(01-20-2016, 11:11 PM)mastershake Wrote: how is the plating on the newer maggard heads? was thinking about buying a few for starter razors for some people but the older heads looked terrible imo.
I have one of the older V2 Closed Comb head and it actually looks very nice. The chrome on it is near flawless on everything visible when assembled, but disassembled it's not quite as smooth a finish underneath the top cap and in the middle section on top of the bottom piece. I acquired a Merkur recently and to my surprise the finish on it isn't nearly as nice as the Maggard, and doesn't even compare to my Edwin Jagger which is flawless.
I would recommend going off whatever Maggard says in the description for the newer model V3 and V3A, which says nearly flawless chrome plating. My experience with Maggard is that they are very honest and upfront about their products. Also, if you aren't happy with it they are easy to deal with for returns and pay the shipping if there is a problem with it. I bought a handle from them that had a few nicks on it and when I called to mention it they asked for pictures and then agreed it was not suitable for sell at regular price and should have been sold as scratch and dent. They offered to refund the difference in price or send me a new handle that would be free of nicks. I went with the new handle option and they shipped it out right away, the usual 3 days, and included a pre-paid shipping label for me to return the other handle. Hope this helps, but maybe someone else can chime in on the quality of the finish on the newer version heads.