Solder Types

From detritu–(at)–x.netcom.com Tue Oct 31 14:27:59 CST 2000
From: Lord Valve
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.amps
Subject: Re: Solder types
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 12:09:45 -0700
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Xref: geraldo.cc.utexas.edu alt.guitar.amps:283595

Lord Valve Speaketh:

Oh, goody, a solder thread. I use Ersin Multicore Eutectic
(63/37) alloy. Plain old 60/40 is just as good, and it’s the
most common electrical type there is. Any solder used
for electronics must be the resin flux type; acid core
stuff will cause all kinds of problems. The trick in
soldering connectors is to use a powerful iron; low-
powered irons take so long to heat the metal parts
of the connectors that the insulation on the wires melts
before the joint gets hot enough to melt the solder.
I solder damn near every cable I make with a Weller
WP-100 100-watt iron, using an 800-degree tip.
A 60-watter would probably be just fine for most
signal cables; don’t try soldering any of that 12-gauge
“monster” type speaker cable with an iron that small,
though…there’s so much copper in that type of cable
that even a 100-watt iron is borderline. Some of the
audiophools are going to tell you to use silver solder…
the silver content in that alloy is usually less than 3%;
these types are referred to as “silver bearing” solders,
and no significant advantage is gained from using
them. “True” silver solder (silver content approaching
10%) requires the use of highly toxic, corrosive flux.
Don’t mess with it. Any good electronics type solder
>from Ersin or Kester will do the trick for you.

Lord Valve

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Big Mike wrote:

> I am going to be modifying and soldering some instrument cables to
> different lengths. I seemed to have read here once that you need a
> special soldering metal for music cables. If that’s correct what kind of
> solder metal is best? Thx, Big Mike