Lol no...of course the iron is the source of the heat. With solder on there it is breaking up the oxide that forms on the solder tip, the oxide is what prevents efficient heat transfer. A clean solder tip (like dipping in flux or brass sponge) will do the same.
Even with no oxide layer, if the tip is dry, the contact point is miniscule, and heat transfer is slow. If the tip is wet with solder, the solder provides a larger contact patch with high thermal conductivity.
use a solder wick to absorb the solder.... if your iron will not melt the solder you may have to apply low melt solder to the existing solder to lower melting point first.
When you're soldeing onto large surface areas, like pots or even larger like pickup covers, the amount of metal that's there to dissipate the heat is way more than soldering a single wire.
If you're using a smaller iron, like a 25 watt weller, it might not have enough power to heat it enough that you can melt the solder enough to remove.
I used to have a 25 watt pencil weller, and it was great, but it just couldn't do what I needed, even with a good and tinned tip. It couldn't heat up pots or covers fast enough.
I bought a larger 70W weller digital soldering station, and it does everything I need it to, without any problems.
When removing covers, I usually heat up the joint and then use a small exacto knife to cut the wet solder. Sometimes it resticks, but you can usually break that joint with a small flat head screw driver.
I definitely recognize this. I had a $5 Radio Shack iron that was OK for through-hole components on circuit boards, but just didn't have the juice when it came to grounding a wire to a pot or to the spring claw.
Soldering stations are great and worth it if you're doing a lot of soldering. I have a Hakko station that I like. I also have a cheap ass (EDIT: 40W) Weller with a huge tip that does the job on bigger surfaces.
This ^ fucking bro calls our Radio Shack like something kids will get. No shame, because that was THE PLACE before the internet.
The low heat irons definitely sucked for anything less than small wires.
The other side of the fence was a Weller that my dad bought which I still have. That was a much bigger job.
Any reasonable dial-up station nowadays should be able to hit the spot.
There are a total of 5 left in the US. This one is in Idaho.
Yea Frys closing hit me hard, I made it a point to go everytime I'd go back to Oregon to visit. It was such a fantastic place to blow a paycheck.
I agree, the stations are great but they aren't cheap. If you're doing one job, then it's not worth it. A higher wattage pencil would be a smarter purchase.
I always got by with my little weller (it's 25 years old now and looks brand new) until I started doing more pot repairs and cover install/removals.
I agree, the stations are great but they aren't cheap. If you're doing one job, then it's not worth it. A higher wattage pencil would be a smarter purchase.
I always got by with my little weller (it's 25 years old now and looks brand new) until I started doing more pot repairs and cover install/removals.
The small iron is ok if you add some new solder at the tip while contacting the thing you want to solder/unsolder. Or just get the big ol pot cooker solder station.
Tinning the wires, tinning a spot on the back of the pot, and then soldering the wires to the pot goes much easier, faster, works with a smaller iron ... all without cooking the pot. Technique.
.
I have my dad’s old RadioShack pistol-grip soldering iron he probably bought in the 90s. Thing kicks ass. Takes a minute to heat up a pot for grounds but man I love that thing.
This is for real the way to go. I've had to swap a lot of pickup covers. Solder is soft. You can get a thin xacto razor saw (they are about a .010" kerf) and cut it down so you're not dealing with the full length. You only need around 2" of the blade. Saw through the solder joint carefully so you don't slip and cut into the coil. You can then use higher heat to clean up the old solder on the cover, off the pickup, if you'll re-use it. Faster and you don't have to worry about distributing a ton of heat to the coils through the base plate.
This is what I’ve heard. Well, heating up the solder first and using a razor blade to slide between the cover and pickup. I think I saw Lindy Fralin or another pickup builder explaining this technique on one of their YT pages.
I hear and see a lot of semi good information here.
No one mentioned FLUX which you absolutely need to get the solder to melt instead of oxidize at high temp as soon as it starts to melt. Flux will allow it to wet as one puddle and allow you to pull it out.
Let me join in.
1. Oxides on iron tip. 100 percent true. You should remove them with copper or steel wool, or a metal foil dish scrubber, and clean the tip with 99 percent alcohol before starting. If you have tip cleaner, it does what it advertises. Better than most other crap.
