Fender Bassman 20 cap job

[Leo_Gnardo]

But in the case of some metal object I can poke the two broken tip ends into the metal and the gun current flows through that metal making it heat itself. On a Fender chassis for example, that small pool of solder on the chassis can be heated in that manner.

I saw a friend do that once - way back in college - dinosaurs (named Nixon & Agnew) still strode the earth! Big Weller gun, no tip nor wire at all. Just rammed the studs onto the chassis and the metal rose to solder-melting temp in a jiffy. I've been able to make it work - once. I've had much better luck with my Weller 80W "pencil". So dear readers, if you have a big Weller gun say 100 to 300W, try it Enzo's way. And the rest of us, snoop those garage sales, craigslist ads, Aunt Zelda's stained glass studio, whatever, find the big "pencil" wherever you can.

It should be said, if you're going to try the Enzo method, it will be necessary to clean the chassis zone where you're doing your soldering. Not just a little soap & water. Supah clean, shiny bright, maybe scrub with a little steel wool or super fine sandpaper. You need this for maximum conduction between your solder gun and chassis, because lots of current needs to happen in order to get the chassis to heat up properly. Clean also, on the solder gun electrodes, then you'll have a better chance of making this technique work. Good luck!