Source for GOOD gold polepieces

[Zhangliqun]

Not the Allparts ones that have a sort of pyramid top and look goofy and the slot is big and slippery causing the screwdriver to slip out and gouge the surface of the bobbin. Anyone?

[kevinT]

Andy C. from Tonerider had some nice gold polepiece screws but from what he tells me, he is not selling parts anymore because demand for his parts just wasn't there.

[PoorMan]

Not the Allparts ones that have a sort of pyramid top and look goofy and the slot is big and slippery causing the screwdriver to slip out and gouge the surface of the bobbin. Anyone?

Yeah, and a slight breeze will blow the gold plating off them too. Sorry Dave, I don't know of a better gold fillister. I'm struugling right now trying to find a transparent gold cover.

[WolfeMacleod]

Not the Allparts ones that have a sort of pyramid top and look goofy and the slot is big and slippery causing the screwdriver to slip out and gouge the surface of the bobbin. Anyone?

I've been raising holy hell with Steve at Allparts about these for quite some time. Remember my Screw fiasco last year? They're the same stinkign screw.

Fortunately, I took several hundre of my nickel screws and had them gold plated.

[Possum]

WDmusic has gold screws not sure if they are any good, I have to buy some. You can hand plate them with the Caswell hand plater, might try that one since I have the nickel kit....

[kevinT]

WDmusic has gold screws not sure if they are any good, I have to buy some. You can hand plate them with the Caswell hand plater, might try that one since I have the nickel kit....

how is the nickel kit? Does it really work?

[Electricdaveyboy]

I use a bath , gold-electrolyte in a can and hang the screws or pickup covers into it.Moving the can will help.
I came over to do so because aging on gold pickup covers did not look right.
I thought my old Pat No. pickup covers had a nickelplating under the gold,too.

db

[Possum]

yeah it works but remember you're plating raw nickel on something so its dull grey plating. You have to have it dead clean too or it won't stick. I use it on slugs.....

[David King]

So you always have to buff it out afterwards? What sort of compound are you using?

[Electricdaveyboy]

Oh yes,
I polish them after galvanizing.I got me a bottle of gold-electrolyte from a local company that does the coperplate on my Tele bottomplates.Maybe you find it online,I do not know.
cheers
db

[Possum]

nah I don't polish mine, real nickel plating oxidizes back to grey anyway, I think most of the junk you buy is chrome plated not nickel.....

[Zhangliqun]

I've been raising holy hell with Steve at Allparts about these for quite some time. Remember my Screw fiasco last year? They're the same stinkign screw.

Fortunately, I took several hundre of my nickel screws and had them gold plated.

I remember that and couldn't quite visualize what the big deal was then. Oh, do I get it now...

[Possum]

I just got my gold plating solution for their pen plater today and tried it out briefly. It does a pretty good job, its a bit hard to get it to plate in the slot, I tried dip plating and its easy to go too far and end up with an antique gold look, kinda like brass. Brushing it on give a bright gold. The solution only lasts 3 months so I figure I'd plate a bunch of screws in one session and store them for later use. If you can find good screws I'd recommend buying them alredy plated. I didn't buy the WD music screws so if anyone tries those let me know if they are the same bad AllParts screws.....

[WolfeMacleod]

I remember that and couldn't quite visualize what the big deal was then. Oh, do I get it now...

Grasshopper...;)

[SkinnyWire]

I just got my gold plating solution for their pen plater today and tried it out briefly. It does a pretty good job, its a bit hard to get it to plate in the slot, I tried dip plating and its easy to go too far and end up with an antique gold look, kinda like brass. Brushing it on give a bright gold. The solution only lasts 3 months so I figure I'd plate a bunch of screws in one session and store them for later use. If you can find good screws I'd recommend buying them alredy plated. I didn't buy the WD music screws so if anyone tries those let me know if they are the same bad AllParts screws.....

The last time I bought WD gold screws they were quite nice in terms of the shape of the heads, etc. The material did tend to flake off pretty easily, but they were usable. That was probably two years ago though, so I'm not sure about today. Actually, they just called me to see "what they can do to keep my business" and sent a current price list. I might order some just to see how they are.

[Possum]

They called you???? I emailed them a long time ago needing some bulk supplies and heard from them months later when I didn't need anything. What do they sell thats any good, I totally lost track of them. My only bulk order I did was a nightmare they totally messed up and it took two months before I got what I ordered, real flaky....

[SkinnyWire]

They called you???? I emailed them a long time ago needing some bulk supplies and heard from them months later when I didn't need anything. What do they sell thats any good, I totally lost track of them. My only bulk order I did was a nightmare they totally messed up and it took two months before I got what I ordered, real flaky....

About a year ago, I was looking for other sources and I'd discussed parts with WD over the phone. I had an old price list that at least to my recollection seemed to have a fairly steep minimum. Since I'd never inspected the quality of the particular parts we were discussing (bobbins, etc.) I asked for some sample parts. I'd have paid for samples, but the guy asked what I wanted, said he'd send them out, and then blew me off so I decided they weren't for me anymore. Up to that point, I'd bought capacitors, screws, and covers from them at dealer pricing and they were always prompt with delivery and to fix any errors in orders (charged me twice on one order). The original list I had included bobbins, frames, etc., which is what I was interested in. I don't see that on the current list but they may be in the catalog.

Out of the blue last week, they called while I was out interested in keeping my business. I'm not really sure why since I never bought large quantities from them. I called them back and explained that I was very disappointed over the samples, which I didn't think was too much to ask for, and I'd never planned to order from them again. I wasn't angry or rude about it, I simply explained what had happened. Since they called though, I agreed to take a look at their current price list which they e-mailed to me a couple of days ago. It's a 28 page Excel file. I haven't looked it over in detail yet but the dealer pricing is a pretty good deal depending on what you're after.

[David Schwab]

Back in the 80's I bought a replacement pickguard from WD for my Mustang... the original was celluloid and shrunk.

This thing was the worst piece of crap I ever saw. None of the screw holes lined up, the pickup holes were in the wrong place and didn't fit the body cavities, the edges were wavy, and the two slide switch holes were hand cut with a Dremel!

I've never bought anything from them since. Hope their quality has improved.

[SkinnyWire]

Screws were good quality when I bought them - not sure about now but I'll find out. Covers were good quality, but I didn't care for how deep they were so I only used them in emergencies. Hovland is Hovland and Jensen is Jensen so the caps were fine too. Other than that, YMMV.