I'm I the middle of restoring a classic car. One of the company's that I've purchased product from sent an ad for a electroplating kit. I deleted it because I had no interest but it may be what you're looking for. I know you're a hands on type of guy so it may be fun to try. Chrome would be too thick, three layers. LR
Hello all. Here's a thought for curing rusty plates. Why not make them out of 18K gold or sterling silver? 18K gold won't corrode and the insides of both the gold and silver covers can be supported by posts soldered to the insides of the cover plates so the covers will not collapse and bend out of shape over time.
The sterling covers can then be flashed plated using pure silver which will keep them from oxidizing and this will preclude the need to polish the cover plates. The cover plates, being made from thin gauge, highly mallable sheet stock can be shaped and finished quite easily.
A person can then fashion the cover plate stamping dies from aluminum or brass stock and crank out the cover plates on a hand press or a bench vise at leisure. This will preclude the need for a hydro press and other specialized, costly equipment.
I figure that the sterling silver covers can be cranked out and marketed for under 75.00$ per pair and the 18K covers can be produced for under 350.00$ per pair at current gold & silver prices.
Doing this, the cover plates should last several lifetimes of hard harp playing and they are swappable. MARK
Last Edited by on Dec 14, 2009 7:18 AM
I dunno about there being a market for them, but I am making a pair of sterling cover plates for my Hohner Blues Harp ATM. Thus far I am into it about 20$ for materials. I might need to buy a few more expendables, such as some more saw blades and maybe some more buffs, but overall, the cost shouldn't be more than 30 skins total.
I haven't built any dies for them because they are to be strictly one-off affairs, but someone were interested in making a semi-production run of cover plates, I'd say that the process could probably be completed in about 4 hours per pair, with the covered being pressed instead of hand shaped. Of course, this doesn't include additional work, such as engraving.
I am also making the cover plate screws out of sterling and I will use pieces of round stock soldered to the covers, then drilled and tapped for the cover plate nuts. This way the nuts won't fall off and get lost. MARK
Let us know how it works out Mark. The thing I'd be worried about with silver or gold would be the weight. It might be fine when you are holding the harp, but when you are caring a bag with 20+ harps it could add up. I've thought about making my own covers, more just for fun than for anything serious. (I'd love to make old art deco style stuff or just funny stuff like candy bar shaped covers.) I was thinking about looking into resins.
It’s 2021 and GoldHarps still sucks. I ordered a couple leather harp cases on July 9th and after sending an order/payment acknowledgment they have gone completely quiet - won’t respond to phone calls, messages on their website, or emails.
This dickhe@d beat me out of $23. Not exactly a major crime worthy of the retributions suggested by DS200. Nevertheless, if everyone on this site knows not to patronize GoldHarps then we’ve done our share to shut him done. Caveat emptor.
While it's fine to share complaints, I've just deleted a couple posts that suggested criminal ways to get your money back. That's not appropriate.
I do suggest using payment methods that have ways to dispute charges, and reporting bad actors to the BBB, and if it's over a lot of money taking them to court.
Contacted my bank yesterday to initiate the process of clawing back my refund. Let me reiterate, GoldHarps is a shit vendor. But, as usual, the answer is Rockin’ Ron’s. He sells leather Seydel pouches which are even better than the $10 Pinegrove pouches I ordered from GH. And less expensive. Lesson learned. Don’t repeat my mistake.
I have a couple of those Seydel pouches. Very handy. I use one often. I suppose Michelle has probably ceased making the Silverwing pouches, but those were cool. I have a 2 harp size soft pouch with clip which is my most used harp pouch. Pinegrove stuff is really good if my “holster” is any example. Might sell a bit of surplus gear and get one of his harp cases.
Christian, gold is pretty soft but from the description of the original problem it sounded more like it was gold leaf instead of gold plating.
There is another harp guy who was looking into doing gold plating. It requires a pretty hefty upfront investment.
A quick google on rhodium suggests it's not food safe, which would be the standard you'd want for something you were putting in your mouth all the time.
A lot of companies have done nickel in their covers over the years. It's a great material except about 5% of the population is allergic (and from what I've read prolonged exposure can create a sensitivity in people who don't currently have issues with it.)
At the risk of going somewhat off the subject of all of the above, l'd like to thank and compliment our very own Jason for the song: 'I'm A New Man.' A superb bluesy/soul piece of work. I flog it to death in my car when I'm driving down to Hastings (or anywhere that's more than 5:14 minutes away). And when I'm indoors l grab my E harp, plug in to my Danelectro amp and try and play along with it... and I never get it right. The aforementioned track is undoubtedly in my top ten favourites. Hey Jason, never mind playing a gold plated harmonica, l'm sure you could get a great sound out of a rusty turd. Please record a 'live' version on CD of 'l'm A New Man'.
I met Goldharps at the 2014 SPAH in St. Louis. I was looking at powder coated covers at the time, and I actually gave him some special effect pigments he could mix with a clear powder for some neat looks. He gave me a cheap harmonica (can't remember the model) cover that was powder coated. He didn't seem criminal to me at the time, but was very highly unorganized, and I couldn't see how this guy made a living at this. Now I know. But regarding the plating, I think he is just powder coating with a gold colored transparent powder. Since that time I've bought a powder coating gun, and some gold powder. It looks convincing.