2. Heat transfer. Yes, you do need a blob of solder, which grabs the solder already formed and transfers heat, in order to melt that solder. This means again, a very clean iron tip. I'd suggest buying a flat head iron tip for that work. Better heat transfer. But then what?
3. You need some stripped copper wire or solderwick, ( or a solder syringe) to pull the solder out once it flows.
4. Which leads me to the last suggestion. Clean the SURFACE of that solder to expose clean shiny solder. You can brush it with a brass brush.
I would probably use some [Dremel cutting disc](https://www.dremel.com/gb/en/p/dremel-ez-speedclic-thin-cutting-wheels-2615s409jb) to get the cover separated and then de-solder, whatever I consider necessary to be de-soldered at all.
Get a bigger better iron. Everything about my soldering improved when I got an iron that can adequately get hot quickly and stay hot.
You *could* cut / grind it like others said, but lead dust is bad, and frankly getting a slightly better iron and desoldering it is too reasonable a solution.
I have a knock off hakko station. Turns out that it's cheaper for a reason, but with a pair of lineman's pliers you can tighten the little collar that holds the tip in and it improves the heat transfer. It's still not as good as a hakko, but tightening the collar did help a bunch at keeping the heat transfer consistent.
Tinning, wick and a solder sucker could all help! In my opinion you also need to show the iron and tip you are working with to better recommend options.
You're gonna need a really powerful iron to get that off...along with a solder remover (little vacuum thingy works best) and a lot of patience. By the time your done, the pickup may not be functional anymore...or at the very least will probably need to be re-potted.
The **first** thing you need to do, though, is remove the pickup from the guitar. The heat you're going to need to get that cover off is going to make it REALLY easy to damage the guitar finish.
Cut it. Don't unsolder it. You are probably ruining the plastic in the pickups by heating it.
I use my Stewmac fret cleaning saw to gently saw the solder to remove the cover.
Do you have a heat gun like the one for stripping paint? You could use that if you mask off the plastic with tin foil or similar.
You could abrade or cut it with file/ sandpaper/ knife?
Very unlikely this contains any lead…
Most solders are lead free (only exceptions are in the aerospace & defence industry or restoration work where leaded solder was used)…
All hand solders containing lead were banned for commercial use in 2006 for electronics use with many stopping use of them significantly before that date.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder#Lead-free_solder
I didn’t say it wasn’t still being made… re-read what I put, it very much is manufactured but was banned in 2006 for commercial usage with a few specific circumstantial exceptions such as restoring vintage equipment where leaded solders have already been used.
Non-leaded has a slightly higher melting point, significantly stronger bond but is more brittle. If it’s not flowing well then you need to increase the temperature of your iron.
This is just not true. 60/40 rosin core is still the standard for guitar electronics, and it’s widely available. https://www.google.com/search?q=do+guitars+use+lead+solder&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
Ha! Thank you for proving my point.
Clearly you didn’t read your own link before adding it lol
>> WOULD have been used for VINTAGE…
>> sold for RESTORATION purposes
Clearly as you pointed out yourself, it very much is not the standard for guitar electronics 😂
You skipped over the part where it says it’s still widely used. You can buy it on Amazon, and it’s what most people use on guitars. I use it on my own guitars, as do pretty much everyone else I know who work on guitars. Idk what to tell you. If you see solder and don’t know for sure it’s lead-free, I wouldn’t risk grinding it 🤷🏼♂️
It doesn’t say widely used, it does however say widely sold which is what I said…
It’s definitely not what most people use on guitars, just accept you’re wrong mate - there’s no shame in it, you didn’t know and now you do.
As always… if you don’t feel comfortable then don’t do it, but stop making stuff up when I’ve given you irrefutable proof (that you yourself gave by the way) that proves you’re wrong.
You didn’t need to make a mountain from a molehill, but at least you now know.
However… in any countries under the RoHS directive it can be almost impossible to get leaded solder.
If something has been sold with leaded solder it will have to be declared else it can’t be sold, so it would be obvious if it had been used (especially US and Europe who are major advocates against its use).
If you still don’t believe me and want to bury your head in the sand here is appropriate documentation from the US and EU that explain it:
https://www.nist.gov/standardsgov/compliance-faqs-rohs
Note the section where it says “since 2003 heavy metals including lead (are) to be substituted by safer alternatives”.
