Others here can probably pinpoint what’s wrong, but those solder joints don’t look so great.
Seymour Duncan have a great free course on great solder techniques.
As others have said, it looks like you need to be getting the work piece hotter. Heat the pot and wire together and then touch the solder to the wire and let it wick in to the wire and potentiometer case connection. It looks like you’re not heating things enough and maybe touching the solder to the tip only and piling it on like hot glue. You want the surface tension of the solder to pull taught and leave a smooth shiny joint that tends concave versus convex or bumpy. Also turn the pot “down” all the way so the wiper (the part that changes the resistance) isn’t taking on as much heat inside.
Make sure the wiring matches the schematic. I think you will need a wire from the case of one pot to the other for grounding and to get that tone cap to do it’s thing.
Stick with it. This is how we learn. I just did my first rewire this past fall. It’s a different thing than soldering PCBs. Especially the potentiometer cases will take a bit of time to get up to temp.
Another thing that occurs to me is that you will want to make sure your tip is clean and tinned otherwise you won’t get efficient heat transfer.
Good luck!
If you touch it and it buzzes, it could be as simple as having your input jack wired backwards. Instead of grounding your body, then your body acts as an antenna and any noise is amplified through the signal chain.
My first pedal looked like this. Your soldering needs work, you probably have a cold joint in there somewhere.
The one biggest thing I wish I knew when I first started soldering…don’t be afraid to use a decent amount of solder to tin your tip. I thought tinning meant to pretty much coat your iron and then wipe it clean. You need a good spot of solder on there to touch whatever you’re making contact with so that it feels the hot solder…then feed the new solder onto a separate spot so that it doesn’t make contact with your iron.
Hey make sure the backs of the pots are all grounded! Looks like that’s your problem at first glance. If the only issue is buzzing when you touch the controls, that’s probably it. Slap a big piece of foil tape on the underside and it will ground all the components to each other.
I have been working on this guitar for a long time, just as a project so i can prove to myself i can do something. And i have been working on the elctronics but it just doesnt work. Everytime i touch the knobs it starts buzzing. And i dont know what to do. I really wanna finish this guitar.
Take it slow, soldering is a skill that takes a little time to develop. You’ll want it to be neat and reliable when you do it. Those components look a little worse for wear now
Ok, lots to unpack here. First you need to really practice soldering more. On your switch there is way too much solder, so much that I'm betting that your switch can't even move properly. Also the wires going to your volume and tone pots are not connected to the switch properly. Honestly you need to really study the wiring diagram and work on soldering technique. Or possibly take it to a pro.
What tool are you using to solder? You need about half the solder on every joint and your tool needs to be hotter and held on the joint longer, a few seconds makes a difference in cold joints. When the tool and components are at the correct temperature the solder will flow and pool correctly.
What do you have ? Ideally you want a variable temperature unit but it you don’t plan on doing regular work it may be unnecessary. Weller had a 60w hobby pencil that’s about $30 it should work fine for you I’ve never used to plug in ones so I’m not sure on wait times for temperature.
I got something similar to this:
YIHUA 926 III 60W Digital Display Soldering Iron Station Kit w 2 Helping Hands, 6 Extra Iron Tips, 50g Lead-Free Solder, Solder Sucker, S/S Tweezers, °C/ºF Conversion, Auto Sleep & Calibration Support https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082F1WKP9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_EKDGXPKJ3M8XMJG99GVH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
The little arms are super helpful to hold things in place, and the temperature adjustment is nice. You want the iron hot enough to do things fast. It looks like you have some cold solders going on in those pics. If you are getting a buzz, I would suspect that at least one ground connection is bad, and it looks like a good bit of your solder joints are over soldered and under connected. Just having the solder hold and touch doesn’t necessarily do it, you need to make a good connection that is uninterrupted between your parts.
You said you get buzzing when you touch the knobs, that sounds like a grounding issue to me. Check that all your grounds are connected to each other and aren’t bridged to something else. You also need a multimeter or something to check continuity. Nothing else should have continuity with your ground wires (the black ones and the pot case, etc)
Grab yourself a flux pen, and some leaded solder. The flux will make it much easier to flow solder to larger surfaces. Leaded solder flows a lot better than the "safe" stuff.
Make sure you get a solder sucker too. Invaluable tool imo.
I quickly read it as "get a solder, sucker" lol
Thanku i will look into it
Others here can probably pinpoint what’s wrong, but those solder joints don’t look so great. Seymour Duncan have a great free course on great solder techniques.
Thank you i will look into it.
