A former neighbor worked in the metal plating shop of a local
aerospace parts fabricating firm.  One day I asked him if he could
re-plate an old trombone mouthpiece of mine -- the exposed brass
had a horrible taste.

The secret of good plating, he said, is cleanliness and lots of
polishing between the coats.  He explained that he would first remove
all the existing plating and then apply a thick layer of copper,
because copper "sticks" well to brass and several other alloys.  Then,
after polishing the copper coating, he would apply a finish coat of
nickel.  He remarked that if I wished he could plate a thin layer of
gold over the nickel; it would look nice with my lacquered brass
trombone.

Several days later he returned the mouthpiece to me with a beautiful
gold finish.  Wow!  He said it looked so pretty after the copper plate
that he left it overnight in the nickel tank.  The next day, after
polishing the nickel plate, it looked so pretty that he left it in the
gold plating tank over the weekend.  My mouthpiece never tasted better!

Robbie Rhodes
Etiwanda, Calif.