, so why not just make life easy and start fresh.

This.

There are many possibilities; high temperature solder, a bad tip, a weak iron, improper contact between iron and solder (e.g. an irregular/weird shape of solder and a narrow soldering tip that isn't touching enough). The pot casing is also absorbing heat; by the time you get the solder off, the pot can sometimes be ruined by the heat, not to mention any resisors or capacitors connected to it.

[michaeltullo]

That sounds like lead free high temp solder to me.

I tried using that stuff and it sucks even with a nice thermostatic Hakko soldering iron turned up to the max.

I agree, sounds like silver based solder, which is terrible because of it extremely high melting point. You'll likely have a hard time reusing the silver-tinned solder points with lead based solder. I'd recommend getting yourself new pots and anything else already tinned with the silver-based stuff that you were planning on reusing to save yourself any more aggravation.

[vortexx]

If you had the iron on the pot for too long, you likely melted the interior. For soldering and desoldering the back of pots I use a high end soldering gun at the highest temperature so that it will melt the solder fast. The problem with soldering the back of pots is that the pots act act as a heat sink and draw away much of the heat from your gun. With a good gun you'll also notice that your soldering work will get extremely neat and look professional. It's a great investment.