Redoing Chrome on Pedal Rods

Bruce Meyer · From: Thompson's Station, TN

After about 5 years in the case, I recently got my early 2000's Zum out to discover that all of the pedal rods had lost the chrome shine. None of the other chromed parts have a problem. Does any one know if you can just take the rods to a local chrome shop or?? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

You sure they are chrome? May be just polished stainless. Most I have seen are. Try some Semichrome on it and see if it polishes up.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 55 years and still counting.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Simichrome is hard to find, anymore. Most Harley motorcycle shops are now selling their own labled brand but it seems identical to Simichrome.

Mothers mag and aluminum polish will probably work too. Its similar to Simichrome except its not abrasive like Simichrome is.

But, all the pedal rods I've seen on guitars is stainless steel. Even my Franklin, which uses aircraft grade aluminun for all the "undercarriage" uses stainless steel for the pedal rods.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Any metal polish and a rag, along with a little elbow grease, will shine them right up!

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Mothers is what I use (and not enough if you want to know the truth - lazy I guess Mad

). I still see Semichrome at hardware stores. They are both great in my opinion.

All of mine (ZB, SHO~BUD, Kline, Carter) have all been stainless and the Williams I had, I think were polished aluminum (I could be wrong, but they were a whole lot lighter than the rods on my Carter).
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 55 years and still counting.

Bruce Meyer · From: Thompson's Station, TN

Thanks guys for the tips. I tried a Zep commercial stainless cleaner before I posted here. Not one bit of difference. But the spray cleaner is old and I may need the paste type polish. The rods are dull, they even feel rough or gritty, and I can see streaks covering the entire rods that run parallel to the rod length. If the paste doesn't work, I may give Bruce Z a call.

Every other metal part on the guitar, stored in the same case for the same length of time, is fine. But the rods were in the leg bag. No problems with my other Zum, early 90's vintage, although it was set up in the practice area most of the time.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

The Zep stuff is a cleaner, not a polish. It's made for countertops, appliances, and such. Since it's a spray, it can contain no polishing ingredient (as that would clog the nozzle).

Any metal polish...from Kit to Solarine to Butcher's will polish it out. Even white toothpaste (not the gel stuff) will do a decent job for this type of tarnish. Mr. Green

Polishing takes some time and effort, it's not a "wipe-on, wipe-off" type of thing.

Ron Funk · From: Ballwin, Missouri

Bruce -

I was never able to get the shine I was hoping for via much elbow grease + semichrome or other polishes, so took my pedal rods to a chrome plating shop and they used their professional two or three step Buffing (only) Process to put the shine back onto the pedal rods. Charged me $24 for eight pedal rods.

Since steel was going to be down for a few days, also had the shop chrome plate the aluminum clutches on PSG legs at $5 / clutch.

To me, worth the $44.

"Shine On Harvest Moon"

Lyle Bradford · From: Gilbert WV USA (deceased)

What grit of sand paper would clean them up? Does any one know?

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

If they are really bad, I would try some very fine steel wool. Then hit them with the Mother's.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

California Custom Purple Polish. Get it at the nearest Mack Truck dealer. Wipe it on. Wipe it off. No rubbing or elbow grease required. I use it with their Deoxidizer. Great on aluminum too. Do an endplate in 4 or 5 minutes. I'm not into wasting time polishing, and have tried everything. This is the best, by far!
http://www.californiacustom.com/aluminum_deoxidizer.html

http://www.californiacustom.com/purple_metal_polish.html

And their polish is also the best ever! I use it on all my guitars, and all the guitars I work on for friends.
http://www.californiacustom.com/mron_glass.html

Here's a pic of a circa '61/62 Shobud Perm body, that's been rubbed with Meguire's Swirl Remover 2.0, and had the CC wax applied. It was really grungy before this treatment!

