Lacquer Vs Silver plate and Raw Brass
Lacquer Vs Silver plate
Its an old favourite but always full of contradictions, so worth anouther look.... whats your take? Pros & cons or no difference?
Here are a few opinions I ask recently:-
A Pro tuba player: Lacquer is thinner than silver plate but a darker sound,
sops/ Eb trumpets are always silver as they want a brighter sound,
troms are usually lacquered as they want to mellow them to stop them being too harsh/ over bearing.
Uk top euphoniumist: No Difference
UK pro Euphoniumist: No Difference, but lacquer will show scratches up.
Uk top player conductor: No Difference, if you want to make a difference to your sound change your mouthpiece!
One instrument manufacturer told me that putting Silver onto raw brass gives a "zing" to the sound.
Dennis Wick (Trombone Technique 2nd edd. 1989):
Tells us that Lacquere is usually preferred by professional players. He goes on to tell us that he had a trombone's playability ruined by re-laquiring, but then he stripped the bell to make it better than it was before the laquiring! Wick also refers to experiments by Boosey & Hawkes that showed laquire to give the best tone & response!
R. Schilke: Believed Lacquer to be thicker than silver plate & could have a detrimental affect on the sound of an instrument.
See
http://www.dallasmusic.org/sch...s%20Clinic.html
The Physics of Inner Brass and the Acoustical Effects of
Various Materials and Their Treatment
By Renold O. Schilke:
".....One large point of controversy has always existed between those who prefer a lacquered horn and those who prefer plated horns, either silver or gold, or a third group who prefer their instruments in plain brass without any protective coating whatsoever.
Let me give you my findings on the three different finishes of instruments. First, I tried to find myself three instruments that played absolutely identically. One, I silverplated, one I had a very good lacquer job put on and a third I left in brass. Now recall that all three instruments played identically the same in brass, or as close as it is possible to get. I had various players from the Symphony working with me as well as other professional trumpet players in Chicago and they agreed unanimously on the results. The findings were that plating does not affect the playing qualities of brass instruments. That is, the plated instrument and the plain brass instrument played identically. The lacquered instrument, however, seemed to be changed considerably. This instrument, which originally had played the same as the other two, now had a very much impaired tonal quality and the over-all pitch was changed.
To explain these findings as to why the silver and brass instruments played alike and the lacquered instrument did not, let me give you some figures. The silver plating on a brass instrument is only one-half of a thousandth inch thick. In other words .0005 inch. The lacquer that goes on, if it is a good lacquer job, is approximately seven thousandths of an inch thick, or .007 inch. Now to get an idea in your minds as to what these thickness figures represent, an ordinary piece of writing paper is approximately four thousandths of an inch thick so the silver that goes on an instrument is only 1/8 as thick as a piece of writing paper, while the lacquer is almost double the thickness of a piece of writing paper. The silver in itself is very compatible to the brass. The lacquer, if it is a good lacquer and baked on, will be almost as hard as glass and not at all compatible to brass. The lacquer on the bell of an instrument is seven thousandths of an inch thick on the outside and another seven thousandths on the inside which gives you a total thickness of fourteen thousandths or .014 inch. This is already the thickness of the metal of my instruments so the lacquer process would double the bell thickness. As you can see, it is bound to affect the playing quality of the instrument....."
Whats your view?
dave
Current Euphs:
York Eminence
Boosey & Hawkes Sovereign (Round Stamp/ Globe)
Boosey & Hawkes Imperial
Plus an attic of old classics in various states of repair!
Previous Euphs:
Besson Prestige (German)
Geneva Symphony
Wilson 2900 with Eminence leadpipe
Sterling Virtuoso (300 mm heavy red brass bell)
Cortios 167 II
'Gob Iron': Doug Elliott Euph 104 I 9s (plus a few others!)