what works best

[voodoo92]

Gday, im modifying extensivly a samick 4 string artist series that i have and the old bridge is gold, but fading and pitted etc. looks like crap. i wanna save money and reuse it and such so if i soaked it in paint stripper for a little while, what would the outcome look like? would this also work the the sealed tuners the get an old aged look of brass or whatever theyre both made of. Id really like to use the old bridge but have a spare set of chrome tuners if they come out ugly or dont match the bridge. im using 2 different chrome types of knobs for the 3band eq so i wanna get it looking acceptable and no to rubish and its hopefully sounds quite reasonable after all the work ive put in so far.
thoughts???
cheers

[john grey]

"Paint Stripper" will have virtually no effect on plated metal. Frequently made from methaline chloride or a combination of solvents & thickeners, it will have a VERY limited application on metallic surfaces.

What many people call "chrome" is actually nickel. The majority of tuners and similar hardware that is contacted frequently are nickel plated. However Nickel is a difficult plating to get done correctly. While chrome will generally hold to most metals that can maintain a copper undercoat, nickel is more difficult.

To chemically strip a plated metal is most likely beyond the scope of our discussion as it entail the use of caustic and toxic materials that are fairly serious.
Most people who work in a plating oriented shop or those who work with metals can tell the difference between nickel and chrome.
But often those metals are confused by those who do not work with them.
There is no easy answer for this as generally sand blasting is used to remove plating and in delicate items like a bridge or tuners; that's not too smart. Chemical methods are too toxic for the average individual. A VERY light sand blasting MIGHT make the situation improve. However (obviously) you'll need to disassemble the units and use a VERY (ultra) fine medium for the SB procedure. Tiny springs, screws, etc must NOT be exposed to such a procedure for obvious reasons
Best choice is live with it (or replace the unit entirely).
Best of luck..

[allexcosta]

Muriatic acid "ages" hardware quite well...

[voodoo92]

i wouldnt even mind if they just went back to silver... and i found a very easy way to do it... I just got my hands on a rough pad for dishwashing and with a few runs of it over the bridge it comes off nicely back to silver. got most of it back so far and gonna hit the tuners today hen i get time

[Deathblade Eric]

Try a bit of metal polish - Brasso or one of the toothpasty-like chrome cleaners. The gold plating is waffer thin & it doesn't take much to get shot of it. The underlying chrome or nickel plate is quite a bit thicker so should come up nicely.

P.