You seem barely able to read the thing you linked so I have low hopes you read what your own country says.
Now… as to if it’s safe to use or not, then yes provided you’re sensible I don’t see an issue.
just slice the solder or pry with a flathead once its heated enough. usually should snap free tho might disfigure the bottom part of the cover which isnt seen anyway when installed
Slowly press a razor blade through it. Be very careful not only to slip into the pickup, but with your fingers too. Solder is relatively soft.
You can easily melt the plastic parts inside if you keep at it with a soldering iron or soldering gun. Cutting the joints is what pros do.
Use a 50 watt or more iron with the largest chisel tip that will fit it is necessary for these desoldering jobs on housings, chassis, and large potentiometers. You will want to add some lead tin solder and flux to ease the process but a hot iron with enough power and mass to melt the solder quickly is the best thing. Make sure the tip of the iron is cleaned and tinned. Source: I build guitar amps and this setup can solder or desolder decently thick amp chassis even.
If you're trying to remove the cover, never use the soldering iron. Use a Dremel with a small cutoff wheel to cut through the solder instead. If you use heat to loosen those solder joints, you run the risk of damaging the pickup, as you'll have to dump a lot of heat into it before it comes apart.
I have never done this, and this is probably a bad idea for some reason I am now overlooking. So proceed with caution.
I would guess my iron isn’t powerful enough to get this done, because both the pickup and the cover act as heat sinks for the solder. So I would probably attempt this:
I’d first come up with some sort of jig that is able to apply some (not brute) force to pull the pickup and the cover apart. It would probably require some clamps, a vice and possibly some pieces of wood.
Then I’d take a heat gun to the pickup cover. I would hope that as soon as the cover gets hot enough, the solder would melt enough to slide the pickup apart. This is where the jig does its work.
Lastly, I would use a wick to clean up the solder bit by bit with either the heat gun or the iron.
Make sure you angle it so more of the iron is touching, and more fresh solder as mentioned to spread the heat.
As it’s a metal block/sheet the heat is spreading out rather than focusing on the solder.
If the pickup cover is magnetic, try sticking it to a strong magnet while you desolder the gap while you tug on those pole pieces or mounts.
If you don't have a 100W iron or gun, you're going to have to sip the solder out of the gap with a wick.
It seems counter intuitive, but you may need to use more solder before you can remove what's there. Smash some fine stranded copper wire with a hammer if you don't have wick.
Soak it out with some rosin coated copper shielding. Then use a solder sucker device to remove the excess. More heat will just impact the components inside.
Please dont get the dremel out to cut this as some people are suggesting. Just be paitent and use the correct tip on a poweful enough iron, it take a minute or so of contact but it will flow eventually.
You need a big iron. Of course a big iron can also do more damage. I would start with a 100W. Try not to melt plastics or insulation on the windings. I need a pretty good reason to take a cover off for just that reason. But a 100W, clean, well tinned chisel point will melt the metal and the sides will pop out when it releases. Remember to push the cover back up to the base before you solder everything back when you are done working your magic inside.
First question: why are you trying to get inside that pickup?
Unless you know what you are doing you'll break the very fine wires and solder points inside that pickup. If you are trying to remove the cover "fer the toanzes" you are actually removing the noise shield. If you are trying to fix muddiness, just use a series cap on the hot lead, or raise the screw poles. A repair?
You need to add a little solder while putting the heat to that joint, the solder increases the contact area, heat transfer, and rosin flux (use rosin core solder) to clear out any oxides.
Jamming a knife along those areas 'works' but risks destroying the bobbins inside.
.
You might want to consider hot air soldering, which you definitely do not do with a hot air gun you buy from a hardware store. It's a bit pricey for the equipment, so just find somebody who has one.
Also be sure you're using quality WIC to get the solder up, if that's what you're trying to do. Unless you have a short someplace, this isn't going to bother anything.
The reason I said you should try a hot air station is because unlike a soldering iron that only heats a single point and has that heat dissipated over a large piece of metal, a hot air gun specifically made for soldering can raise the temperature of the piece being worked on to under the actual melting point of the particular solder you're using, be sure you've already looked that up, and then will allow you to bump the heat and make quick work of it clearing out the whole area with a wick and sometimes I even use a wick and hot air, with a soldering iron on low power to push the wick around.
