My first soldering experience...

[smallbearelec]

Couldn't I just buy a better tip?  Or will they generally not fit other irons?

Iron tips are almost always proprietary, not just to a given manufacturer, but to a particular model or series.

[PoopLoops]

I see.  Okay, I guess I'll invest in one.  It's a real PITA to do any soldering right now.  And working on my guitar is utterly impossible.  I can hold my tip to the original solder for minutes without doing anything.  It's highly annoying.  At least now I know it's not completely due to my incompetence. 

[chicago_mike]

Get a soldering STATION, where you can dial in the tempurature. Also invest in flux pens. They are just the bees knees.

Also, good solder wick..Chem-Wik, and even for larger jobs, that radio-shack solder sucker works.

And if you got 800 bucks to burn. B.E.S.T....business electronics soldering technologies. I worked for a company that sent me to them for training. I got certified for thru-hole and smt. Ended up soldering 48 layer gold traced devices....dont ask.