Matt my son has used a local guy to plate various things for his guitars builds. Think he's in the Bridgeport area close by us. I'll ask him tomorrow he's away on a gig today/tonight out of town. Some places are pretty reasonable price wise. Some can be more expensive as they send parts out for plating. EPA has been tough on the plating places in state. Only a few places left here.

Non related Q..... did you find the 15" wood hoop you needed in Chicago? If not shoot me a pm I have one if your still looking.

Do it your self

[ame]http://youtu.be/VoOULQYb58E[/ame]

The self plating kit is interesting but seems a bit small scale and would take a very long time if I am replating an entire kit. Also, it involves handling electrical currents and liquids at the same time and to put it as simple as possible, Electricians were put on this planet to keep folks like me alive. Interesting video though.

You can get a bigger kit for bigger plating jobs. Contact them they will let you know I have a friend that brought there kit and it did a very good job.

Caswell also has a pretty good forum. Everything from plating to polishing lots of good info there too.

Thanks for the info guys. Much appreciated.

I've investigated replating quite extensively. I bought the small Caswell kit, which worked well if all of the old plating was removed. I was able to re-plate some small parts with nickel plate. I also took some ludwig lugs to a plating shop and was quoted a very high price. It just wasn't worth it in the end. Stripping all of the old plating was the biggest problem, since any acid that will remove the plating will also cause pitting on the cast lugs. Once a cast part is pitted, the pitting will show through on the new chrome. I spent lots of time trying to figure this out with no solid answers. If you figure it out, I'd love to know!

Jay Leno has this auto show on YouTube .. He has this episode on a new technique . Check it out. [ame]http://youtu.be/A-1cTpSZ1l8[/ame]

Rich

The pitting you can remove if not very extensive with a wire brush. know to remove chrome you can use as follows

Use hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid). Hydrochloric, or muriatic, acid, is a strong, corrosive acid. In high concentrations, it can be used to remove chrome plating from metal objects. For removing chrome, an acid solution of about 30-40% concentration should suffice. Proceed as below:

Mix 1/3 part hydrochloric acid to 1 part water in a vat used for chemical mixtures (like a heavy-duty plastic bucket, etc.) to produce a 30% acid solution. Alternatively, purchase a pre-mixed acid solution of sufficient concentration.

Submerge the chrome-plated object in the solution until chrome strips off.

Wash the object thoroughly in soap and water, and rinse before dry