Nickle Silver sheeting/ Flatwork material

[NightWinder]

(Flatwork) WHere can i order some flatwork.......wholesale, and preferably alot. Resourceing material has brought out my other personality, and is absolutely becoming the second wave of the plague.
(Nickle/Silver Sheeting) Does anyone know if a 20 ton press will stamp N/S sheeting? I have found the right gauge sheeting I need, and are pretty close to what Guitar Jones, etc are using. Material for the covers will be slightly thinner than GJ etc. The days of recieving wrong material and waiting 2 months for parts to come in are almost over. I can't stand this shit anymore!! This is driving me crazy. Want something done right,,,you gotta do it yourself!!

[Spence]

20 tons? That's more than enough. I use a 4 ton fly press for everything from pressing sheet materials to pushing bearings out of wheel hubs. You'll be fine.

[Joe Gwinn]

(Nickel/Silver Sheeting) Does anyone know if a 20 ton press will stamp N/S sheeting? I have found the right gauge sheeting I need, and are pretty close to what Guitar Jones, etc are using. Material for the covers will be slightly thinner than GJ etc.

What guages will you use? Where does one get nickel silver sheet? I've seen that some jewlery suppliers have it, but they seem to think that it's made of silver. I haven't yet chased after industrial suppliers, though.

[Spence]

German Silver

Try looking for German Silver.

For Example : http://www.contenti.com/products/metals/560-143.html

BTW, it's nice to see all these people striving to make their own components.

[Possum]

jewelry....

in the jewelry business its called German Silver and almost no one uses it........

[NightWinder]

Industrial

What guages will you use? Where does one get nickel silver sheet? I've seen that some jewlery suppliers have it, but they seem to think that it's made of silver. I haven't yet chased after industrial suppliers, though.

Mostly solid 21 gauge for the baseplates. Various metals too,N/s, solid Nickle, Brass & Cold rolled steel type 2. Industrial suppliers are where its at for the metal. Screws, slugs etc. This battle for parts and added fustration is senseless. Fuck It!! You can only take so much. Snip the Dragon by the wings. Burn it to the ground! I'm getting material through a prototype shop in Michigan.
Oddly enough, I used to work at an Injection mold company about 13yrs ago. The shop has since closed, but I stopped by the shop managers house that used to make all the molds. Nice conversation. Plans are actually moving.

[Joe Gwinn]

Mostly solid 21 gauge [nickel silver] for the baseplates. Various metals too,N/s, solid Nickel, Brass & Cold rolled steel type 2. Industrial suppliers are where it's at for the metal. Screws, slugs etc. This battle for parts and added fustration is senseless.

For baseplates, you might consider type 303 stainless steel. Would also work for covers, but is probably harder to draw than brass and nickel silver. And not as pretty.

Fuck It!! You can only take so much. Snip the Dragon by the wings. Burn it to the ground! I'm getting material through a prototype shop in Michigan.

I'm hearing from everyone that small-quantity suppliers all hit the shoals at once. I don't quite believe that they all caught the stupid virus at once. Wonder if there is a common cause, one beyond their control. Like the factory in the hinterlands of China got hit by a meteor.

[NightWinder]

You know Joe, the 303 S.S, I really believe that is what GJ is using, and passing it off as N/S. Im wondering if the SS has the same Grounding properties as N/s? What would the differences be between the 2? I have'nt used SS honestly, but I really THINK GJ baseplates are SS.
The punch for the baseplates is over $1000.00. A cover punch is around $500.00. I was thinking of haveing the baseplates stamped flat, and bending the legs and sides myself. This would make it cheaper for the punch. Drastically!!.
Weirdly, pickup makers like Rio Grande use Forbon?, or plastic. No metal at all for a baseplate. The Punch, and Crunch models anyway. I would presume this would have more highend, but also loose some weight in the lowend as well? All these guys here are pushing for their own material, so
"07 should be really different in the pickup world. It seems everone is opening up a little more too, shareing ideas and such. Very Cool.
Now if I could only find a real webmaster!!! Jesus, it never stops!!!

[Joe Gwinn]

You know Joe, the 303 S.S, I really believe that is what GJ is using, and passing it off as N/S.

You can tell them apart with a file: stainless steel is a pretty tough steel, while nickel silver is a kind of brass, so the effort to file a notch is very different.

There are also chemical tests, but I don't know the details.

I'm wondering if the SS has the same Grounding properties as N/s? What would the differences be between the 2? I haven't used SS honestly, but I really THINK GJ baseplates are SS.

These are both fairly conductive metals, having about the same bulk conductivity, and so will be more or less equal at grounding and shielding.

The punch for the baseplates is over $1000.00. A cover punch is around $500.00. I was thinking of having the baseplates stamped flat, and bending the legs and sides myself. This would make it cheaper for the punch. Drastically!!.

Unless you have a pretty good bending jig, the results will look amateurish. You also want the holes for the screws to be pierced (versus punched) to give the screws more "meat" to hold onto, especially with nickel silver.

Weirdly, pickup makers like Rio Grande use Forbon?, or plastic. No metal at all for a baseplate. The Punch, and Crunch models anyway. I would presume this would have more highend, but also lose some weight in the lowend as well?

The less metal nearby, the less the highs will be reduced by eddy-current loading, so this makes sense. Some makers use glass-epoxy circuit board material for baseplates.

All these guys here are pushing for their own material, so '07 should be really different in the pickup world. It seems everone is opening up a little more too, sharing ideas and such. Very Cool.

All for the better. Some standardization of components should help solve the supply problems.

[clown_luthier]

anyone have good source for N/S 0,8 mm (0,032") thick for baseplates?

anything from 12% to 18% of nickel is good.

on online metals sheets are 30$ (12"x12")
anything cheaper?

[JGundry]

In the US most if not all Nickel Silver comes from Thyssenkrup. 18% Nickel Silver seems to be the easiest to get. Thyssenkrup sells the raw material to places that will roll it down to different gauges. I think to get it any cheaper than your price you will have to buy it in a coil 100lbs. at a time, cut to the width you want.

I just got sample PAF copy baseplates yesterday I had tooled and stamped in the USA. I'm amazed by how close they were able to get to a PAF baseplates by just me supplying an original part. They had a hard time sourcing the nickel silver but were eventually able to find some at a "reasonable" price.

[David King]

I have a buddy with a hydraulic 25 ton press and he was doubtful that it would work for deep drawing pickup covers. For base plates it would be fine I'm sure.

[Possum]

....

Isn't soldering to stainless steel nearly impossible? I don't think GJ (WSC) would sell something like that. Gibson tried SS covers back in PAF days, but soldering them was too hard to do....

[Joe Gwinn]

Isn't soldering to stainless steel nearly impossible? I don't think GJ (WSC) would sell something like that. Gibson tried SS covers back in PAF days, but soldering them was too hard to do....

Soldering to stainless steel is easy, but one must use the correct flux.

[KinkyWinks]

(Flatwork) WHere can i order some flatwork.......wholesale, and preferably alot. Resourceing material has brought out my other personality, and is absolutely becoming the second wave of the plague.
(Nickle/Silver Sheeting) Does anyone know if a 20 ton press will stamp N/S sheeting? I have found the right gauge sheeting I need, and are pretty close to what Guitar Jones, etc are using. Material for the covers will be slightly thinner than GJ etc. The days of recieving wrong material and waiting 2 months for parts to come in are almost over. I can't stand this shit anymore!! This is driving me crazy. Want something done right,,,you gotta do it yourself!!

How much is the die to punch them with going to cost? A new die might well exceed the cost of a good used press.