Gold plating an old bigsby

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Is it possible to get a "chrome" (polished) or "nickel" (unpolished) bigsby plated in gold? If so, how many monies we talkin'?

 

[guildzilla]

D, I think this can be done to any or most metals using electrolysis, but I'm reaching back to HS Science class here.

I've been wondering the same thing, including what would happen to the TP parts that are painted black on a Bigsby.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

GZ,

Finding an old gold Guild bigsby for my '62 X500 is almost impossible. New plate on an old one ia about as good as I can do.

Any idea what it would cost to have it done?

hf

 

[Jeff]

GZ,

Finding an old gold Guild bigsby for my '62 X500 is almost impossible. New plate on an old one ia about as good as I can do.

Any idea what it would cost to have it done?

hf

One off deal like a Bigsby probably ridikulus spensive. It'd need be disassembled & reassembled afterwards.
Plating shops have all sorts of EPA issues, chemicals involved are not particularly environmentally friendly.


Same principle as having old Corvette parts rechromed, "Sure we can do it" "That'll be $8500, thank you very much"

google custom plating: http://www.acmebrassplating.com/services.html

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Jeff,

Sounds like I have another great idea that won't work.

hf

 

[Jeff]

Naa big guy, Global economy & all opens up all kinds of options.

Ya can get it plastic plated fer cheap on the banks of the Yangtzee. Course ya gotta pay the Robber Barons on this side of the pond for knowing where to send the job. Labor's cheap & the EPA folks are directed resort areas to conduct their research.

http://www.waichun.com/

http://www.shqsx.com/dzjs_e.asp

Seriously, you can get it done but you better damned well love the guitar.

 

[coastie99]

D, I think this can be done

Zilla said "D Man, I believe this can be easily done. Just take your hatt to shield you from the sun, and get your sorry arse out to Highway 61".

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Coastie,

L M sorry arse O.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp7BrzrfJMM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UlS1ULWnOg

 

[coastie99]

Jeez; I'm totally bummed to see JW looking so frail !!

I had heard that he'd been ill; hopefully he has improved recently.

All the young guns that I've adored seem to have suddenly become old guys.......... I just cannot get my head adjusted to Buddy Guy being a senior citizen !

 

[Default]

I've heard that albinos don't have longevity for the most part and he's late to mid sixties?

Some Winter and Muddy.

 

[coastie99]

I've heard that albinos don't have longevity for the most part and he's late to mid sixties?

Some Winter and Muddy.

Good grief.............. he's 64 !!

Born Feb 23rd, 1944.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Did Johnny ever get off of chemicals?

 

[dklsplace]

Wow, he's lookin' better in that '07 video than the last time I saw him live about 15 years ago! Cept he was still standing then, but rarely moved. They walked him out to the mic & he did his thing. When it came to changing guitars, he would simply take a step back from the mic, two roadies would run out, one would take the first guitar off, the other would put the new one on for him....then he'd step forward again & keep rolling.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Some Winter and Muddy.

How can you tell which one is Johnny Winter?

But seriously, can you imagine the scenes when Johnny was unknown and started walking in to South Chicago bars to jam?

 

[coastie99]

Some Winter and Muddy.

How can you tell which one is Johnny Winter?

Johnny's the one who's spent the least time in the sun.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Johnny's the one who's spent the least time in the sun./

Johnny's the one who's spent the most money on sunblock.

 

[Mr. P ~]

Is it possible to get a "chrome" (polished) or "nickel" (unpolished) bigsby plated in gold? If so, how many monies we talkin'?

Hay Hat!!

You quit too soon.

Here is a website for a gold plater that will do lots of things.

http://www.silverplater.com/

Gold plating prices are based on surface area to cover.

If you go into their price list you can find items of similar size to a Bigsby in surface area. I found a brass door knocker for $45-$70.

The one thing they do not talk about is plating thickness which is the most important factor in both price & durability. So I would call them and talk about your project and see what they say. 8)

 

[gilded]

One thing I've always heard, though I don't know if it's true, is that you can Gold Plate nickel plated items, but not
Chrome plated items. I do know that, when the gold plating wears off of G!b$*n hardware there is always nickel underneath.
You might want to look into that. If it's true, then I wonder if you would plate in Nickel and then Gold, especially if you are trying to get the 'correct vintage' look??

 

[matsickma]

Hey gilded,

Looks like Gibson knew what they were doing. The proper way to plate a metal with gold or silver (and possibly other materials like tin) is to apply a layer of nickel "barrier" between the base metal and the Gold (Au) or Silver (Ag). The nickle layer acts a barrier layer to prevent the Gold or Silver from migrating into the base metal. For military hardware it is mandatory to have a barrier layer for migration and for corrosion issues. Since military systems are designed for the most harsh environments and may be in inventory for decades this is taken very seriously. However the addition of a nickle barrier is not mandatory for many metals. You could directly plate gold on to brass, copper, aluminum. However over time the gold will begin to disappear as it migrates into the base metal. The migration process is suprisingly quick and for ultra thin platings you will see the migration within a year or two.

I have often wondered about the gold plating process used for Guild parts. The gold pickups don't hold up well but some of that may be due to physical wear and abrasion. However one Guild guitar that always had poor gold plating performance was the T-200 and T-250's. The Tele like bridge plate on these guitars almost always looks poor on the vintage market. I have owned 3 of them over the years and all didn't hold up well. I often wondered it they were plated without a nickel layer.

M

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Good grief.............. he's 64 !!

Will you still need me? Will you still feed me? (When I'm six feet four.)


Mr P,

Thanks for the link. It looks like the have a lot of expert experience.

BTW, what do they hunt in Huntsville?


Gilded,

when the gold plating wears off of G!b$*n hardware there is always nickel underneath.

I have some Gold Grovers like that too. I'm going to have to check my other "old gold."