gold plating--source??

[marku52]

I've had some interest in gold plated cans and trim rings. Base material is nickel silver. Has anyone used a plating service they can recommend?

[enkindler]

I've had some interest in gold plated cans and trim rings. Base material is nickel silver. Has anyone used a plating service they can recommend?

I am not sure where you are located at but if you are near any metro area there tend to be lots of local platers. The same companies who do chrome tend to do gold.

The QC in both prep and the finish is so difficult I doubt I would want to do it remotely.

One warning you need to do a nickel under plate diffusion barrier first. without that the copper in the "nickel silver" will migrate to the surface. If you get a really cheap quote I will bet they are doing a direct gold plate which will look very ratty as the copper atoms migrate out.

[marku52]

I am not sure where you are located at but if you are near any metro area there tend to be lots of local platers. The same companies who do chrome tend to do gold.

The QC in both prep and the finish is so difficult I doubt I would want to do it remotely.

One warning you need to do a nickel under plate diffusion barrier first. without that the copper in the "nickel silver" will migrate to the surface. If you get a really cheap quote I will bet they are doing a direct gold plate which will look very ratty as the copper atoms migrate out.

Thanks for the good info (esp on the diffusion). Unfortunately, I am *not* near any metro area, so I do expect to have to do this remotely. Do you mean that you have to watch the plating or be available to come in and check on it?

So I guess I would hope someone else has done the same thing and can advise me either who to use, or equally valuable, who NOT to use.

[enkindler]

Thanks for the good info (esp on the diffusion). Unfortunately, I am *not* near any metro area, so I do expect to have to do this remotely. Do you mean that you have to watch the plating or be available to come in and check on it?

So I guess I would hope someone else has done the same thing and can advise me either who to use, or equally valuable, who NOT to use.

It is all about labor.

I am not a huge fan of gold so I've only had to do this a few times but seeing as you want to nickle plate first there will be labor in scratch removal and polishing of the part before the next step. It is hard to find a balance between finish quality and labor costs over a long distance.

It also really depends on the price point and customer you are serving too, 1 micron gold will look gold but pickup get abused so 2.5 micron would be better but is more expensive. There is also something about the phosphorus level in the nickle plate and it's magnetic properties but I forget what the issues were.

I'm sure someone will jump in with someone who does mail order work and does a good job but I don't really have a good source myself. The trim rings would be easier and will just be cosmetic. Most people who do gold also do it for electronics and industrial applications and they do have staff who will know.

Really it just brakes down into material and labor costs.

[SonnyW]

One warning you need to do a nickel under plate diffusion barrier first. without that the copper in the "nickel silver" will migrate to the surface. If you get a really cheap quote I will bet they are doing a direct gold plate which will look very ratty as the copper atoms migrate out.

I can verify about the diffusion being a concern. I worked for years as a printed wiring board engineer. We gold plated the connector tabs on our boards. Without the nickel barrier plate, even a fairly thick gold plating would disappear completely into the copper within a couple of weeks. Gold is readily soluble in copper.

[RedHouse]

Marku52, get a Caswell kit and do your own, it's way easier and you can do it as thick/thin as you please.

Plating Kits Electroplating Kits Aluminum Anodizing Kits Powder Coating Systems Metal Polishing And Buffing Supplies - Caswell Inc

[RedHouse]

Here we go again with the double-posts, I wish they would get that fixed.

[David King]

Bruce Johnson posted this place on a couple of occasions and I know quite a few other guitar makers who use them with good results.
VAN NUYS PLATING INC.-*NOW ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER*
There's 14K gold over copper which is gorgeous but will cost a small fortune then there's "Gold Chrome" which is an amber varnish over chrome which looks OK for a year or two but will wear off eventually.

[Bruce Johnson]

Yes, I have all my plating done at Van Nuys Plating. A great place, and they do lots of musical instrument parts work for various companies. I'm not certain, but I believe that they do all of Hipshot's plating.

Linda, the owner, tells me that they no longer do Gold or "Gold Chrome" plating for individuals and small batch customers. They only do it for large batches of identical parts. It's too finicky and expensive and prone to problems. Unfortunately, I think this is becoming true for most platers. Hardly anyone does gold anymore, other than jeweler-type pure gold. And that's real expensive.

No good solution that I know of. I don't offer gold hardware on any of my instruments any more.

[Possum]

Don't forget that gold will also noticeably make your pickups sound darker. You've got a double coat really, the outside of the top is plated and the inside of the top is plated. I did resonant peak tests with various covers recently and gold really knocked the peak rez down compared to nickel plated N/S. Gold doesn't wear well, either and looks terrible when it wears off. Any local trophy company can do gold plating, or automotive platers also. One surprise in the covers test I did was that, real vintage PAF covers are the LEAST transparent of them all, and the cheap commercial covers with copper underplating were the most transparent. Could have something to do with the base metal, who knows what the real alloy mix on cheap covers is, the old PAF covers were real nickel silver and they didn't cheat on the nickel content like some modern parts do.

[marku52]

That wouldn't surprise me at all, just adding the NS can knocks the Q down about .1-.2 . Now you are adding 2 layers (I hadn't thought of that!) of a very, very conductive material right where the field is most intense. That's gotta up the eddy losses.

[marku52]

Interesting. Do you know anyone who has gotten good results this way? Personal experience maybe?

[marku52]

Thanks to all--great info, as usual!