How to remove black coating

[Cato]

have you ever wished if black bridge/tail piece/tuners on your guitar were nickel?

NO!?

um, ok. but you should see how I remove the black coating.

this is the replacement bridge of Schaller, designed for Gibson's wraptail.



It looks cool and is very useful. but it wouldn't fit any vintage guitars(and vintage reissues) because it's black.

so here's the way to change it to nickel.

prepare the following.



(1)Kidney basin

(2)Stainless Brush

(3)Chopsticks

(4)Chopstick stand

(5)Pipe cleaning gel

take away small rings and long screws off of the unit before getting to work. those are made of iron and this gel rusts them.



steep the other parts in gel and leave them alone.

[Cato]

7 hours after

[Cato]

24 hours passed.

wash them with water and steep in gel again

[Matt White]

Wow....that's some dedication Cato..........

the fumes must be deadly.........

that does clean up well.....................................

[jhale667]

Way to ruin perfectly good black hardware, Cato!~


j/k pretty cool.

[ashstralia]

i'm gonna hit up the local sushi joint... 'hey, why are there no little cute chopstick holders, like my mate Cato has???

[Cato]

48 hours after.

80% of the coating removed.

wash them and steep in gel again. repeat this process till the coating gets removed completely.



>ash
I have a lot of chopstick stands(holders, rests, whatever..) in the shape of cats.

[Hardrock69]

Coolness, Cato!

I have one guitar with black hardware, but it is a completely red JB Player neck-thru-body strat, and I think the black hardware looks better on it than chrome would. It is the stock hardware color anyway.

[ashstralia]

'hey, why are there no little cute chopstick holders, like my mate Cato has???

if you could teach me how to say this in japanese, while i pointed to the photo, would be hilarious.

edit; i hope you're wearing quality rubber gloves and protective eyewear while doing this!

[Nitro Express]

Looking at the bottle of drain cleaner it says Johnson Wax which means the American equivalent is Draino. Draino gel is a lye based drain cleaner and not hydrochloric or sulfuric acid which can kill septic tank bacteria and damage metal pipes. Lye is less damaging to metal. If the black is paint you can use Aircraft Remover (aircraft and automotive paint removing gel) which is safe for metals. I don't know if it will take powder coating off or not.

You want to be careful using chemicals because they can give off poisonous fumes when they react and you can damage your metal parts. Certain chemicals are really harsh on brass, aluminum, and some pot metals.

[ELVIS]

Is that your emesis basin for the radiation sickness ??

[ELVIS]

I think some of Cato's teeth fell in there...

[twonabomber]

I don't know if it will take powder coating off or not.

I used to work on a powder coat line back in the early 90's. We'd acid dip parts that had to be re-worked, then the parts would go into a clean water rinse and back on the line.

[Cato]

I think some of Cato's teeth fell in there...

read the description of this thread on forum index.

[ELVIS]

It says: honerable ELVRIS best poster ever...