Get some steel and just keep making welds on the top until you learn to keep your puddle going. That's about as far as I can go. I can also do some gasless MIG welding if I needed to replace parts of the body. I'm not great at either, but I can do them to some extent. I have both a stick welder and a MIG welder - the kind with the flux-core wire.
I don't solder all that much these days. I no longer repair/modify my guitars or amps. If something breaks, even if I can fix it and have time to fix it, I just send it out. If I want a guitar with a certain tone, I'll just buy one. I definitely am not modifying amps or anything anymore. I'm trying to retire, so I've stopped doing some things. In theory, I've been retired since 2007. I just suck at retiring and keep starting new projects or agreeing to help people out.
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