How about a soldering thread?

How about a recommendation for a high quality soldering iron? What about some sort of a vice? (for holding parts, not the other kind) Heatsink? Will the hairdryer I use for spot repairs of lacquer work on shrink tubing? Can I undo a bad joint? How can I tell a bad joint, other than the dope all falls out the end?

In my youth I used a vise called Vac-u-vise that had all types of attachments. Not for stereo gear, but to build slot car frames out of piano wire and rewire (tweak) the little armiture motors as well. I am not sure if they are still around but thet were both affordable and precision made and would be good for sub assemblies.

I recommend a good weller pencil. Get something that feels comfortable in your hands. Also, unless you have some old stuff laying around, solder these days does not contain lead. You will be able to tell a bad or cold solder joint by visual inspection. A good joint is generally smooth and shiny. A cold solder joint has a rough appearance. The bad solder joints can be remedied by simply resoldering the joint. I also recommend you procure a sponge and stand for your iron. A solder sucker and solder braid for removing solder would be handy also. Your hairdryer will probably not be hot enough for heatshrink tubing but you can use a lighter in a pinch being careful not to hold the flame too close to the heatshrink tubing.

I did it! Got two pair of Homegrown Silver Solution kits and made cables. Quite easy but very repetitive/boring like making legs for chairs, if you can relate. I have some tips for other beginners: first, ignore the instruction to solder all the connectors, then shrink all the tubes; complete one cable to learn how the difference in length between hot and ground effects the neatness of the shrink, second, get a vise to hold the connector while you solder; I got a gizmo at radio shack with a weighted base and two alligator clips on gimbaled arms, $9.95. No way without it, especially as I have a tremor in my right hand; I won a shrapnel-catching contest long ago. You can dooo it! Oh yeah, the cables have one silver and two green strands, you don't need a continuity meter to find the ends but I did use it to verify a hot connection.

Good Job!