Plating NOS lacquers

[EmAtChapterV]

So a few months ago I picked up some NOS Apollo and Transco blanks from the late eighties on Ebay thinking they were dubplates; it turns out they were master lacquers instead. Lucky me. I was just going to use them as dubplates or for test cuts anyways.

But now a situation has arisen where I may be cutting something in DIY fashion for short-run replication, as a fundraiser for a local non-profit I'm involved with. Assuming I can get a clear, quiet cut on the NOS discs and ship them off in a timely fashion, would they plate cleanly? (I know I should really spring for a new batch of Apollo lacquers, but I'm concerned they wouldn't be cured and ready to cut in time for this project.)

Also, folks running pressing plants who are on here: do most of you do your plating in-house, or contract it out?

[Aussie0zborn]

I've cut on old lacquers and plated them succesfully, but they were not 20 or 30 years old. If you can make a good cut you are half way there but you might just check first with the plating shop who will be plating your lacquers. If you can silver and plate a vinyl record Im sure you can silver and plate an old lacquer.

I had a friend with an AM131 lathe who cut masters on very old lacquers that were more than ten years old (kinda looked like he cut them with a rusty nail) which we plated and pressed records from for his re-issue of original 78rpm recordings so they were noisy anyway. The good part is that he actually sold them.

Good luck with your project.