Datasheets loosely associated with the tuning fork resonators in hand suggest 1 μW maximum drive power, which works out to maybe 100 mVrms = 150 mVpk at about 10 kΩ ESR. If you inadvertently apply 500 mVpk = 375 mVrms, the resulting 14 μW does this:
I was applying a precisely tuned 60 kHz sine wave to the first pass at a crystal filter grafted onto the loop antenna preamp and wasn’t paying attention to the amplitude. For all I know, though, the poor thing died from a power-on transient. I’m pretty sure I didn’t break it during extraction, because it stopped being a resonator while in the circuit.
The missing tine fell out of the can:
Laser trim scars form a triangle near the tip, a T a bit further down, a slot just above the nicely etched gap.
A closer look at the fractured base:
The metalization appears black here and gold in person.
So, yeah, one down and 49 to go …
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
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2 responses to “60 kHz Tuning Fork Resonator: Maximum Overdrive”
“The metalization appears black here and gold in person.”
Just like that dress a few years back
[…] Limiting the resonator drive to about 1 μW in the face of wildly varying RF from the antenna (or the occasional finger fumble) requires brute force. A nose-to-tail pair of Schottky diodes seems to do the trick: […]