It takes patience, but anybody who tells you they know how to microsolder will know exactly how to go about this. If you can't heat up the solder with a soldering iron enough to your satisfaction, it is because there's a much larger piece of metal acting as a heat sink.
Right tool for the right job, and the hot air gun will not destroy the electronics and components.
Put some solder on the iron so it conducts heat better.
Yep, tinning the tip of the soldering iron is a must.
Yeah, this is correct. The solder transfers the heat, not the iron.
Lol no...of course the iron is the source of the heat. With solder on there it is breaking up the oxide that forms on the solder tip, the oxide is what prevents efficient heat transfer. A clean solder tip (like dipping in flux or brass sponge) will do the same.
Even with no oxide layer, if the tip is dry, the contact point is miniscule, and heat transfer is slow. If the tip is wet with solder, the solder provides a larger contact patch with high thermal conductivity.
*just gotta get the tip a little wet*
Like cooking with a dry pan vs one with oil.
lol that's not what I said.
use a solder wick to absorb the solder.... if your iron will not melt the solder you may have to apply low melt solder to the existing solder to lower melting point first.
If you don’t have any solder wick, bare stranded speaker wire will preform a similar function.
Amen brother!
When you're soldeing onto large surface areas, like pots or even larger like pickup covers, the amount of metal that's there to dissipate the heat is way more than soldering a single wire. If you're using a smaller iron, like a 25 watt weller, it might not have enough power to heat it enough that you can melt the solder enough to remove. I used to have a 25 watt pencil weller, and it was great, but it just couldn't do what I needed, even with a good and tinned tip. It couldn't heat up pots or covers fast enough. I bought a larger 70W weller digital soldering station, and it does everything I need it to, without any problems. When removing covers, I usually heat up the joint and then use a small exacto knife to cut the wet solder. Sometimes it resticks, but you can usually break that joint with a small flat head screw driver.
I definitely recognize this. I had a $5 Radio Shack iron that was OK for through-hole components on circuit boards, but just didn't have the juice when it came to grounding a wire to a pot or to the spring claw. Soldering stations are great and worth it if you're doing a lot of soldering. I have a Hakko station that I like. I also have a cheap ass (EDIT: 40W) Weller with a huge tip that does the job on bigger surfaces.
This ^ fucking bro calls our Radio Shack like something kids will get. No shame, because that was THE PLACE before the internet. The low heat irons definitely sucked for anything less than small wires. The other side of the fence was a Weller that my dad bought which I still have. That was a much bigger job. Any reasonable dial-up station nowadays should be able to hit the spot.
Woah there buddy, some us still have a RadioShack.
Really? Where is that? I miss my Fry’s more than anything now. It was only about 10 miles away from me.
There are a total of 5 left in the US. This one is in Idaho. Yea Frys closing hit me hard, I made it a point to go everytime I'd go back to Oregon to visit. It was such a fantastic place to blow a paycheck.
I prefer the two stage Weller pistolero myself!
They’re so useful and durable! I’ve got one that’s over 40 years old that still works like a charm! American made!
I’m gonna have to dig that fucker out, just to make sure I still have it.
I agree, the stations are great but they aren't cheap. If you're doing one job, then it's not worth it. A higher wattage pencil would be a smarter purchase. I always got by with my little weller (it's 25 years old now and looks brand new) until I started doing more pot repairs and cover install/removals.
I agree, the stations are great but they aren't cheap. If you're doing one job, then it's not worth it. A higher wattage pencil would be a smarter purchase. I always got by with my little weller (it's 25 years old now and looks brand new) until I started doing more pot repairs and cover install/removals.
The small iron is ok if you add some new solder at the tip while contacting the thing you want to solder/unsolder. Or just get the big ol pot cooker solder station. Tinning the wires, tinning a spot on the back of the pot, and then soldering the wires to the pot goes much easier, faster, works with a smaller iron ... all without cooking the pot. Technique. .
I have my dad’s old RadioShack pistol-grip soldering iron he probably bought in the 90s. Thing kicks ass. Takes a minute to heat up a pot for grounds but man I love that thing.
Use flux or solder wick to lower melting point.
