And for the requisite follow on question...
Lacquer, or unfinished!
--Andy in OKC
The chemistries used for plating are quite hazardous. Silver is usually plated from a cyanide cmplex. Chrome is plated from a hexavalent salt. Both require extremely expensive treatment of effluent.
I think the bach sp is special order onlybimmerman wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:54 pm You can still buy silver plated horns-- Bach, among others, offer this. The lead player in the big band I play with has one.
Trombones also have a variety of sterling silver bell options (King, Conn, others) and elemental silver (Bach) that seem as common as silver plate itself. Why silver plate when you can get something cooler?
Another thing to think about is that a large fraction of slides are nickel silver in color, so why bother silver plating that if you're just going for aesthetic reasons?
Yes, those silver bells looked great!jbeatenbough wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 1:14 pm BaritoneJack did you see the trombone section in the Marine band today? That should make you happy for a while - I know it did me, for I must admit, I do love a beautiful silver bell on a trombone...
Yes, I have done that to several instruments for clients.
There was an old thread from Sam Burtis where he went through his experiences with a horn or two that he liked, stripped the lacquer, liked a little better; silver plated, hated it; gold plated, got back to a good place.
I've heard some wind ensemble sections that sound a little darker than I like, and the assumption is that large bore horns cause that.
I agree silver trumpets look nice, mine is. But I do need to keep after it with the silver cloth to keep it looking good. My 1930s Conn 20J tuba is also silver…more like a mottled silver ever since I got it, 30 plus years untouched by previous owner, polished up a small,area, shined up but not as bright and shiny my trumpet, and it’s low on my priority list and even lower on my wife’s!
And also no longer the case. All red Conn bells these days!
The real issue is that a silver plating is much thinner than a lacquer coat. A silver plated instrument sounds more like an unlacquered one; and unlacquered instruments are brighter than when they had lacquer.