If you have a screw driver that can take different tips, you can get an extended T-15 (torx) from a hardware store like Menards for about $4. I misplaced mine and had to buy one recently. Of course I found my other one the next day but I really need more than one anyway.
Working on compact Mac was my first venture into soldering!! And this is very easy work, the solder points are easy to get to and large. For this work a cheap/simple solder iron will be fine. If you think you will do more soldering then spend money on a digitally controlled one. But for this work, not critical.
If you get the machine to power up (no need to boot, just get the screen up), turn the brightness ALL the way up then just pull the plug. Do not use the switch. It will discharge after a couple seconds. Either way, the shock is scary but unless you have a pacemaker it won't kill you. Thats a huge myth regarding CRTs. But discharging is not too hard to do and there are plenty of instructions for doing it.
But if you feel that you would not be comfortable, certainly don't do so. But I promise if you do, you will get it done and think its one of the easiest thing you have done! Then you will be looking for more compact Macs to fix.