Coop told me about this stuff, but he wouldn't give me the name, just a tiny, unlabeled bottle of it. Worked wonders on the legs and aluminum on my '67 restoration.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

I guess I learned something new from this thread. I thought the pedal rods were chrome plated too.

I once had a Derby that had some really rough looking pedal rods. You could even see the twists and striations in the metal and they just looked bad. I just figured they missed the plating stage, but I guess not.

No amount of polishing did anything much for them. I tried Nevr-Dull, Mothers, Semi-Chrome and several other things, but they still looked pretty much the same.

My Zum is not here at present but it's older than yours. The rods on it look fine though. I just looked at the ones on my Mullen and did a magnetic test on them. They do not attract a magnet, so I assume the chromium and nickel content of the stainless is a reasonably high amount.... but I always thought they were chrome plated....go figure.

Bruce Meyer · From: Thompson's Station, TN

Thanks again for all the good suggestions. All I could find Sunday was Brasso multi-metal polish at Lowes. Just spent quite a bit of time trying to polish the rods and they're much better, but not great. So, tomorrow I'll see if I can find the Mothers or California Custom.

I'd bet that a professional buffing like Ron described will be needed, given the way these look. It certainly sounds worth the money. I will report the results.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Pretty easy to buff them with just a home workshop buffer, or bench grinder with a buffing wheel. It's things like endplates and pedal rack bars that need to go to a pro. They have a larger surface area that tough to do with a small wheel.

Bill Moore · From: Manchester, Michigan

I would use very fine steel wool to polish the rods, that should clean them up pretty well. Maybe then use polish to shine them a little more.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Several sites that sell the California Custom, such as Amazon, say its mostly hype and that less expensive polishes work just as well.

Dick Sexton · From: Greenville, Ohio

Tape up the threaded end, chuck it in a varible speed drill(supported on the other end of the rod), on slow speed, use rag with polish, steel wool, crocus cloth, what ever... Poor mans machine shop rig. Let the drill do the work for you. Tape up the threads good, don't let the drill speed get away from you, or you'll end up with a pretzel. Good luck!

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Best of luck with that. I tried all these suggestions including the steel wool in the Derby situation I described above.

I would say it was pretty much for naught. It may have helped in a spot or two, and perhaps removed any foreign matter or rust if any was there, but overall it was futile.

If the alloy content is not up to snuff, nothing will bring them to the uniform lustre desired. Although I know Bruce maintains very high standards, [so did Charlie] could be that in this particular case, the metal supplied for construction is at fault. I defer to those with metallurgy backgrounds obviously.

Eugene Cole · From: near Washington Grove, MD, USA

Bruce Meyer · From: Thompson's Station, TN

A follow up on the discussion.

I called Bruce Zumsteg today. Most of his pedal rods have been made with chromed regular steel. There were a few over a short period of time that were not chromed, but not stainless. Last night, using Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish, I had gotten them to look pretty good. His comment was that they would probably retarnish in a period of time. He recommended taking them to a chrome shop.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Jack,
I have used every polish mentioned here, and several others. California Custom polishes are not hype. They take a fraction of the time and elbow grease that the others do. Flitz is good if you have very minor scratching. But you're gonna spend a lot of time doing it. Same with the cotton wadding. Takes forever. You can get the same level of shine with many products, if you don't mind wasting time! I can do an endplate in 5 minutes.
I don't think CC actually makes the product. They probably buy it in bulk, and bottle it up under their own label. So,,, there may be other companies that sell it cheaper. I saved 3 bucks by buying it at the Mack truck dealer.
Apply the Deoxidizer, then apply the polish right over it. Wipe it off, and lightly buff. You're done! It ain't gonna get any shinier.

Tom Franke · From: Arizona, USA

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

I don't know about other makers, but Bruce Z will chrome on request. I've seen one that had all the shiny bits chromed, the owner said it added 500 to the price tag
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Bill Miller · From: Gaspe, Quebec, Canada

Forum Index > Pedal Steel	Goto page 1, 2 Next	Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic