I'd just replated some guitar parts the other day, and some of the gold came off as I buffed with a clean white cloth.
1) The parts looked really good. I was VERY happy with the results.
2) I used an old t-shirt (clean) to buff all of that re-plated parts, but some of the gold wore away on 2 specific parts as I buffed them. (Not a lot of gold, just some streaks here & there where the original metal showed thru. 90% of the part looked fine.)
3) I used no chemicals whatsoever, and did not apply any great pressure.
4) I buffed in same manner as other parts, and gold did not come off of those parts.
The 2 parts in question are the pickup covers. They might be made from nickel.....I'm not sure. Magnet does not stick to them. You can see exactly what they look like here:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electron...s.html#details
I've since buffed them back to the original metal and plated them in copper. I'll gold plate them later and see what happens.
Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Mike