57-60 PAF covers .. Plated?

[belwar]

Does anyone know if the very original PAF humbucker covers were plated or were they straight nickel silver? I have a copy of an old intereview with seth lover talking about his desire to leave them un-plated, but that gibson wanted chrome and finally they settled on nickel. However the article did not have a date to it so I dont know if this was in reference to the development of the pickup or later after release in 57-59.

The reason I ask is I have some nice un-plated covers and Im temped to try polishing them instead of plating .. I have no idea how they would turn out, but it would allow me to keep the cover as thin as possible.

Has anyone seen unplated PAF covers? or were they always plated?

b.

[jonson]

I know sweet nothing about paf covers and Spence is the man to ask. He has done me 2 in the past year and both were awsome. But back to the question, Nickel was cheaper than chrome allthough I thought the first ones were stainless but I may well be wrong. Polishing Nickel is no prob with a decent size wheel 10/12 inches at about 6000 rpm. Take out any hickeys with wet and dry down to as far as poss and then a soft airflow/waved wheel and white st/steel buffing compound. Mirror finish that yellows nicely after a while. Nickel will plate straight on if the cover is polished well and Bright Nickel is only an organic brightner added to the tank during the proccess.

[belwar]

The buffs are not a problem for me. I make guitars and I have a dozen wheels setup with different polishing grades. Good high quality german buffs with menzerna compound. Perhaps I'll buff a couple and see how they turn out.