Nickel Plated Fender OT?

[David Root]

There is a Bassman OT from late '65 on Ebay that has nickel plated bell covers. I have three myself but not in nickel plate. Anyone know if this is original or an aftermarket modification?

The seller has polished them so it shines!

[Blackburn]

All I know is they have better tone...

[ToneMerc]

There is a Bassman OT from late '65 on Ebay that has nickel plated bell covers. I have three myself but not in nickel plate. Anyone know if this is original or an aftermarket modification?

The seller has polished them so it shines!

David when I disassembled my 60's BF UP donor, the bottom of the feet on the Shumach tranny was bright and had a shiny chrome finish, whereas everything that was exposed the the environment was dull just as you normally see them. I just got in an early 70's 50W Shumach and you know what, the bottom area of the feet that was sealed against the chassis is shiny bright and looks as though its polished.

My bet is that he just polished the bells with a buffing wheel and some compound to knock off the oxidation....so it shines!

TM

[David Root]

Well he says he polished the bells. I have two '64s which are quite dull and a '68 which is much brighter, but none of them were polished!

Just curious. So it sounds like it's a normal OT, nothing special except the polishing up.

[ToneMerc]

Just curious. So it sounds like it's a normal OT, nothing special except the polishing up.

Yup, that's my guess.

TM

[Structo]

David are you sure it is nickel plated?

My Hammond organ conversion had a PT that has aluminum bells.

The PT was painted with some sort of grey paint.

I accidentally removed some of the paint and found the aluminum which I buffed out and polished to a nice shine.

[David Root]

Tom, the seller claims it's Ni plated. The three I have don't look like Al and I don't believe Leo would have bought OTs (or PTs) with Al bells because there's no magnetic shielding of the core with Al bells.