Does black hardware get all faded like gold hardware?

[Moustache_Bash]

You know how gold hardware gets all gross/worn looking after a while? Does black hardware do that?

[Iommic Pope]

Not to my knowledge, but I've never owned a guitar long enough for that to happen.

[lordgalvar]

It depends on how it is made. Sometime it does, sometimes it can scratch and look all beat up. Some I have seen have an undercoat and can wear to the color under and look alright or not. I think it depends on the material (like some parts are steel, some brass, sometimes pig metal/pot steel), the brass alloy, whatever they used to color it (bronzing, acid, paint, etc).

There are lots of good articles on chemically coloring brass to be black out there if you want to go that route and it might be more durable.

I'd assume though that quality hardware is going to keep better than the cheaper stuff too. I know some plumbing fixtures with black finishes (and a similar mix of materials) are weaker than chrome finishes but sometimes they are about the same. The amount of gloss can also affect how many scratches you see. I dunno, everybody's experiences are different though...I think the most important part of different finishes is getting them from someone that knows what they are doing or a high quality manufacturer (like you can alway tell bad chrome from far away).

The black hardware on my friends heavily played parker fly never wore or looked anything other than dusty sometimes. He wasn't a guy that was terribly careful with stuff either.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, the all-black hardware on my 339 Studio is still shiny under the dust (this part of the world, we're a dust bowl of fun with the volcanic ash/potato field stuff flying in the wind).

Unless it's absolute junk or you do something to cut through the black, it shouldn't look shitty like gold any time that I've ever seen (any black hardware on any guitar I've ever handled looked *used* at most, as opposed to thrashed!)

[WayToHip]

I bought a Epiphone Thunderbird 4-5 years ago used, it has black hardware and it is rubbing off only on a small corner of the bridge where my hand rests when I palm mute.
My 50th (?) anniversary Danelectro with gold hardware bought after looks like I sweat battery acid.
Black hardware doesn't fade as badly as gold.

[KaosCill8r]

Gold hardware starts to looks awesome after about 10 years. My Epiphone Dot Deluxe is around 12 years old and the gold hardware is aging quite nicely. Not really sure how black ages.

[DrMabuse]

I have an 80s Tokai with black hardware. The finish on the saddles wore down to the underlying metal, but the bridge and tuners still have their black coating. Metal dome volume knob wore through in places as well. Overall it's worn better than gold hardware guitars of similar vintage I've seen, but not as well as chrome. Doesn't look as gross as worn gold though.