This time it's the plating on a brand new set of gold-plated Schaller tuners. The metal hardware I'm trying to match is the antique brass cover plate and tailpiece of a National Reso-Phonic RM-1 mandolin.
Gotoh makes the tuners that go on these mandolins in their antique-look X-Gold finish, but I discovered that none of the major luthiery supply retailers in the US seem to have those in stock: they'd have to be ordered from Japan. I have gotten special orders from Gotoh in Japan, and they generally take at least three and usually six months to arrive, sometimes longer.
We're trying to get this mandolin together sooner than that, so I would like to dull down the gold plating a little bit so it matches the rest of the hardware.
Whatever it was that I got from Radio Shack back then worked perfectly on both gold- and nickel-plating. You have to apply it very sparingly and then wipe it off within seconds, but it's perfect for the task.
whm
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