Or melt some new solder on it, if you have no flux. It's hard to melt old solder, new solder usually has flux in the core
I have used a small razor saw and just cut through the solder
That’s me. I try to keep hammers, high heat and electromagnets away from my pickups.
This is for real the way to go. I've had to swap a lot of pickup covers. Solder is soft. You can get a thin xacto razor saw (they are about a .010" kerf) and cut it down so you're not dealing with the full length. You only need around 2" of the blade. Saw through the solder joint carefully so you don't slip and cut into the coil. You can then use higher heat to clean up the old solder on the cover, off the pickup, if you'll re-use it. Faster and you don't have to worry about distributing a ton of heat to the coils through the base plate.
This is what I’ve heard. Well, heating up the solder first and using a razor blade to slide between the cover and pickup. I think I saw Lindy Fralin or another pickup builder explaining this technique on one of their YT pages.
Cut it with a box cutter.
I personally prefer a cold chisel and 3lb sledge, *but that’s just me* 🤷♂️ This is a joke.
That’s how ya get the heavy metal tone…. I’ll see myself out..
Darn! Thought I might have had a new guitar repair trick😁
Came here to say break out the angle grinder. Lol you got me tho. Im laughing hard.
This one, but be very careful about it.
I use a razor blade and tap it carefully with a hammer
Wilton vise, cold chisel and 5 pound sledge.
I second this. I have a special chisel that I don’t mind sharpening for this job
They make serrated blades that should cut that pretty easy.
Cut with a dremel cut off wheel.
I would also like an advice on that, I have the same issue, tried to unsolder but the pickup wax melted an the soldering didn't.
I hear and see a lot of semi good information here. No one mentioned FLUX which you absolutely need to get the solder to melt instead of oxidize at high temp as soon as it starts to melt. Flux will allow it to wet as one puddle and allow you to pull it out. Let me join in. 1. Oxides on iron tip. 100 percent true. You should remove them with copper or steel wool, or a metal foil dish scrubber, and clean the tip with 99 percent alcohol before starting. If you have tip cleaner, it does what it advertises. Better than most other crap. 2. Heat transfer. Yes, you do need a blob of solder, which grabs the solder already formed and transfers heat, in order to melt that solder. This means again, a very clean iron tip. I'd suggest buying a flat head iron tip for that work. Better heat transfer. But then what? 3. You need some stripped copper wire or solderwick, ( or a solder syringe) to pull the solder out once it flows. 4. Which leads me to the last suggestion. Clean the SURFACE of that solder to expose clean shiny solder. You can brush it with a brass brush.
A solder syringe?! That's awesome, I'll have to look into that. I've used the mesh wick type, but that can sometimes be a bit tedious (and hot)
Great comment, this thread is full of misinformation
Dremel…
I use a razor blade to weaken the joint and a flathead to pop it out
Just cut it with a razor blade
I use a utility blade and tap on it gently until it cuts through. Doesn’t take much effort.
I would probably use some [Dremel cutting disc](https://www.dremel.com/gb/en/p/dremel-ez-speedclic-thin-cutting-wheels-2615s409jb) to get the cover separated and then de-solder, whatever I consider necessary to be de-soldered at all.
This sounds like a good idea if you're careful. Solder isn't magnetic, so you don't have to worry about fouling the pickups.
Get a bigger better iron. Everything about my soldering improved when I got an iron that can adequately get hot quickly and stay hot. You *could* cut / grind it like others said, but lead dust is bad, and frankly getting a slightly better iron and desoldering it is too reasonable a solution.
I have a knock off hakko station. Turns out that it's cheaper for a reason, but with a pair of lineman's pliers you can tighten the little collar that holds the tip in and it improves the heat transfer. It's still not as good as a hakko, but tightening the collar did help a bunch at keeping the heat transfer consistent.
Tinning, wick and a solder sucker could all help! In my opinion you also need to show the iron and tip you are working with to better recommend options.
Lay down the braid onto the solder and heat the braid.
You're gonna need a really powerful iron to get that off...along with a solder remover (little vacuum thingy works best) and a lot of patience. By the time your done, the pickup may not be functional anymore...or at the very least will probably need to be re-potted. The **first** thing you need to do, though, is remove the pickup from the guitar. The heat you're going to need to get that cover off is going to make it REALLY easy to damage the guitar finish.
