I am interesting in learning how to do a couple mods to my NES, and I don't have any soldering experience, but I am eager to learn. Can someone that has had some experience with soldering/desoldering recommend a good kit and maybe some reading reference for this venture? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I dunno if my suggestions are any good, but here goes:

For de-soldering, use something like this from radio shack:
http://www.radioshack.com/product...

For soldering, it doesnt matter (at least not to me. I have one made by black and decker that's lasted quite well. You really dont spend a lot of time soldering compared to desoldering.

Most people also agree not to use solder that has lead.

Take a crappy cart (like silent service), take it apart and practice de-soldering the chips. Then try soldering them back in again. Theres several chips on there, so dont worry if you wreck one. You'll discover things like burning the board, pulling up traces and lots of other things that take practice to avoid.

things to keep in mind:
1) Wait until the iron is hot (either de-sodlering or soldering). You are wasting your time otherwise. You can test this by touching it against some fresh solder. if it melts on contact you are ready to go.
2) If a pin wont de-solder cleanly, try "adding" some new solder to it and then de-solder that. This new solder mixes with the old, and disperses the heat so that it will all get sucked up by the desoldering tool.
3) After you desolder a pin, try pushing the pin sideways away from the edge of the PCB hole with your thumbnail. It should make a click as it detached. This makes pulling the chip out way easier afterwards.
4) Dont burn yourself. Seriously. I burned myself several times when I first started doing this. The iron is so hot you smell it before you feel it.
5) Clean the tip clean of whichever tool you are using. use a damp sponge.

Al

I prefer solder metal with lead.
The solder metal without lead need more heat to melt and make a lot more smoke.
It's easier for a beginner to make a good solder using solder metal with lead.
Trust me, I use the crappy solder metal without lead everyday

For soldering irons, do not get one of the gun types with a trigger. Find a real station with a separate box and holder. I used Weller stations for many years, like http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.... You can also pay lots more for nice things like temperature control or smoke absorbers.

For desoldering DIP chips the vacuum suckers are good. Some will have a spring tube instead of a bulb like http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI....

Thanks for the tips guys!

One question though: Does the wattage of the soldering iron make a big difference? Is there a particular wattage iron that is right for dealing with circuit boards and chips?

For boards 15 watts is plenty
radioshack has a cheap dual wattage that works pretty well (15 & 30 watt)

haha, yeah, careful--I just bought my first soldering iron and didn't know to look for wattage. I got a 60W and that thing gets stupid hot. The tip is fine, but the flat part will make solder literally splatter and spray outward (not safe) on contact.

I used to have to solder a lot when I was making needles at the tattoo shop. I can't really recommend any specific brands, but the style that Bunnyboy recommended is going to be what you want. The gun types are not going to be what you're looking for.

You might not want to shell out for a smoke absorber, but I wish I'd had one. Accidentally inhaling solder vapors is probably going to give me cancer down the road.

MMMMMMM....Solder vapors.