# How to make burnt nickel pickup covers?



## teamSKDM (Aug 8, 2012)

I bought some dimarzio pickup covers off ebay,








and decided i want to make em burnt like a bkp.







figured maybe i could use a hand torch? i tried a lighter haha, and that did nothing. or maybe theres some sort of acid or liquid that i could put on it, that would react to fire in a way that it would come out with those blues and purples and pinks? 

Help a brother out!


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## espman (Aug 8, 2012)

Search is your friend 

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/pi...tech/143968-homemade-burnt-chrome-covers.html
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/pi...81-i-bit-bullet-did-burnt-chrome-content.html


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## BlackMastodon (Aug 8, 2012)

Maybe a heat gun would work too? Might have a bit more control than just fire.


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## teamSKDM (Aug 8, 2012)

the thred posted above^ that person used a gas stove. I only have an electric stove  think maybe if i let em sit on an electric stove and then toss em in a bowl of water it will do the trick?hahah


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## JamesM (Aug 8, 2012)

A blow torch and some patience.


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## Metal_Webb (Aug 8, 2012)

teamSKDM said:


> the thred posted above^ that person used a gas stove. I only have an electric stove  think maybe if i let em sit on an electric stove and then toss em in a bowl of water it will do the trick?hahah



Nope, you have to oxidise the covers and a water bath won't do the trick. It'd really need to be exposed to an open flame.


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## bob123 (Aug 9, 2012)

Id be willing to wager BKP uses stainless steel covers, not just brass or nickel. 

Stainless is what really gets those cool colors, chrome can burn off, which isnt as nice.


Does anyone know where to get stainless covers? lol


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## Danukenator (Aug 9, 2012)

bob123 said:


> Id be willing to wager BKP uses stainless steel covers, not just brass or nickel.
> 
> Stainless is what really gets those cool colors, chrome can burn off, which isnt as nice.



Not quite.

I had no clue how to do this so I emailed Tim at BKPs asking if they wouldn't mind explaining the process. Here is the response I got.



> Simply put we use a blow torch but the secret is in the base material of the cover which is pure nickel silver.
> The technique doesn't work on any other material, ie guitar hardware, as it's often got brass or aluminium as a base material which draws all the heat away.



So, it seems you need a nickle silver base. Nice guess with the stainless steel base though. I figured you probably needed some sort of special core material for the process to work.

Sidenote: It's incredible customer service like this that makes me want to order from a company. I got a response about this in about 6 hours.


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## bob123 (Aug 9, 2012)

Danukenator said:


> Not quite.
> 
> I had no clue how to do this so I emailed Tim at BKPs asking if they wouldn't mind explaining the process. Here is the response I got.
> 
> ...



Hmm. As long as its not chromed. I figured it wouldnt work with "off the shelf" pickup covers though.

For the record, this is what stainless steel looks like when heated up.


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## Linny (Aug 9, 2012)

Chrome, nickel and SS can be colored this way. Just look at exhaust pipes on motorcycles.


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## The Norsemen (Aug 9, 2012)

I've heated up mild steel in a welding shop to do this.
The different colors would only appear if the steel was entirely clean surfaced with no mill scale and each color would appear in order.
Golds, blues, purples. I don't remember the order though.

You had to be careful and watch where you were putting the heat because if you heated the steel up past a certain point it would change
back to steel color and then in order for it to be able to be colored again you had to grind off the surface clean again. 

I could never get the color to stay though. After a few weeks it always faded way.
Perhaps it doesn't fade when using the correct base metal.


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## Metal_Webb (Aug 9, 2012)

The different colours are caused by the layer of the metal's oxide being built up. The thickness of the oxide determines the colour, which is due to light refracting through the oxide's crystal structure. 
The heat and the combustion products encourages surface oxidation in most metals, resulting in the colours that are being sought after. Most oxides however aren't very strong and able to resist wear resulting in the oxide rubbing off or reacting with other stuff in the air. Nickel-silver, titanium and aluminium are all suitable as their oxides are extremely stable and durable.

The oxidation can be done via a process known as annodisation. Here, an electric current is passed through the metal. The voltage is used to determine the resulting colour, for example, for titanium:





(What most of those motorbike/car exhaust systems are made of btw. Just they use the heat from the exhaust to cause the colour change.)


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