Battery Acid fused to old solder?

farwest1

Member
I’m trying to fix an old battery connection, but somehow old crusty battery acid fused the solder onto the power lugs. I’ve tried to use desoldering braid but it won’t melt, and vinegar doesn’t remove it either. The dried blue-green battery acid + solder has hardened and fused over the holes of the lugs.

Any other ideas? Because of the nature of this part, I can’t easily just replace the battery connection.
 
Send us a picture, but my guess is that battery connector is trash. Coca-Cola is very effective at dissolving rust & corrosion. No joke. The trick is to keep it contained so it doesn't eat everything. Use some modeling clay to build a dam around the corroded area & flood it with Coke. It should start fizzing. Might take a minute, might take an hour. Keep an eye on it. By the time you eat the corrosion away, there may not be much metal left. I've used this technique to loosen a rusty head bolt in a car engine. Never on anything this delicate.
 
I'm "cheating" a little with this post, but since it's a circuit and wiring problem, I thought I'd ask the experts here. It's about the expression pickup system in my 2005 Taylor acoustic. The battery and input jack come in a single plastic enclosure that slide out. The pickup system failed a few years back. When I opened it up, I discovered a burst AA battery in the compartment.

I managed to sand down the lugs enough that I could use desoldering braid on them. I re-soldered the black and red wires to the lugs, But the pickup still doesn't work. It could be faulty wiring elsewhere in the system—I used a scope camera to look around inside the body. I don't see anything unusual. But the pickups are intricate and almost impossible to access without specialty tools, since they attach to the inside of the body at 5 different places.

The alternative is sending the guitar to Taylor ($75 shipping each way) and having them replace the expression system for $300+. A big chunk of change for something that I've only used once or twice in the 15 years I've had it.
 
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