Treating oxidized/pitted hardware?

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TelePaul

TelePaul

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Hey again guys. Just wondered if I should be overly-concerned about pitted gold hardware on my LP. I understand that metal corrodes but looking at the stop-taiol and tune-o-matic, I'm worried in time, excessive rusting could make bridge adjustments difficult. I assume this is just par for the course?
 
There is nothing you can do to stop pitting on plated hardware. Especially the cheaper die cast sets. You can slow it down by avoiding getting too much moisture on there. Certainly avoid acidic stuff on it and wipe it down often with a chamois. The gold will wear pretty quick however you do it. It shouldn't harm the ability to adjust the setup. A tiny drop of very fine oil will help that. Keep it off the rest of the guitar.

Pitting is a sign of poor quality plating and frankly most of the stuff out there is pretty poor. Gotoh are about the best as far as I have seen. Gibson and fender are terrible.
 
Sweat eats plating for lunch. Combine my sweat with lackadaisical guitar hygiene and you can guess what mine look like.


lou
 
Some things you could try

If it's not too bad yet, try very gently using some 0000 steel wool. You can also try automotive polish designed to remove swirl marks. These suggestions are from a local guitar shop owner. Personally, I had some stuff that looked like corrosion that I was afraid to attempt to remove. Turns out, all I needed was a clean rag and some elbow grease. I've also heard that you can use automotive wax to help prevent it, once it's clean. Of course, the cleaner you keep it to begin with, the longer it should last. Now, if you live in a high-humidity environment, you're probably fighting a losing battle.
 
DO NOT under any circumstances use wire wool on gold plated hardware or any other abrasive. Unless of course you want to remove the gold plate and expose the nickel. Even then there are easier ways.

The pitting is under the base copper coat and in the base metal. To remove it is impossible once it has shown itself. On just about all gold plated guitar hardware you have the base metal, a flash cyanide copper coat, a heavier bright levelling nickel coat and then a thin (3-5 micron if you're lucky) gold finish.

Pitting is in the base metal. Gold does not tarnish as you know so if it's dirt on top get rid of it with a chamois, if' it's under the gold plate forget it.
 
Buckaroo cymbal cleaner

Although I do not use this on "gold plated" hardware...

I purchase this cymbal cleaner whenever I can find it. (it's a pretty hard find)

You may be able to still find it in little mom and pop music stores.

It's called BUCKAROO cymbal cleaner, made by Harris Musical Products Inc.

P.O. Box 91 Waltham, Ma. 02454 USA Model #B-200

It is not only good for cymbals,..

I've cleaned a many hardware pieces with it,...with very good results.
No abrasion, no scratches,...notta nothin'

It is like a cotton type substance, with a potent smell.

I've got the worst of the worst of pitting off my drum rims, cymbal stands,...
and my guitarists locking systems.

I don't know how it would work for "gold plated" hardware, as I've never tried it before. But, I can say that it definitely helped whatever I've applied it to in the past.
 
I hate gold hardware ..... it always wears off quickly and usually you also get the pitting under it.
As muttley said, wipe it clean with a chamois after every time you play it without fail.
That will minimize it but the wiping it with a chamois will itself rub off the gold in time.
Make sure you get a little oil on those screws from time to time and you'll be able to adjust them just fine.

As for the rest ..... sorry, I know you don't want to but there's no way to avoid 'relicing' a git if you're gonna play it.
 
acctually i really hated the gold finish on my lp custom but its all worn through my playing and now looks like it has a ton of mojo... no way would chrome yield this lovely worn look...
 
About 10 years ago, it became very trendy for "hooptee" car drivers to have hood ornaments, badges, etc. gold-plated- some folks made their livings by driving around with small, portable machines that did it, on-the-car. It was real gold-plating, too, although rather thin. Some of those machines probably survive, still functional. If you (or somebody like Muttley, who might make some money with one,) could find one that might be a good way to re-plate your hardware- but it would probably only be cost-effective on vintage instruments that you wanted to keep the original parts. But as electro-plating is almost ALWAYS multi-layered (so-called "chrome" plating is actually copper, then nickle, then chrome plated) it would be quite an undertaking on even a small part.
 
stevieb said:
About 10 years ago, it became very trendy for "hooptee" car drivers to have hood ornaments, badges, etc. gold-plated- some folks made their livings by driving around with small, portable machines that did it, on-the-car. It was real gold-plating, too, although rather thin. Some of those machines probably survive, still functional. If you (or somebody like Muttley, who might make some money with one,) could find one that might be a good way to re-plate your hardware- but it would probably only be cost-effective on vintage instruments that you wanted to keep the original parts. But as electro-plating is almost ALWAYS multi-layered (so-called "chrome" plating is actually copper, then nickle, then chrome plated) it would be quite an undertaking on even a small part.
Click to expand...

I spent a good deal of time in the precious metal electroplating shop when I did my apprenticeship at Rolls Royce. Yes we didn't just do wood shop stuff..:)

The option of replating is time consuming and unless you go back to base metal can give rather unpredictable results. Just stripping the gold and replating will work after a fashion but once you have pitting in the base metal it is pretty much a non starter. There are ways but they involve some quite good knowledge and facility.

Gold plating is also copper flash/bright nickel and then gold. It's the bright nickel that gives the shine to both chrome and gold. Silver is the only one of the three that bright nickel is not really required.
 
I had a friend in Baton Rouge that took all his (high grade) hardware to a jeweler to have it gold plated. Now THAT looked good!
And it was pretty thick like you would have on decent jewelery that was meant to be worn and handled.
It held up well and looked great.
Seems like it wasn't THAT expensive for what it was either.
 
Lt. Bob said:
I had a friend in Baton Rouge that took all his (high grade) hardware to a jeweler to have it gold plated. Now THAT looked good!
And it was pretty thick like you would have on decent jewelery that was meant to be worn and handled.
It held up well and looked great.
Seems like it wasn't THAT expensive for what it was either.
Click to expand...

Brass as a base metal is not so much of a problem because it isn't inclined to pitting. I have had stuff done stuff on occasion. The die cast stuff is junk and best swapped out if you want to keep a good gold finish.

The thickness of the gold on plated items is measured in micron and a decent finish would be in the order of 10 - 20 depending on the actual gold alloy and it's intended use. From what I have seen over the years guitar stuff falls way short of that. Cost is the obvious factor.
 
Pitted hardware is called mojo. As has been mentioned. Unless it looks rotted, love it.
 
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