Lesson Learned - 5/14/12

While resoldering a post on a saxophone today, I encountered a problem I've had several times before, but one that I still fail to acknowledge at times. The flange on the bottom of the post was slightly larger than the footprint left by the old solder joint. In other words, when the post was originally soldered in place, the manufacturer didn't quite fill the joint with solder. Doing so leaves a nicer looking joint because there's no visible solder around the edges. Unfortunately, that also means that when the instrument is lacquered, that space on the body around the edge of the flange gets covered in lacquer. Since solder won't flow on or adhere to lacquer, that created a problem when I tried to resolder the post. Solder wouldn't flow into the joint even when I got it hot enough and applied an ample amount of flux, because the lacquer around the edges of the joint was creating a barrier. Eventually I burned off enough of the lacquer with heat, and the solder was able to flow, but it created a god-awful mess of burnt lacquer and solder in places where I didn't want it. I should have stopped when I realized the lacquer was causing a problem and dealt with that before attempting to solder, but I acted foolishly and hastily - two adverbs that seem to always travel together. I need to be more conscious of that problem in the future, and create a path for the solder by buffing away a small amount of lacquer at the feed point. As it was, my hasty method ended up costing me extra time because I had to go back to wipe away excess solder and buff all the burnt lacquer away.