Burnt humbucker covers

[docteurseb]

Got some cheap nickel silver covers that got delivered today, and wanted to try doing burnt covers for an upcoming build.
Found some good guidance here:
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/how-to-make-burnt-chrome-pickup-covers.1689435/

I used a cooking torch, great for crèmes brûlées.
It took a few trials to get the desired effect, I used sandpaper to clean up and start from scratch whenever I messed up.
As it heats up the color seems to go yellow, pink/copper, purple, then blue. Keep heating up and it goes back more or less to silver and develops a fairly unappealing surface with spots here and there.

It does look decently blue at the right angle but is otherwise extremely faint.
It's also not resistant at all: polish ever so slightly and the oxidized layer is gone:

This got me hungry, I might go make crèmes brûlées...

 

[BigSteve22]

Nice.....

 

[rgand]

Those look good. Can you protect them with a clear coat of something to protect it and give it a little more depth if desired? Lacquer? Shellac? Varathane?

 

[docteurseb]

It doesn't look like it'll work, the moment you wet them the blue turns orange/pink...

 

[rgand]

It doesn't look like it'll work, the moment you wet them the blue turns orange/pink...

That's interesting. I can think of times when that would be nice to have, though.

 

[docteurseb]

New tentative, this time I re-polished the cover to a decent gloss (but still brushed) look.
I also did a much more focused heating to burn the cover more locally:

I think we're getting somewhere. I got spots, I'm not sure if there were impurities on the surface (likely because I was too lazy to wipe with alcohol/acetone) or from heating too fast. I'll find out when I redo the 2nd one.

 

[docteurseb]

Redid the second one and cleaned with acetone before burning:

I still got a few couple spots but less of them:

Either way, cool effect for a dragon breath style finish on the body but durability seems questionable. Just cleaning the covers over time would fade this color, but even faded I like the look of this covers better than brand new shiny chrome ones.

 

[rgand]

Those look really good. The spots don't detract from them at all.

 

[PhilHill]

Those look really good. The spots don't detract from them at all.

I agree. They look fine. I have tried this on some chrome parts before and seen ones other folks have done, and that's the best I've seen it come out. Good job. :icon_thumright:

 

[docteurseb]

The spots don't bother me either at this point, it will go well with a dragon breath finish like this:

Although not as colorful as the burnt covers I'm seeing from Lace music and others I actually like that subtle effect. These covers now look close to cosmo black but reveal the orange/purple/blue hues from various angles:
[youtube]https://youtu.be/yA6veW9PW_0[/youtube]


The only concern is durability of the color, I don't think it'll survive many cleaning sessions, and it's not like you can redo this it once they're installed on pickups.

 

[Hendrix]

very good dome  :hello2: I curious what if do it on gold plated cover .

as I got 2  gold humbucker covers going to use on Red dye guitar , now I feel it too blinks .

 

[Hendrix]

burnt chrome bridge , so the gold colour is not so blink . Matches with Lion Rock .

 

[PhilHill]

Good idea, makes it look old, like it's been sitting on the mountain a long time. :headbang:

 

[docteurseb]

Interesting look here too, so it works well on chrome too.

If anyone here bought pickups with 'factory burnt' covers, does the burnt effect vary greatly with the viewing angle too ? e.g. pickups from Bare Knuckle, Lace Music, etc...

Looking at them from the front the effect is almost invisible and the covers almost look like cosmo black. Once you look at an angle the blue/purple/orange colors start showing up.

 

[kiyst]

Interesting look here too, so it works well on chrome too.

If anyone here bought pickups with 'factory burnt' covers, does the burnt effect vary greatly with the viewing angle too ? e.g. pickups from Bare Knuckle, Lace Music, etc...

Looking at them from the front the effect is almost invisible and the covers almost look like cosmo black. Once you look at an angle the blue/purple/orange colors start showing up.

I know this is old but ill just slap my 2 cents on here too.

dont have any of those flashy factory covers but I think I managed to get all the colors of theirs. It looks like OP burnt his from the top down, i burnt mine using a gas stove from the bottom up; i dont know how this would affect the patterns/colors that form but i did get some nice purples and stuff on mine. Ordering a torch so I could localize the heat onto certain areas from the bottom and see how itll turn out. Heres a pic:

 

[ragamuffin]

I know this is old but ill just slap my 2 cents on here too.

dont have any of those flashy factory covers but I think I managed to get all the colors of theirs. It looks like OP burnt his from the top down, i burnt mine using a gas stove from the bottom up; i dont know how this would affect the patterns/colors that form but i did get some nice purples and stuff on mine. Ordering a torch so I could localize the heat onto certain areas from the bottom and see how itll turn out. Heres a pic:

Nice work! I wouldn't have thought of doing them on a gas stove but that makes sense