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Post subject: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:37 am
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Aspiring Musician
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So many guitar manufactures (Fender's an exception) offer only gold hardware on their lighter colored guitars. I much prefer silver, so I must be in the minority? Have any of you ever eliminated purchasing a guitar because you didn't like it's gold hardware?


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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:44 am
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Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.

I don't like gold. Gold on guitars is a deal breaker for me.

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:59 am
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Colour is such a subjective thing, but no, I don't like gold hardware and it factors in my decision process.

However, it's not a deal breaker.

I own a 1996 Godin G 1000 that I purchased used in 2011. It's back/white, with gold hardware. It would look so much better with silver (IMO), but it was a good guitar at a great price and fit a specific purpose, so I overlooked the gold hardware.

I'm shopping around for a new acocoustic and there is a Takemine that's in the running. It has gold hardware, but satisfies my other search criteria so I'm not ruling it out.


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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:10 am
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I don't like the look of gold hardware .... but sometimes it just looks right.

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:35 am
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My concern is how it will age. Given that chrome is chrome, steel is steel, but gold isn't gold but a thin layer of something on top of something else, there's no telling how it will look in ten or twenty years.
Even with top brands.

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:01 am
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chrome will pit and discolour. dont think your chrome parts are going to be shiny forever.


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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 8:54 am
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Aesthetically, Gold looks OK on some guitars.

But, Gold won't stay gold for nearly as long as Chrome plated steel will.

Then it just looks like sh*t.

While both can be protected from corrosion or pitting using a paste wax, the Gold is simply softer than Chrome and will wear off in no time.

Someone should think to offer hardware made of 10k AU or Titanium Oxide. These yellow metals will remain yellow forever... at a price of course.

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:33 am
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Lightnin MN wrote:
Aesthetically, Gold looks OK on some guitars.

But, Gold won't stay gold for nearly as long as Chrome plated steel will.


+1

Plating is a multi-stage process consisting of a highly-polished base-metal part (steel, brass, aluminum, copper, etc) over which a layer of nickel is electro-statically applied, followed by chromium. If gold is the final objective (and it is in fact gold), it goes over the chrome. This is the protocol used by Fender. In the case of Gibson, they eliminate the chromium and apply the gold directly over the nickel. In both instances the gold can be removed chemically using one of several different solvents to reveal the chrome or nickel base plating. One of these solvents is Brasso (the active agent is ammonium hydroxide).

Gold looks great on *some* guitars with certain finishes, less so with others. It is not as durable as chrome or nickel and will exhibit wear to some extent after only a brief time. Cleaning and polishing a guitar's hardware after each use will extend the cosmetic life of gold but, like nickel, it tarnishes relatively easily.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:52 am
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I rarely see gold hardware that I think looks good on a guitar. It looks too wannabe pimpin' to me. The only exception I can think of is the Gretch White Falcon.

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:31 pm
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I agree with all of you. One of the few "new" guitars I have purchased is an Ephi. Les Paul Blackback (black w/cream top). It has gold plating, but one of the few I think looks best that way.


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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:39 pm
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Epiphone's 'Royale' series

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Personally I don't mind if it rubs off a little here and there. No biggie.

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 1:33 pm
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I'm actually considering getting a PRS with gold hardware because it otherwise looks so good and has nice fat humbuckers, but I'm a bit skeptical as to how well it'll last.


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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 2:31 pm
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arth1 wrote:
I'm actually considering getting a PRS with gold hardware because it otherwise looks so good and has nice fat humbuckers, but I'm a bit skeptical as to how well it'll last.


Well, it won't last.

How soon it degrades really depends on how, and how often, it's handled.

Assuming cosmetics rule over playability, I think the consideration should be can you still enjoy it once the yellow starts going away? Of course, there's always the option of selling it at that point too.

If the aesthetics don't bother you on an otherwise excellent playing guitar, then go for it !

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 2:36 pm
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Highline wrote:
I rarely see gold hardware that I think looks good on a guitar. It looks too wannabe pimpin' to me.


Indeed.

It's so cheap and tawdry looking......

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:wink:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Gold hardware
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 4:32 pm
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I prefer chrome, however, I have a Dean Chrome G resonator...much of the gold (especially on the resonator cover) has rubbed away, but I think it looks cool, in an old-vibey-patina kinda way.

I don't care one way or another...if the guitar sounds good and the hardware looks good on that particular instrument (such as the BB King Lucille or the Strats Arjay showed above), I'd grab it and play it until it's all rubbed off.

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