Chrome Body

[calais5litre308]

Ok.Havent been on for a while but worked out one thing.Chrome is an absolute bitch to remove!!!!!!!Wasnt happy at all with the first go so my nephew and i have decided to do it again.he has put alot of work in sanding and removing in various different ways im not willing to admit lol.But the lowdown is by the end of next week the chrome should be going back on.still undecided but we arent sure yet might get a transparent purple over it to make it chromatic colour but we will see.What he doesnt know is what he is getting for christmas but i think he might be pretty happy depending on the result...........if its bad it could be on the fire keeping us warm on christmas night lol.But it should look good when we finish and good to have his help,Its bonding us as he has only been here for a week and we have only met once before.so here we go again!!!!!

[calais5litre308]

as they say though......chrome wasnt built in a day!!!!!!

[wokkaboy]

good luck Calais, I knew this would be a tough finish to get right. Look forward to pics of the re-coating

[Scott J.]

Hey Calais ... sorry I've been away from the forum for a couple of months and just catching up (otherwise I would've pitched in on this "chrome" discussion earlier! ).

If you're really after a true chrome finish ...

I've (still) got an EX-1 kit I bought almost 18 months ago, that for a couple of reasons I decided to go for a full, proper nickel plated finish ... its still on the drawing board and awaiting the necessary available funds to complete, but here's the results of my research into this topic ... it IS possible to electroplate a wooden guitar body, but just you just have to be pretty exacting in the preparation.

I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time! ) but I'm pretty sure the original "Satch - Surfing with the Alien" chrome guitar was actually chrome-plated (as in electroplating). I know Ibanez had several severely aborted attempts when they were trying to get it right ... the main problem being that timber expands and contracts with the general humidity ... and chrome can't take it so it ends up cracking, splitting and peeling off.

Anyway, the procedure they eventually worked out goes something like this ...

1. Usual body preparation - fill all dings/nicks/surface-imperfections and then sand, sand, and sand some more ... to get that dead-smooth surface.

2. Use a 2-pack polyurethane to seal EVERY square millimetre of exposed timber ... outside, inside, cavities, even all the holes that the wiring passes through ... everything! ... and give it a minimum of 3 coats! ... you want to end up with a COMPLETELY sealed unit - not even a pin-hole showing through to the timber underneath ... this makes the body inert so it wont swell or contract with humidity

3. Wet&Dry it to a dead smooth surface ... any wave or ripple, even the smallest, will show up like the proverbial "dogs balls" once its plated

4. Mask off those areas not needing plating (cavities, etc)

5. Coat with a conductive, high-solid content copper paint

6. Now its ready for electroplating in the metal of your choice.

Its certainly a bit of an exercise, but for that true polished-metal mirror finish, its the only way to go.

There's mob here in Sydney that specialise in plating anything (and I mean anything!) in a whole range of metals - chrome, silver, gold, nickel, platinum, bronze, brass, etc. ... and yes, they've even done a guitar body before (used for a presentation at the MTV awards a couple of years ago).

The head plater is really helpful and a mine of information (from memory, I think his name's Walter) and this is where I'll eventually get mine done (when the funds become available ... last time I spoke to him, about 12-18 months ago, the charge to plate a guitar body was around $300-350)

Check out their web-site to see some of the truly amazing stuff that he's plated! ...

http://www.bronzingstudio.com.au/

... and believe it or not, they can even plate fabrics!

Anyway, which ever way you go good luck with it and I'm really looking forward to seeing the end result.

Rock on!

[wokkaboy]

some great advice there Scott and looks like alot of prep but sure if it's right would look amazing. Here's a pic from their gallery, looks like a SV1 shape

[Scott J.]

Yep that's the one!

[calais5litre308]

well wont let me download a pic of my latest adventure.gone of the chrome theme for now but will be back!

[wokkaboy]

Shane (Calais) I tried to upload the pic as well and the attachment box just went in a spin and then had an error.
Anyone else had trouble uploading pics today ?

[adam]

Hey folks, Calais5litre308 asked me to post this for him, as he was having issues posting pics.

"Have given up on the chrome for the interim.Have new equipment coming in july,august so will have another crack then.Not over yet,just delayed!But here is the newest project.Just a teaser and still heaps to do but impossible to photograph properly.In real life its like glass with hundreds of colour changing LED lights under it.(not really just looks like that in good light)Thanks for the support all and will get back on track soon "

Edit: Hmmm, ok there seems to be something about his image that the Forum doesn't like. I will investigate.

[calais5litre308]

Maybe the resolution on the camera is too high.I must admit (allthough not trying to advertise)but we got a new galaxy s6 and the camera is absolutely amazing and its not even set on the top level.I dont it would be possiblr to photograph on a lower level but i will see what i can do.