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Chrome covers on some Custombuckers.

goldtop0

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Aug 19, 2003
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Got my CS '14 Nashville ES 335 Gloss last month and decided to change the pup covers as they're too bright and shiny.
Yesterday I tried to VOS them using Spirit of Salts(my usual method) but to no avail....after 2 hours there was no dulling of the covers at all.
 

Minibucker

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Jan 12, 2003
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6,372
Got my CS '14 Nashville ES 335 Gloss last month and decided to change the pup covers as they're too bright and shiny.
Yesterday I tried to VOS them using Spirit of Salts(my usual method) but to no avail....after 2 hours there was no dulling of the covers at all.
I had that happen with some '57 Classics one time...they were opposed to be Nickel covers. Or maybe they were Burstbucker Pro's.
 

somebodyelseuk

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Jun 10, 2020
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454
Got my CS '14 Nashville ES 335 Gloss last month and decided to change the pup covers as they're too bright and shiny.
Yesterday I tried to VOS them using Spirit of Salts(my usual method) but to no avail....after 2 hours there was no dulling of the covers at all.
Before the eyes went bad, I was a chemist in the metal finishing industry.
If you can access some hydrochloric acid, dilute it 1 to 1 ACID IN TO WATER, submerge the covers. The chrome will start, fizzing, go grey, and after a few seconds go shiny again. Remove the covers immediately. Congratulations. You've stripped the chrome revealing nickel.
Chrome, and gold plate always has nickel underneath. Doesn't work on gold, by the way. The only thing gold dissolves in isn't available to the general public. A quick polish with Brasso will wear gold off.
 

goldtop0

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Before the eyes went bad, I was a chemist in the metal finishing industry.
If you can access some hydrochloric acid, dilute it 1 to 1 ACID IN TO WATER, submerge the covers. The chrome will start, fizzing, go grey, and after a few seconds go shiny again. Remove the covers immediately. Congratulations. You've stripped the chrome revealing nickel.
Chrome, and gold plate always has nickel underneath. Doesn't work on gold, by the way. The only thing gold dissolves in isn't available to the general public. A quick polish with Brasso will wear gold off.


Thanks for that.............very helpful:salude
I've also got some '60s chrome covers that will be worked on.
 

garywright

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Aug 17, 2002
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Before the eyes went bad, I was a chemist in the metal finishing industry.
If you can access some hydrochloric acid, dilute it 1 to 1 ACID IN TO WATER, submerge the covers. The chrome will start, fizzing, go grey, and after a few seconds go shiny again. Remove the covers immediately. Congratulations. You've stripped the chrome revealing nickel.

have you actually tried this ? ..popular opinion says otherwise but I’ve never attempted it.
 

somebodyelseuk

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Yer welcome.
Just be careful, though. The fumes will bugger you lungs, so plenty of ventilation . Best to work near a water supply, it burns, but washes off easily. Parts will need rinsing, as well.
As for ageing nickel... I wouldn't bother. Nickel plating tarnishes really easily, that's why they put chrome on top of it.
Play the guitar, it won't take long for the nickel to start looking tatty.
 

garywright

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I’ve used muriatic acid fumes in the past to create a nice patina on nickel covers ..you’re saying to completely submerge chrome covers and wait for the fizzing/grey/shine then remove, correct ?
 

somebodyelseuk

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have you actually tried this ? ..popular opinion says otherwise but I’ve never attempted it.
Thousands of times. It's how we stripped our chrome plating test mandrels.
Only time I did it on guitar parts was to strip chrome plated saddles for gold plating. Done it on car keys, as well.
The main reason I expect people shy away from it is they're trying to artificially age cheap zinc and brass parts. If there's any areas with thin plating, like inside holes, the HCl will dissolve the exposed zinc very quickly, and that's the part scrapped. They probably don't know that chrome always has nickel underneath, as well.
Pickup covers, as long as they're not brass will be fine, as will your scratchplate bracket. It takes seconds.
Muratic acid is hydrochloric acid, just not pure enough for lab use. Dilute some 1 to 1 and give it a go on some spare parts, such as chromed scratchplate brackets or cheap buckercovers, to get a feel for it.
Fuming takes quite a while, but you can walk away without risk of removing the nickel completely, within reason. Its more controlled. Submerged, its easy to see when the chrome's gone and its quick. It's not a suggestion for ageing nickel, just for removing chrome.
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO ADD ACID TO WATER AND NOT WATER TO ACID.
 
