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I've been soldering on my Tele. So far I've:
1. Added a Orange Drop
2. Added a 500 pot (it has a humbucker on the neck)
3. Switched the bridge pup to a GFS Fatbody

So far soldering is a real pain. Only parts that have been successfully soldered on are the Orange drop. I thought I had finished but:

First I get sound from the tone pot that I switched, but it fades away. Same thing happens to the bridge pup. Cold joint perhaps? I've only once soldered in my life, so all of this is new territory for me. I also switched the bridge to a Wilkinson compensated brass-thingy. The only good thing about it is that at least I've tried to do it myself (and thusly maybe one fine day find myself in MANLAND). So far I've found myself in blisterland of failure.

PLS HALP!

I found this nice and concise when I was in your position.... it seem to have helped me a little.

[youtube][/youtube]

I've also found tinning each wire / component before soldering helped.... is that standard practice too ??

I've found one of the hardest things about soldering is preparation... getting things into position and comfortably doing the delicate job. A third hand would help for sure !! The more you mess with it and the more fuss caused, the worse the joint I've found.

Do you have helping hands? I found that those really helped when I started soldering.

Also, the best advice for soldering is to be patient. Heat up the component part for a few seconds, then apply the solder to the component. Remember that you should never heat up the solder itself (I've learned the hard way by ruining a few soldering tips). When your component is hot enough, you can just touch it with the solder and it should cleanly melt around the components, making a strong bond.

If you're having trouble with your previous soldering job, I would try to remove as much solder as possible and try again. When you have "blobs" that are badly joined, current doesn't pass very well and you can have short circuits :)

And just keep doing it. I hated soldering for years before I started to like it. Try not to burn fingers, do clean work, and have a fan blowing the smoke away from brain.

Also I grind the plating from the pots and use lots of flux, my soldering is fair