Jump to content

Brass


Tasslehoff

Recommended Posts

You're on the right track. There are a variety of different kinds of brass out there--gold brass, rose brass, etc.--that has to do with the content of different metals in the brass. I don't know enough to go into detail, but that's the basic idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I remember.

The more copper in the brass the darker/redder the colour of the instrument.

More copper in the horn results in less reverbiration of the instrument itself (less overtones come through). Thus, a darker sound.

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rose brass and red brass are the same thing. There is a higher copper content within the metal, but this actually makes the instrument sound brighter in character. The thicker the metal the darker the sound due to the mass of brass you are trying to vibrate with air. A Yamaha and a Monette trumpet will sound differently based just on metal thickness, design considerations aside. The darkest sounding metal that is available is yellow brass, then gold brass, then rose brass, then nickel, then sterling silver. (from darkest to lightest).

So the darker the sound, the metal content would need to be yellow brass. You can also say, the darker the sound with rose brass you would need to have a thicker bell than on a yellow brass bell and that would make a considerable difference. But if you took the same bell thickness on both a rose brass and yellow brass bell and put them on your horn, you would find the yellow brass bell to have darker qualities.

THe Conn 88H trombone featured a rose brass bell which gave the horn its characteristic sound, but the bell was considerably thicker than any other bell that was put on any other trombone at that time. Taking the design of the horn, the shape of the F-attachment, and the hand slide design, the bell really affects the overall sound of the horn.

The plating actually will change the quality of sound, lacquer will make the horn sound darker, silver plating will brighten up the sound a bit, gold plating will weigh down the horn due to the process of glold plating and result in a warmer sound(it is silver plated, then gold plated on top of the silver plate, thus making it heavier). It would not be financially feasible to build a horn with an actual gold bell due to it being a very soft metal, it would not keep its shape and would bend from its own weight.

I am an Edwards clinician for the Edwards Trumpet line and played on the same thickness of bells with different bell materials and had the same opinion of rose brass being darker than yellow until I actually played it. Now I know better.

Hope this helps out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rose brass and red brass are the same thing. There is a higher copper content within the metal, but this actually makes the instrument sound brighter in character. The thicker the metal the darker the sound due to the mass of brass you are trying to vibrate with air. A Yamaha and a Monette trumpet will sound differently based just on metal thickness, design considerations aside. The darkest sounding metal that is available is yellow brass, then gold brass, then rose brass, then nickel, then sterling silver. (from darkest to lightest).

So the darker the sound, the metal content would need to be yellow brass. You can also say, the darker the sound with rose brass you would need to have a thicker bell than on a yellow brass bell and that would make a considerable difference. But if you took the same bell thickness on both a rose brass and yellow brass bell and put them on your horn, you would find the yellow brass bell to have darker qualities.

THe Conn 88H trombone featured a rose brass bell which gave the horn its characteristic sound, but the bell was considerably thicker than any other bell that was put on any other trombone at that time. Taking the design of the horn, the shape of the F-attachment, and the hand slide design, the bell really affects the overall sound of the horn.

The plating actually will change the quality of sound, lacquer will make the horn sound darker, silver plating will brighten up the sound a bit, gold plating will weigh down the horn due to the process of glold plating and result in a warmer sound(it is silver plated, then gold plated on top of the silver plate, thus making it heavier). It would not be financially feasible to build a horn with an actual gold bell due to it being a very soft metal, it would not keep its shape and would bend from its own weight.

I am an Edwards clinician for the Edwards Trumpet line and played on the same thickness of bells with different bell materials and had the same opinion of rose brass being darker than yellow until I actually played it. Now I know better.

Hope this helps out.

TRPTJOCK is absolutely correct

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...