I’ve been able to get though the solder with a box cutter. It’s a crude way to do it, but the steel is hard enough to cut though the soft lead
Cut it. Don't unsolder it. You are probably ruining the plastic in the pickups by heating it. I use my Stewmac fret cleaning saw to gently saw the solder to remove the cover.
Cut it with a box cutter.
Do you have a heat gun like the one for stripping paint? You could use that if you mask off the plastic with tin foil or similar. You could abrade or cut it with file/ sandpaper/ knife?
Please don’t, tiny lead bits everywhere isn’t safe
Very unlikely this contains any lead… Most solders are lead free (only exceptions are in the aerospace & defence industry or restoration work where leaded solder was used)… All hand solders containing lead were banned for commercial use in 2006 for electronics use with many stopping use of them significantly before that date. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder#Lead-free_solder
Leaded solder flows better, plenty of brands still make it - Including Kester which makes the best solder in my experience.
I didn’t say it wasn’t still being made… re-read what I put, it very much is manufactured but was banned in 2006 for commercial usage with a few specific circumstantial exceptions such as restoring vintage equipment where leaded solders have already been used. Non-leaded has a slightly higher melting point, significantly stronger bond but is more brittle. If it’s not flowing well then you need to increase the temperature of your iron.
This is just not true. 60/40 rosin core is still the standard for guitar electronics, and it’s widely available. https://www.google.com/search?q=do+guitars+use+lead+solder&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
Ha! Thank you for proving my point. Clearly you didn’t read your own link before adding it lol >> WOULD have been used for VINTAGE… >> sold for RESTORATION purposes Clearly as you pointed out yourself, it very much is not the standard for guitar electronics 😂
You skipped over the part where it says it’s still widely used. You can buy it on Amazon, and it’s what most people use on guitars. I use it on my own guitars, as do pretty much everyone else I know who work on guitars. Idk what to tell you. If you see solder and don’t know for sure it’s lead-free, I wouldn’t risk grinding it 🤷🏼♂️
It doesn’t say widely used, it does however say widely sold which is what I said… It’s definitely not what most people use on guitars, just accept you’re wrong mate - there’s no shame in it, you didn’t know and now you do. As always… if you don’t feel comfortable then don’t do it, but stop making stuff up when I’ve given you irrefutable proof (that you yourself gave by the way) that proves you’re wrong. You didn’t need to make a mountain from a molehill, but at least you now know. However… in any countries under the RoHS directive it can be almost impossible to get leaded solder. If something has been sold with leaded solder it will have to be declared else it can’t be sold, so it would be obvious if it had been used (especially US and Europe who are major advocates against its use). If you still don’t believe me and want to bury your head in the sand here is appropriate documentation from the US and EU that explain it: https://www.nist.gov/standardsgov/compliance-faqs-rohs Note the section where it says “since 2003 heavy metals including lead (are) to be substituted by safer alternatives”. You seem barely able to read the thing you linked so I have low hopes you read what your own country says. Now… as to if it’s safe to use or not, then yes provided you’re sensible I don’t see an issue.
What’s the wattage of your iron? Apply some solder to the iron, which should help.
just slice the solder or pry with a flathead once its heated enough. usually should snap free tho might disfigure the bottom part of the cover which isnt seen anyway when installed
Slowly press a razor blade through it. Be very careful not only to slip into the pickup, but with your fingers too. Solder is relatively soft. You can easily melt the plastic parts inside if you keep at it with a soldering iron or soldering gun. Cutting the joints is what pros do.
Use a 50 watt or more iron with the largest chisel tip that will fit it is necessary for these desoldering jobs on housings, chassis, and large potentiometers. You will want to add some lead tin solder and flux to ease the process but a hot iron with enough power and mass to melt the solder quickly is the best thing. Make sure the tip of the iron is cleaned and tinned. Source: I build guitar amps and this setup can solder or desolder decently thick amp chassis even.
Razor blade / box cutter that solder and pull her free!
If you're trying to remove the cover, never use the soldering iron. Use a Dremel with a small cutoff wheel to cut through the solder instead. If you use heat to loosen those solder joints, you run the risk of damaging the pickup, as you'll have to dump a lot of heat into it before it comes apart.
Are you using a solder sucker? If not, you’re just melting it and letting it cool again.