Last edited:

PaulD

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Jun 25, 2007
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Just to clarify, Spirit of Salts, Muriatic Acid and Hydrochloric Acid are all exactly the same thing, nothing to do with purity, they are just different names for the same thing (sometimes also called Brick Acid). The issue with trying to strip chrome is that any Hydrochloric Acid that you are likely to be able to buy will already be diluted to 30% or less and is unlikely to be strong enough even without diluting it.
 

somebodyelseuk

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Just to clarify, Spirit of Salts, Muriatic Acid and Hydrochloric Acid are all exactly the same thing, nothing to do with purity, they are just different names for the same thing (sometimes also called Brick Acid). The issue with trying to strip chrome is that any Hydrochloric Acid that you are likely to be able to buy will already be diluted to 30% or less and is unlikely to be strong enough even without diluting it.
Lab grade hydrochloric acid is usually 36%. Dilute this 50% and I guarantee it WILL strip your chrome in seconds.
The other stuff you name may be propriety names for HCl, but again, I guarantee they won't be pure enough for lab use.
If what arrives in the bottle is circa 30% HCl, it WILL strip chrome in seconds when diluted 1 to 1.
 

PaulD

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Lab grade hydrochloric acid is usually 36%. Dilute this 50% and I guarantee it WILL strip your chrome in seconds.
The other stuff you name may be propriety names for HCl, but again, I guarantee they won't be pure enough for lab use.
If what arrives in the bottle is circa 30% HCl, it WILL strip chrome in seconds when diluted 1 to 1.

I don't deny that concentrated hydrochloric acid will strip chrome, that is how it is done in industrial plating shops. Concentrated hydrochloric acid is as you say 36% or above, the hydrochloric acid that you are likely to be able to buy (certainly in the UK, not sure about other locations) will be dilute acid and is generally around 10% concentration.

spirit of salts and muriatic acid are not "propriety names", they are somewhat old fashioned names for hydrochloric acid https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spirits_of_salts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid. If you worked in laboratories 30+ years ago as I did you would often hear people using those names for it. Nothing whatsoever to do with purity or whether it is suitable for "lab use" they are just different names for the same thing and any of them can be in the concentrated or dilute form.
 

somebodyelseuk

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I don't deny that concentrated hydrochloric acid will strip chrome, that is how it is done in industrial plating shops. Concentrated hydrochloric acid is as you say 36% or above, the hydrochloric acid that you are likely to be able to buy (certainly in the UK, not sure about other locations) will be dilute acid and is generally around 10% concentration.

spirit of salts and muriatic acid are not "propriety names", they are somewhat old fashioned names for hydrochloric acid https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spirits_of_salts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid. If you worked in laboratories 30+ years ago as I did you would often hear people using those names for it. Nothing whatsoever to do with purity or whether it is suitable for "lab use" they are just different names for the same thing and any of them can be in the concentrated or dilute form.
I worked, in labs, for a supplier to the metal plating industry in the UK from 1988 to 2011. Never used any name other than hydrochloric acid. The HCl we used, as supplied was 36% and we stripped chrome from our test mandrels by submerging them in 50% dilute solution of that and, as I stated previously, I have stripped chrome plated cast Strat saddles, to the nickel and then gold plated them. Also done car keys similarly.
I'm done repeating myself.
 

PaulD

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I'm done repeating myself.

Not quite sure why you feel the need to.

Incidently Hydronium Chloride and Chlorhydric Acid are a couple more names for it (and I'm sure there are many others), they all describe exactly the same thing, an aqueous solution of Hydrogen Chloride gas. The average Joe in the street is unlikely to be able to obtain any of them in concentrations that will effectively strip chrome plating unless they have access to it through their work.
 
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