Gold plating sources

Bassbonechandler · by **Bassbonechandler** » 2018-12-17 10:52 a.m.

Hello all,

Where have some people gotten their mouthpieces gold plated before? I know stork and pickett does it.

BGuttman · by **BGuttman** » 2018-12-17 11:11 a.m.

There is an outfit called "Goldchops" that does full plating or rims only. I think they stint on the gold because we have had some complaints as well as some kudos.

I believe Doug Elliott does gold plating.

If you decide to let a jeweler do it, note that you want 24 karat gold (pure gold) plating. Many jewelers do 14 or 10 karat plating where the gold is mixed with other metals; sometimes nickel.

Doug_Elliott · by **Doug_Elliott** » 2018-12-17 3:30 p.m.

Jewelers only do decorative plating that won't last any time at all in use.

I don't do plating myself, but I do the prep work which is very important, and I use a local place that does a great job with 24-karat.

Bassbonechandler · by **Bassbonechandler** » 2018-12-17 9:00 p.m.

[quote="Doug Elliott"]Jewelers only do decorative plating that won't last any time at all in use.

I don't do plating myself, but I do the prep work which is very important, and I use a local place that does a great job with 24-karat.[/quote]

Remind me what the cost is? I'm looking to get the rim and inside cup plated.

Doug_Elliott · by **Doug_Elliott** » 2018-12-18 7:43 a.m.

I normally only get my screw-rims plated. For an entire mouthpiece it depends on several things but I think my plater would charge me something over $100. If you specifically don't want the outside gold, it might be different but I don't get that done so I don't know.

ssking2b · by **ssking2b** » 2018-12-18 1:37 p.m.

www.mouthpieceexpress.com does good gold plating, but turn around is 3 weeks or so - whole piece or rims and cup only, and they do engraving. John Stork of Stork mouthpieces does good gold plating also with a fairly quick turn around (couple of days).

euphoni · by **euphoni** » 2019-01-29 9:53 p.m.

I used gold chops and am extremely happy with the finish and the price and the speed of service. They did a half satin half shiny gold finish. I plan on using them again.

ghmerrill · by **ghmerrill** » 2019-01-30 12:16 p.m.

I used Gold Chops a couple of times in the (fairly distant) past for a couple of tuba mouthpieces and at the time I was pretty happy with them. The initial result seemed great, but it didn't stand up to longer term wear and was nowhere near the quality (meaning, I think, thickness of the gold layer) of my Schilke factory-plated gold mouthpieces. Within two or three years it was showing definite signs of wearing through, whereas I NEVER saw that on a Schilke piece. At least that was my experience. Just be aware that there's a lot of "you get what you pay for" in this area -- and often a lot of what you pay for is the gold (although Doug is of course correct that the prep work is critical).

euphoni · by **euphoni** » 2019-01-30 9:49 p.m.

[quote="ghmerrill"]I used Gold Chops a couple of times in the (fairly distant) past for a couple of tuba mouthpieces and at the time I was pretty happy with them. The initial result seemed great, but it didn't stand up to longer term wear and was nowhere near the quality (meaning, I think, thickness of the gold layer) of my Schilke factory-plated gold mouthpieces. Within two or three years it was showing definite signs of wearing through, whereas I NEVER saw that on a Schilke piece. At least that was my experience. Just be aware that there's a lot of "you get what you pay for" in this area -- and often a lot of what you pay for is the gold (although Doug is of course correct that the prep work is critical).[/quote]

How much did that cost for just the plating from Shilke?

BGuttman · by **BGuttman** » 2019-01-30 9:52 p.m.

I don't think Schilke offers gold plating as a service. You can buy gold plated Schilke mouthpieces, but they are usually plated by Anderson Plating.

ghmerrill · by **ghmerrill** » 2019-01-31 12:54 a.m.

Bruce is right -- at least to the degree that I never had a mouthpiece plated by Schilke, but rather bought already-plated mouthpieces. I have no knowledge of who did the plating. Just assumed that Shilke had done it in house.

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Gold plating sources