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Post by resotonic on Apr 6, 2019 20:35:29 GMT
Noticed when I was removing the clear coat from a Regal RC43 that underneath the electroplate it appears to be copper, noticeable around the sieve holes of the coverplate (which was a surprise - thinking maybe brass instead of copper). Was the steel body copper coated to help the electroplating adhere? Are MM Lightning bodies steel with brass (or copper) coating & then chrome or nickel plating for the final finish? I can't imagine either brass or copper would make a huge difference in Tone when the body is steel...  |
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Post by Stevie on Apr 6, 2019 23:22:22 GMT
AFAIK, there has to be a copper coating on steel for the nickel plating to "take" or be successful. Brass I'm not so certain of but I don't think the same rules apply as do with steel.
e&oe...
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Post by resotonic on Apr 7, 2019 2:39:13 GMT
Thanks Stevie; I think car bumpers from the '50's & '60's were coated with something before the chrome would 'stick' as well.
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Post by Stevie on Apr 7, 2019 7:36:46 GMT
Such bumpers were difficult to get re-plated because being an electric process, the plating would find the easiest path to ground and there was little or no coverage between the pressed slots. I'm thinking of the V8 Pilot specifically, but it probably happened to all of those classic grilles. Fortunately this does not concern us with resonator guitar bodies.
e&oe...
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Post by Michael Messer on Apr 7, 2019 9:00:22 GMT
Hi Resotonic,
MM Lightnings have solid brass bodies, as do National Style 0 models. To nickel plate the metal they do a process called 'coppering', which is essentially a coat of copper plate, and then the metal is nickel plated. Steel also has to be coppered before it is nickel plated.
In the 1930s National did a few experiments and produced a small handful of guitars, some with copper tops and some with copper backs. This didn't amount to much and as I say, only a few were made. Nobody is sure, but blues singer & guitarist, Bo Carter, is believed to have played a copper top National.
One of the early British blues guitarists and founder of what became the Rolling Stones, Brian Knight, made two copper acoustic guitars. These were not resonator instruments, they were large bodied acoustic guitars. Brian may well have been the first person playing blues slide guitar in England in the 1950s, but that is a whole other area of research. Brian Knight died in 2001. I met him a few times and he was a great man. His copper guitar had a great tone, but it was extremely heavy, and I mean HEAVY! The top is wood and the back and sides are copper. I am not quite sure which one or how, but one of Brian's copper guitars went to Eric Clapton and was sold at Christie's in 2004.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by pete1951 on Apr 7, 2019 14:02:37 GMT
I think the main reason to ‘copper’ a brass body is to cover any solder on the joins. I have made a couple of brass bodied resos and even after coppering the solder joints looked a little dull.
Pete
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