You will need to remove some of the plating off the inside of the pickup cover by using an abrasive stone with a Dremel tool. Use a tip made of Green Silicon Carbide because it is good for metal, aluminum, brass and silver. You need to use a soldering iron with enough temperature to allow the solder to flow. The cover and bottom plate act as a heat sink and you may find it hard to solder.

Use a soldering iron and not a soldering gun that has a coil inside because it can demagnetize the magnet in the pickup. Use a rosin core solder and not acid core. I use Kester “44” Resin core solder with Sn60 alloy .062″ diameter. The soldering iron should be about 7-800 degrees and a good size tip.

I remember using a 120-Watt heavy duty soldering iron when doing seminars at Gibson. They work great for putting humbucking covers on and you don’t have to apply the heat to long. Also try using a solid core solder. It will not leave excess resin on the plate.

Facts on soldering:

Solders are tin-lead alloys. Some are a 50-50 alloy that is 50 percent tin and 50 percent lead. Tin is always the first figure mentioned and is the most commonly used. Tin melts at about 420 degrees F. What I use the most is the 60-40 alloy which is 60 percent tin. This is best suited for electrical work. A higher percent of tin will result in a lower melting temperature alloy. Solder is available is several forms such as Solid wire (you would use a paste rosin) acid core (stay away from this as it is mainly used for plumbing and it can corrode your parts) resin core (use 60-40 alloy as this is best for guitars) and solid bar form (this is not to practical and doesn’t work well except for making fishing sinkers).

All metals oxidize and the surfaces have to be cleaned before you can successfully solder. Flux is used to prevent further oxidation before you solder. The metal is heated to the soldering temperature and allows the solder to flow evenly. Do not blow on the solder to cool it down as they can become what is termed a cold solder joint. Cold solder joints can work for a while and oxidation can take place at a later date and eventually cause the joint to fail. Resin is a noncorrosive flux that works best with electrical contacts. I like using non-resin solders too especially when using it with pickup covers. And never use a gas torch to solder your pickups, as you will not have anything left inside!