The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #130328 Message #2938956
Posted By: JohnInKansas
02-Jul-10 - 11:44 PM
Thread Name: Guitar: Removing glossy finish
Subject: RE: Guitar: Removing glossy finish
Tuner knobs have been made from a variety of materials, and it's difficult to say that a given "tint" will work on a particular kind without just trying it. For knobs with a mainly polystyrene content, ordinary food colorings, or "easter egg dye" often will give them a "color cast" although you're unlikely to get a deep color change. You have to "soak" the knobs for several minutes, and then buff off the excess that hasn't penetrated the surface. The machines themselves shouldn't be harmed as long as they're rinsed well when finished, and perhaps have a dab of grease or a light film of oil applied to any gears.
Tincture of iodine will give the "plexiglass" (polystyrene) once used for airplane windshields a reddish or red-orange tint, if you paint it on, let it dry, and then buff thoroughly; but it doesn't appear to affect the more modern (polycarbonate) plastics more often now in use for both airplanes and storm doors.
If the knobs are PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) - which we might call "moter of water pipe"(?), like MOTS without the "pearlish" - very few things will "stain" it except the primer used when gluing pipe parts together, and it only comes in "livid purple." That primer might stain a variety other plastics and most lumber yards should have small cans for about $2, but I suspect you don't want the "purple plague pegs."
John