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I had tried the flux, but it didn't help much. Still, I'm relieved that it's not just me! Thanks everybody!

Hi everybody, I wonder if anybody else has this strange thing that happens to me from time to time. Normally my soldering goes just fine, but on occasion something strange happens. first let me mention that I've been building for around four years and have had around eighty successful builds. I generally feel experienced and confident about my soldering ability. I use 60/40 rosin core solder from Radio Shack, I use the Hako 936 at around 700 degrees. It usually works great, but while I'm more than aware of tinning surfaces before I solder, using a bit of solder to de-solder etc., sometimes it behaves very strangely...old solder doesn't want to melt even with tinning, the tip wants to stick to the solder sometimes, as if I were trying to solder while the iron is cooling. No amount of cleaning the iron, tinning anything, or varying the temperature slightly (which I only do to troubleshoot) changing tips...nothing helps. It occurred to me that maybe some oils from my hands are causing it...
Any ideas, or has anybody else dealt with this problem? It's like all the settings and techniques are the same, but it's just not working. Thanks!

If you work it too much, though, solid core can break inside the insulation.

This.  Solid core is fine if it is not going to move at all, but stranded is more reliable.

This x2.

I mostly use solid core (occasionally ribbon). As long as nothing moves around, it's by far the easiest stuff to use. Until I find a decent supplier for 24AWG pre-bonded ribbon that is, which is the best stuff ever if you can get it.

I think you can get the wire you're talking about at guitarpcb.com
I just discovered a lot of these new answers today, so thanks to everybody that helped!

Thanks for the input everybody, and Happy New Year!

All the time. I've got a few great little low wattage amps, like my Swart Atomic Spacetone Pro. That and my Aristocrat (wish they still made that one!) and my Deadringer. I have used the single KOT, and various vero layouts that I've done, mostly from Harald Sabro's website...like a REALLY nice OCD, and a really nice Zendrive. You should Google Harald at Sabrotone if you're not already familiar with that sight. You've really gotta pinch yourself sometimes, to realize you're playing a pedal similar to those that people are willing to pay $2-300 or more for, that you got for the price of parts and engaging in a fun hobby.

I discovered that at one point I must have ordered several lengths of different colored wires by accident, because I never intentionally ordered solid core. I don't know if any of it has made its way into any builds, probably not, unless I could tin it without seeing it was solid...doubtful! Anyway, I was wondering how useful is the solid core for pedal building, are there limitations, advantages, or disadvantages, and if it is usable, can it be used in the same build as the stranded type. Thanks in advance!

Perfect Brian, thanks so much!

Thanks Brian, although I'm using the double sided fabbed board, I'm guessing that if pad 6 is the output, I should be able to get it to work. The switch is as I wired it, so I'll have a go at it!

Thanks, will try that!

On around page four of the instructions it has a "wiring true bypass" listing that indicates which pads go where,and says S6 goes to FX output. I had thought of the wiper of the volume control, as most vero effects I've built do that. If S6 doesn't fill this function, what does it do?

Normally I do:

LUG:
1-board input
2-input jack
3,9-jumped together
4-LED
5-ground
6-nothing
7-board out
8-output jack

I'd love to make it work like that. Is it doable, assuming lug 7 goes to the right place, and can that be S6 since I've already wired up the pots? Thanks for your help...I'm still trying to get up to speed on the "hows" and "whys" of things, so please pardon the need to keep picking your brain on this. So can I wire the switch as above and attach lug 7 to pad 6? I guess that's the real question.

On further looking and comparing different diagrams, it seems that maybe S6 is the board out? If so, I think I could use the regular easy wiring diagram; still not sure about the on switch resistors, but I'm guessing that with the resistors designated for that being on the board, as well as the RTB, that I can skip that. Am I on the right track, or hopelessly lost?

Thanks for the quick response, but I'm not sure we're looking at the same version. Normally I use the "easy" wiring diagram, though sometimes I use the Madbean version on those pedals. To wire the switch normally I'd need a board output which this doesn't seem to have (to lug seven), unless it's an "S" pad. The directions say to wire true bypass that you remove C3, and resistors 3,4,28,29, and thirty. Then it says add RTB for true bypass...is that not the pulldown resistor? Meanwhile, since there's no indication as to the purpose of the resistors on the switch, then I don't know (if still necessary) where (or why!) I'd put them on there. So I guess the biggest remaining problem is, based on the easy wiring diagram, where would lug seven go to, and where, if necessary, do the resistors go on the switch. Also on the TB diagram the resistors on the switch are 26 an 27; those are on my board. I can't find a version number on the board, but the board seems to match up with the double sided version depicted on the first page of the directions. Really the biggest questions remain, I guess, are about the resistors on the switch and what would be, or the equivalent of a board out. The problem is, these directions show the board I have with the switch I don't want, and the switch I want with the board I don't have!

I'm really confused, because I want to wire my Sunking (V.3) true bypass, but the drawings show true bypass for the one sided version, which is layed out differently; for example, in the instructions, it says for true bypass that you're not using S1 and S4, yet they are pictured wired in the one sided version. There is also no mention of the additions of resistors 28 and 29 that are seen in both diagrams. can someone give me a succinct idea of how to do this, or how to interpret these drawings to get true bypass out of a 3PDP? Also, I'm assuming based on what I can get out of descriptions and pictures, that since the center row (normally 4,5, and 6) is eliminated, then you're now assigning those numbers to what would normally be 7,8, and 9? I'm really not new to building, but this one's got me!

Thanks a lot; now I'll also know what I'm hearing...seems like a cool idea!

Hi there, I'm finally getting around to building the Sunking, and I've been through all 64 pages trying to get info on the stereo gain pot...the 100KB. I did find out how it's wired, how it doesn't matter which row goes to which as long as the rows are consistent, but what I can't find mention of is how this pot works. How is it dual gain? I've seen other builds based on the Centaur, and some allow you to have an internal mini-pot for gain 2, which I guess means it could be external too. How does it work...how is it dual gain with one control, and how could that possibly work similarly to two controls? Just a bit confused and hungry for knowledge...I don't see anything in the build that would imply that I NEED to know that to do the build, just looking to find out what to expect for troubleshooting purposes. Thanks!