The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

So I always liked my 2-65 Victrola. It's a 4 digit serial built in 1930 and has a very pleasant sound (though I do need MicaMonster to fix the soundbox.)

In my teenage exuberance on discovering it dumped in an antique mall I spray bombed all the hardware Krylon gold. It'd be fairly accurate for an older painted model but the 2-65 I have originally came with gold-plated parts.

How do I go about gilding all this to make it original again? I heard of Rub N Buff but don't know if that can be done to a mirror shine. Should I just have it done by an electroplater?

I suspect real gold plating will be cost prohibitive. If your first paint job was done quickly without good quality control, I would suggest taking your time and doing a good gold paint job. Jerry Blais

Eppy... the secret to a really good and convincing faux gold plating or yellow cad job is shiny metal underneath. Get the old paint off and polish the metal on a buffing wheel to a bright shine, clean it with degreaser, then LIGHTLY MIST your gold over that till you get the tone you want. Gold leaf spray works really well for this.

Otherwise, get a second and or third job and just have everything plated. I'm actually considering doing just that on one of my big monster machines.

If your paint job is good, then you can try overspraying it with amber lacquer toner. It mellows the gold paint to look convincingly like gold plating... You can also wipe amber shellac over it to get a similar effect. Amber lacquer toner sprayed over polished silver colored metal also gives a good appearance without having to paint it first, since it is transparent.

Source for lacquer toner and a number of other restoration supplies including veneer and other woodworking supplies: http://furnituredoctor.net
Complete catalog: http://furnituredoctor.net/wp-content/u ... _Line1.pdf

Walter Smith, the owner is also a phonograph collector and can give extremely knowledgeable advice regarding finishes, etc.

For reference see this thread for gold painted Victor tone arms with my recommendation for Sheffield paint. I know it won`t help with gold plating but worth repeating since the original post mentioned Krylon (heinous abomination face) paint.

Also the rub and buff product is mentioned in the same thread.