Technics 1200 Tonearm Gold Plating?

[TheoryJean]

hello,

does anybody know what metal aTechnics sl1200 m3d tonearm tube is made of? I would like to gold plate it as to match another gold plated tonearm I have (long story) but I do not know what metal it is made of and most jewelers can not gold plate on titanium and some other metals.

I have searched all over google for the tonearm specs and read through the entire technics manual, but it does not say what metal the tonearm tube is made of.

For further discussion... I have a limited edition technics 1200 mk5GLD. Does anyone know how they plated the hardware on that one? I sometimes see custom gold tonearms on ebay and such but whenever I take mine to a jeweler they tell me they can not plate it without knowing what metal it is.

Thanks for any info!

 

[Montycat]

The tube is some sort of aluminum alloy but finding the actual grade or composition might proof difficult.

Plating and certainly anodizing does usually require a pretty good idea of the base metal or the results can be unpredictable.

 

[Mister Pig]

Technics made a gold plated 1200 though.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[Montycat]

Technics made a gold plated 1200 though.

Regards
Mister Pig

Yes, but of course they know the alloy content.

 

[tnsilver]

I don't know about gold plating but when it comes to chrome, some alloys (aluminum for example) must be nickel plated first, as a bonding substrate, and only then chromed.
I can understand why jewelers won't do it, but specialized shops will.

 

[SoundsAlike]

Technics made a gold plated 1200 though.

Regards
Mister Pig

That ain’t a Technics, and OP says they own a 1200GLD

 

[Mister Pig]

That ain’t a Technics, and OP says they own a 1200GLD

No you are right, that is a Reloop. Came up in a search. I was at a guys house who had the DP 75 I bought that has the gold plated 1200GLD. Here it is

 

[N8Nagel]

You'll need to have it nickel plated first and then plate the gold over top of that. BDTD with some NLA emblems for a car I restored years ago ('62 Studebaker Daytona, the gold "birds" on the C-pillars)

 

[4-2-7]

Most tonearm tubes that are of this kind are extruded brass or aluminum. Think non magnetic, brass would be what they chrome plate, aluminum would generally be anodized or painted.

 

[45rpmspinner]

Isn't the standard wand already plated? Looks like nickel/chrome to me.

 

[45rpmspinner]

brass would be what they chrome plate, aluminum would generally be anodized or painted.

Plating aluminum with nickel/chrome has been common for quite a long time....40 years at least.
The alloy is treated to stop oxidation, plated with copper, buffed, and then plated with nickel/chrome.

 

[EngineerNate]

I think that some tonearms are aluminum that's been chrome plated and some are just polished aluminum. You can kind of see it in the different luster of each material. I'm not sure which the Technics would be.

 

[45rpmspinner]

Aluminum oxidizes very quickly.
I've never heard of anyone having to polish their SL1200 tonearm wand.
Nor have I ever felt the need to polish my own.

 

[EngineerNate]

That's a fair point, aluminum mag wheels require a good bit of maintenance to stay shiny.

I've polished a few wands but they've generally been neglected.

A neglected wand is a sad wand.

 

[4-2-7]

Aluminum oxidizes very quickly.
I've never heard of anyone having to polish their SL1200 tonearm wand.
Nor have I ever felt the need to polish my own.

You polish aluminum and then it gets a clear anodizing. I’ve never seen extruded aluminum plated in chrome as it’s not needed as the proses above accomplishes the look. Car trim has been done like this for a very long time to match with the actual chrome parts.

 

[EngineerNate]

You polish aluminum and then it gets a clear anodizing. I’ve never seen extruded aluminum plated in chrome as it’s not needed as the proses above accomplishes the look. Car trim has been done like this for a very long time to match with the actual chrome parts.

I suppose you could do what they do with most car wheels and simply clear coat it as well.

 

[BobbyBluz]

If you've ever taken a 1200 series turntable apart it's not something you'd want to do for a somewhat frivolous task. Removing the tonearm itself to plate, doing all the prep work involved, paying for it then putting it all back together is a task I wouldn't take on and I was Technics trained in 1200 setup & repair. Find a tonearm assembly already in gold and save yourself a huge amount of needless work.

 

[TheoryJean]

So what's the final verdict? Is it chrome plated? If so, we can not plate gold on top of chrome plating... I really wonder how Technics and other customized turntables did it... If it is chrome plated, is there anywhere to find a base technics 1200 tonearm?

Thanks again for all the info!

 

[Montycat]

The standard arm tube is anodized aluminum.

 

[BobbyBluz]

I've seen Technics tonearms on Ebay. Kevin at KABUSA most likely has one he'll sell you.