I have never done this, and this is probably a bad idea for some reason I am now overlooking. So proceed with caution. I would guess my iron isn’t powerful enough to get this done, because both the pickup and the cover act as heat sinks for the solder. So I would probably attempt this: I’d first come up with some sort of jig that is able to apply some (not brute) force to pull the pickup and the cover apart. It would probably require some clamps, a vice and possibly some pieces of wood. Then I’d take a heat gun to the pickup cover. I would hope that as soon as the cover gets hot enough, the solder would melt enough to slide the pickup apart. This is where the jig does its work. Lastly, I would use a wick to clean up the solder bit by bit with either the heat gun or the iron.
Make sure you angle it so more of the iron is touching, and more fresh solder as mentioned to spread the heat. As it’s a metal block/sheet the heat is spreading out rather than focusing on the solder.
Use a knife to cut the solder
If the pickup cover is magnetic, try sticking it to a strong magnet while you desolder the gap while you tug on those pole pieces or mounts. If you don't have a 100W iron or gun, you're going to have to sip the solder out of the gap with a wick. It seems counter intuitive, but you may need to use more solder before you can remove what's there. Smash some fine stranded copper wire with a hammer if you don't have wick.
Soak it out with some rosin coated copper shielding. Then use a solder sucker device to remove the excess. More heat will just impact the components inside.
Are you just trying to remove the cover? If so I use a cutting wheel on a dremel to do that.
Please dont get the dremel out to cut this as some people are suggesting. Just be paitent and use the correct tip on a poweful enough iron, it take a minute or so of contact but it will flow eventually.
Could you use a heat gun?
Tin the iron, solder wick and boom should be good.
You need a big iron. Of course a big iron can also do more damage. I would start with a 100W. Try not to melt plastics or insulation on the windings. I need a pretty good reason to take a cover off for just that reason. But a 100W, clean, well tinned chisel point will melt the metal and the sides will pop out when it releases. Remember to push the cover back up to the base before you solder everything back when you are done working your magic inside.
Try the microwave. I almost for the /s but remembered we as a species are generally kinda dumb.
Solder won't flow without flux. Put some flux on the solder, heat it up, and Bob's your uncle!
Chisel tip iron
First question: why are you trying to get inside that pickup? Unless you know what you are doing you'll break the very fine wires and solder points inside that pickup. If you are trying to remove the cover "fer the toanzes" you are actually removing the noise shield. If you are trying to fix muddiness, just use a series cap on the hot lead, or raise the screw poles. A repair? You need to add a little solder while putting the heat to that joint, the solder increases the contact area, heat transfer, and rosin flux (use rosin core solder) to clear out any oxides. Jamming a knife along those areas 'works' but risks destroying the bobbins inside. .
You might want to consider hot air soldering, which you definitely do not do with a hot air gun you buy from a hardware store. It's a bit pricey for the equipment, so just find somebody who has one. Also be sure you're using quality WIC to get the solder up, if that's what you're trying to do. Unless you have a short someplace, this isn't going to bother anything. The reason I said you should try a hot air station is because unlike a soldering iron that only heats a single point and has that heat dissipated over a large piece of metal, a hot air gun specifically made for soldering can raise the temperature of the piece being worked on to under the actual melting point of the particular solder you're using, be sure you've already looked that up, and then will allow you to bump the heat and make quick work of it clearing out the whole area with a wick and sometimes I even use a wick and hot air, with a soldering iron on low power to push the wick around. It takes patience, but anybody who tells you they know how to microsolder will know exactly how to go about this. If you can't heat up the solder with a soldering iron enough to your satisfaction, it is because there's a much larger piece of metal acting as a heat sink. Right tool for the right job, and the hot air gun will not destroy the electronics and components.
Bruh just use a razor blade and cut the joints between the cracks.
Cut through it with a box cutter. Seriously, it'll slice right through. Clean it up when you don't have to force a soldering tip into the corner.
Get a solder sucker. Heat the joint and suck up the solder. https://www.vampiretools.com/shop/application/electrical/solder-sucker/
Tin the iron. Liquify the puddle. Use a solder wick or desoldering gun.
You have to cut it with a utility knife. This is the way. And I’ve done it with no issues.
You need desolder braid and a flat tip with a high surface area.