After putting about 20 hours into cleaning and polishing the nickel hardware (which only got me through about 2/3 of the hardware!) on my recently acquired '64 Club Date / Combo set without getting the results I was hoping for, I've decided to just have everything re-plated.
I've received a recommendation from a knowledgable friend for a plating company in nearby Addison, IL called Courtesy Metal (anyone here heard of them/used them?), so I called. The guy I spoke with said he has done work on drum hardware before and didn't seem at all phased by the idea of lots of small and odd shaped and sized parts. He even asked if the base metal was steel or brass, indicating some knowledge of the task at hand.
So I'm planning on taking everything over there this Saturday morning and having it re-plated in nickel.
Here's the issue: The dog bone t-rods on the bass drum look to me like the dog bone / handle part has never been plated. The rods are nickel plated, but the dog bones look like a kind of duller, gray-colored metal that is polished, but not plated with anything silver-y. (Sorry I don't have a pic handy, but I can post one later today if anyone wants to see it.)
So my question: does anyone here have an older Club Date bass with original nickel plated t-rods, and if so, can you post pics or tell me if they look like mine?
I'd like to re-plate everything the way it's supposed to be plated, but I'm not sure if this part should be completely plated, or just the rod section. The only photos of C.D. t-rods I've been able to find here or elsewhere online all seem to show chrome rather than nickel plated t-rods like mine (and on those, the dog bone is chrome plated).
Anyone?
Thanks.
Scott