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Old 30th January 2005   #3
David Kulka
Lives for gear
 
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Burbank, CA, USA
Posts: 1,035

I recommend 63/37 solder. That alloy does not pass through a plastic phase as it cools from liquid to solid. This is important for avoiding cold joints, since any movement while solder is in the plastic phase will cause a "cold" solder joint which might come apart and/or contribute noise. 63/37 tends to result in solder connections that are shiny. Shiny is good.

All other alloys including the common 60/40 have a plastic phase, and hinder soldering work.

If you check ebay, you'll see rolls of "vintage" solder going for hundreds of dollars. Most of it seems to go to Japan, God knows why. In my experience, decades old solder does not work very well.
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