2006 lp custom ebony question

[AndrewArce88]

HI everyone. This is my first post. I actually made this account just to get some advice and tips and to ask a question about my guitar. I have a gibson custom Lp that was made in 2006. I purchased it used. It was in, id say 7/10 condition. Its ebony and had gold hardware. The hardware itself was in bad condition. it was really tarnished and faded. It seemed like the previous owner never wiped it down or took care of it. Im ok with the color fading but it just looked gross. It didn't have that classy ware i like to see in older lps. I tried cleaning up the gunk, but as i did a lot of the gold that was left was rubbed off too. I ended up deciding to convert all the hardware to nickel. I used all original Gibson parts down to each screw. It looks so much better now. I also installed 496r and 500t hum humbuckers. As far as sound and looks its a beast.
So heres my question. After going through all of that, and being that we are talking about a custom shop here with the (OH SO BELOVED EBONY) fretboard, did i ruin the collectability or value of the guitar? Also as far as serial numbers go, if the serial is looked up would you be able to tell that it was supposed to have gold hardware? I guess I'm just wondering now if i messed with something that shouldn't have been messed with.

 

[The Ballzz]

Didja keep all the parts you took off of it? If so, no worries, other than that the solder joints won't be factory and it's many years before that would ever become much, if any, of an issue! And I understand, most gold hardware ages in a fairlyugly and unpleasant manner.
Enjoy That Ebony, It Is Indeed So Beloved!
Gene

 

[AndrewArce88]

well at the time and still don't really plan on going back. I chucked all but the original humbuckers.

 

[T00DEEPBLUE]

If you've thrown away the original hardware, you have devalued it. End of story. No ifs. No buts.

I wouldn't consider a Les Paul Custom made in this millennium to have real collector's value over other years of LPC's though.

 

[PierM]

Gold hardware does fade away in a blink of an eye and more you wipe it more it's fading. I would not really touch the hardware. The only way I know to not fade a gold hardware is to keep the guitar in its case forever.

 

[T00DEEPBLUE]

Gold hardware does fade away in a blink of an eye and more you wipe it more it's fading. I would not really touch the hardware. The only way I know to not fade a gold hardware is to keep the guitar in its case forever.

Coating the parts in carnuba wax can help stave off corrosion by putting a protective barrier around the hardware that make it resistant to further corrosion. However it only protects from corrosion after so long and as soon as the corrosion begins, it stops working.

The fact is that the gold plating that is typically found on guitars is usually of very crap quality. The plating is extremely thin and porous under a microscope. There are millions of pin holes in the plating that allow corrosion to propagate underneath it. And as soon as that happens, the gold flakes off. The only permanent fix is to get the hardware re-plated with a much thicker layer of gold that doesn't have the same problem with microscopic porosity

 

[kakerlak]

Nah, don't sweat it. A lot of folks like nickel hardware on LPCs -- as long as the hardware is of like quality, you haven't really made an impact in value, especially considering what was on there before was gross. Some folks have really corrosive sweat and/or a humid environment that promotes corrosion. Gold hardware is problematic because, unlike nickel/chrome that you can clean up with 0000 steel wool, there's no good way to clean back furry green corrosion and/or rust/pitting from gold plated stuff. Whatever you use to take back the corrosion always takes the gold with it. You can clean it up a bit, but it'll take most of the gold with it and, like T00DEEPBLUE was saying, the tendency of the parts to corrode from tiny pits/fissures in the plating tends to make the top layer of the parts mushroom out as corrosion spreads underneath the top layer of plating, so you get all these little outwardly-blooming pits that you can never really get rid of.

 

[pedecamp]

Nickel goes crappy too, I'd have gone with chrome, nickel looks like chrome when its new and eventually goes crappy. My LP lives in its case and the nickel hardware has turned a grungy greenish color.

 

[workerunit]

You might want to look into buying some good used Gibson spec gold hardware and just keep it around in case you sell it. As for me, nickle is just fine for playing.