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I have seen the topic of fancy solder come up a few times recently, with some people enthusiastically recommending WBT silver solder (4%) and some strongly recommending against 4% silver solder, saying it doesn't flow well (these people usually admitted they hadn't tried WBT).
I decided to give it a shot, despite its ludicrous price (14$ for a little roll) I included a roll in my near-weekly order to Welborne Labs. Well, its price doesn't seem so ridiculous now... The solder has less flux than most, and the little roll seems to go a long way- I used a fairly small amount of the roll in my latest rebuild of the Bottlehead Foreplay preamplifier.The sonics are something I can't comment on- I changed a lot of things when updating the pre. But the usability is very good with this. It flows nicely and doesn't seem to have a problem with crystallization. It is as easy to use than Welborne labs silver solder (2% compared to WBTs 4%) and flows very well, better and faster than I expected, and I made no ugly joints. It really is very easy to control, moreso than the larger lead containing Welborne stuff, and comes on a nice little spool which keeps it from getting messy. So the working properties, overall, are excellent.
In short, this is highly recommended solder for those who are willing to shell out a bit, and have some experience with an iron (mine is an old ratshack 40 Watter and did fine, but an inexperienced solderer may wish to stick with a lower silver content to practice with). For most people, I'd recommend the much more affordable Welborne Labs silver solder, which is a wonderful solder, the best I've used (except WBT) but for terminal tweakitis, the WBT stuff is unbeatable.
But boy is it expensive for solder! WBT stuff in general has this problem, it's super good, but costs an arm and a leg. Ah well, enough solderspeak. Hope this helps somebody.
Follow Ups:
I have it from Physicist that silver solder has some big problems, especially in the long run. It seems that if you don't get a cold solder joint (need to tin leads before soldering), that the metal migrates and forms microdiodes and distortion problems in a few years. I was advised by the physicist never to use it, unless you want sonic deterioration and problems. Hope this helps.
steve
This is totally false.
Hi there,I've been using Welborne Labs 2% Silver Solder for about two years now and I LOVE it! I don't feel the need to use anything else. It flows so nicely and looks so beautiful and shiny once applied! In fact, I recenty I built some cables... I bought 18 feet (2 9 foot pairs) of Kimber 4VS Speaker Cable from Welborne and then got some Kimber Postmaster spades to go on the ends. The Kimber Postmasters came with Wonder Solder. (When I began this reply, I was thinking the Postmasters came with the WBT solder and was gonna disagree with you)...
Anyway, I have a 35-Watt Rat Shack Iron and normally always use the Welborne solder. The Postmasters came with the "Wonder Solder," so I thought I'd give it a try. Maybe it was the fact the the OFC copper leads of the 4VS needed to be "tinned" first with the solder, but I could barely get the stuff to flow. It may have been my fault due to the tinning issue, but the Wonder Solder (in this application) was a big headache! It took A LOT of heat to get it to flow and had to be reheated each time just to get it to set. I wished I had stuck with the Welborne Solder for this, but I didn't. I don't think I messed the Cables up or anything, but I feel it would have went off a lot smoother had I stuck with the Welborne Labs solder. It is really good stuff - and REALLY cheap too!
Like I said, it may have been my own fault `cause I didn't initially "tin" the copper leads. Toward the end though, I'm pretty sure I DID tin the leads and with similar results.What do you think? I've never tried the WBT Solder and maybe it's really great. Maybe I will give it a try someday. For now though, I really feel it would be tough to outdo the Welborne Labs stuff!
Thanks for listening,
Brian M
I found Parts Express has better price on WBT products than anywhere else I have seen.
zip-zap
Cardas also makes a nice working solder with very good sound quality.
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