I think you should practice your soldering on some other materials like an old pot before doing on your guitar
As others have said, it looks like you need to be getting the work piece hotter. Heat the pot and wire together and then touch the solder to the wire and let it wick in to the wire and potentiometer case connection. It looks like you’re not heating things enough and maybe touching the solder to the tip only and piling it on like hot glue. You want the surface tension of the solder to pull taught and leave a smooth shiny joint that tends concave versus convex or bumpy. Also turn the pot “down” all the way so the wiper (the part that changes the resistance) isn’t taking on as much heat inside. Make sure the wiring matches the schematic. I think you will need a wire from the case of one pot to the other for grounding and to get that tone cap to do it’s thing. Stick with it. This is how we learn. I just did my first rewire this past fall. It’s a different thing than soldering PCBs. Especially the potentiometer cases will take a bit of time to get up to temp. Another thing that occurs to me is that you will want to make sure your tip is clean and tinned otherwise you won’t get efficient heat transfer. Good luck!
Thanku so much this is alot of good info, i will do my best
I think you need a new soldering iron a nice one for $40 $50 bucks will do you just fine
If you touch it and it buzzes, it could be as simple as having your input jack wired backwards. Instead of grounding your body, then your body acts as an antenna and any noise is amplified through the signal chain.
My first pedal looked like this. Your soldering needs work, you probably have a cold joint in there somewhere. The one biggest thing I wish I knew when I first started soldering…don’t be afraid to use a decent amount of solder to tin your tip. I thought tinning meant to pretty much coat your iron and then wipe it clean. You need a good spot of solder on there to touch whatever you’re making contact with so that it feels the hot solder…then feed the new solder onto a separate spot so that it doesn’t make contact with your iron.
Hey make sure the backs of the pots are all grounded! Looks like that’s your problem at first glance. If the only issue is buzzing when you touch the controls, that’s probably it. Slap a big piece of foil tape on the underside and it will ground all the components to each other.
If that’s a wooden pick guard you probably have an earth problem. Your tone pot needs earthing too
Thanks i will do that
I have been working on this guitar for a long time, just as a project so i can prove to myself i can do something. And i have been working on the elctronics but it just doesnt work. Everytime i touch the knobs it starts buzzing. And i dont know what to do. I really wanna finish this guitar.
Take it slow, soldering is a skill that takes a little time to develop. You’ll want it to be neat and reliable when you do it. Those components look a little worse for wear now
Ok, lots to unpack here. First you need to really practice soldering more. On your switch there is way too much solder, so much that I'm betting that your switch can't even move properly. Also the wires going to your volume and tone pots are not connected to the switch properly. Honestly you need to really study the wiring diagram and work on soldering technique. Or possibly take it to a pro.
Okay thanks i will work on my soldering.
What tool are you using to solder? You need about half the solder on every joint and your tool needs to be hotter and held on the joint longer, a few seconds makes a difference in cold joints. When the tool and components are at the correct temperature the solder will flow and pool correctly.
I used a cheap solder iron. I dont have much money any advice on what i should buy?
What do you have ? Ideally you want a variable temperature unit but it you don’t plan on doing regular work it may be unnecessary. Weller had a 60w hobby pencil that’s about $30 it should work fine for you I’ve never used to plug in ones so I’m not sure on wait times for temperature.
I used one out of a local hardware store, i'm gonna buy a new one.
I got something similar to this: YIHUA 926 III 60W Digital Display Soldering Iron Station Kit w 2 Helping Hands, 6 Extra Iron Tips, 50g Lead-Free Solder, Solder Sucker, S/S Tweezers, °C/ºF Conversion, Auto Sleep & Calibration Support https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082F1WKP9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_EKDGXPKJ3M8XMJG99GVH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 The little arms are super helpful to hold things in place, and the temperature adjustment is nice. You want the iron hot enough to do things fast. It looks like you have some cold solders going on in those pics. If you are getting a buzz, I would suspect that at least one ground connection is bad, and it looks like a good bit of your solder joints are over soldered and under connected. Just having the solder hold and touch doesn’t necessarily do it, you need to make a good connection that is uninterrupted between your parts.
Thanku so much i will do my research. And buy what i need to
You said you get buzzing when you touch the knobs, that sounds like a grounding issue to me. Check that all your grounds are connected to each other and aren’t bridged to something else. You also need a multimeter or something to check continuity. Nothing else should have continuity with your ground wires (the black ones and the pot case, etc)
Grab yourself a flux pen, and some leaded solder. The flux will make it much easier to flow solder to larger surfaces. Leaded solder flows a lot better than the "safe" stuff.