Thank you for the help Kurt. And taking the time to explain everything in detail.
Actually,it is what u thought in first place.Though only a plated wire,it has some value.I am not sure how to process the wire,and cutting the gold tips is not much gold,but the silver it sits on will add up.The amount of organs I have taken apart is about a dozen,just in past month.Wurlitzer,Kawai ,Kimball,Lowery,Conn,Baldwin. Thomas,and Hammond.Missed out on a Yamaha,and still trying to obtain an Allen that is in town nearby.I have paid 10 for one,and was given 10 back.The Conn had silver plate bars,gold tipped contacts,Kawai seemed to be some silver plate but not much,Wurlitzer has same palladium plate wire with gold tipped contacts ,Kimball has the gold plate I believe,though I took a Lowery apart the same days and cannot remember which of two had which.One had silver plate with lead and zinc,and other had 10k plate.Both were individual little bars much like the Kawai.The Hammonds were S chord with nickel bars and palladium wire attached,an E that had copper square with palladium wire,and M had more flattened copper than E with palladium wire.Baldwins I had old wooden keys with thin white overlayered white material,contacts were springs and metal short individual wires with gold plate I think,and the newer Baldwin has plastic around small pieces of what could be gold plate copper I guess..Still dismantling this one.I have yet to get nitric acid and have been looking for a reasonable source.The only previous experience I have is using AP on gold plated circuit board gold,memory cards,and have been saving materials for a couple years.I got into all this because I came across a business that threw away all the alarm panels that were taken out by 12 or more installers.The amount of ewaste in Oklahoma is not any less than other areas I am certain,endless supply if you know where to look.The only downside is the little amounts of gold ,silver,palladium in the electronics made in past years.It is hit and miss with most items unless you really enjoy tearing stuff down and making a big mess.The organ approach was something I ran into because of older organs being posted and people wanting them gone.I have not any desire to take pianos apart,and only did this in thoughts of 60-70 year old electronics having more precious metal content.The obvious answer to go big scale and have tons was not an option,and having any place that would process all I had and give me a fair percentage seems to be hopeful at best.This leaves me with hundreds of boards,many coffee cans of components,and more time dismantling and trashing plastic than the recycle metals at scrapyard could be worth.
I know,it's a novel at this point,and I can get to my point.These organs are a lot of work,the busbars can be of value but won't make u rich,and the amount of work involved makes it easier to work elsewhere and buy precious metal.As hobby and of interest I have come to far to go backwards.What I need next,in order to wrap all this up is process of recovering the metals from all these components and boards.This will take more acid than it's worth,and amounts of cad,lead,other harmful elements makes burning a definite no.What is my best option other than throwing everything away and calling it experience?Lbs of components,boxes of stripped boards,and many speakers with several amps,and Leslie tremolo units.
