Rickenbacker Solder: Leaded or Unleaded?

[scott_s]

I don't intend to spark a debate on RoHS, but I'm interested in playing around with the tone circuitry on my 2004 330, and I'm curious if Rickenbacker used lead-free or regular 60/40 solder that year. I've read that it's not good to mix the two.

Thanks,
- Scott

[cjj]

The main problems that come from mixing the two solder types occur in surface mount components on printed circuit boards, especially with BGAs (ball grid arrays - ICs that have numerous solder blobs on their underside that "flow" to attach to the board in an oven). Lead and lead free solders have significantly different temperature profiles and this can lead to various complications when using incompatible solder/processes.

For the type of wiring done in a guitar, wires to solder lugs, there really won't be any problems as long as your iron can get hot enough to melt the lead free solder. Once the two solders are completely melted, they will mix, making a new alloy that works just fine. You just won't be lead free any more, assuming you were before.

And when talking about lead free solder, there's no such thing as plain old lead free solder, there are a whole slew of different alloys, with different properties and melting profiles. There can be issues with mixing different lead free alloys too...

[scott_s]

Cool, thanks for the info. My 135-watt Weller should be up to the task. I'll use some of my 60/40 when necessary.

- Scott