Does it Really Have to be Brass?? | Trumpet Demystified Episode 3
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
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One of the coolest ways to change up the look AND sound of a brass instrument is to mess with... well, the brass itself! Adding copper, tin, nickel, and so on can have drastic effects on tone and response. You can even use alloys or pure metals that extend outside the realm of brass if you really want to get wacky with it! Today on Trumpet Demystified, we discuss the many metals that can go into 'brass' instrument manufacturing and what they bring to the table. Enjoy!
~CHAPTERS~
0:00 Opening Remarks
0:58 1. Standard Brass Alloy
1:40 2. Darker Brass Alloys
4:58 3. Pure Copper (who needs zinc?)
6:07 4. Bronze Alloys (just add tin!)
7:01 5. Steels & Silvers
7:42 6. Nickel/Brass Alloys
9:52 7. Pure Nickel (to annoy your neighbors)
10:34 8. Plating & Finishing
13:06 Closing Remarks
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Do you enjoy content relating to all things music and brass instruments? Sam has got you covered! On this channel we have been devoted to bringing you brass covers, play-alongs, multitracks, gear reviews and discussions, tips and tricks, collaborations, and even vlogs about the music world since 2016! Sam is a hobbyist brass multi-instrumentalist majoring in mechanical engineering. He is an active local performer and has played countless personal arrangements and compositions in small ensemble settings. If you like to nerd out over brass instruments, mouthpieces, music theory, and more, then make sure to subscribe and stay tuned! Thanks for watching.
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Hey all! Thanks for tuning into episode 3 of 6. Hope this cleared up any questions you might have had on the different 'colors' you might find on brass instruments! One correction: depending on the specific alloy, bronze can actually sound more like solid copper than yellow brass, with a subtler sound and less edge until you reach a true fortissimo. Sorry for the confusion!
You Sir are the Wiki of knowledge for trumpets , great piece
Thank you very much, Steve!
Interesting. Would love to hear your views on plastic trumpets!!
It’s been a while since I’ve tried one, but I wasn’t really sold. I think it’s great that a plastic trumpet can function 90+ percent as well as a standard one, but I just don’t enjoy that slightly nasal tone the plastic ones tend to produce.
I had no clue about a lot of what you talked about. I learned a lot!
Glad to hear it!
Was expecting some mention of Schilke's Beryllium bell which depending on who you ask may or may not have Beryllium.
Didn't expect the plating vs lacquer difference to be significant from my (limited) experience. Every trumpet I've heard people swear has a darker tone because it's lacquered instead of plated ended up also be heavier weight and/or having a larger bell than whatever silver plated one they're comparing to.
Right, I just was not informed enough on what the “beryllium” bell’s makeup was to speak on it, and I figured it was rare enough that it didn’t necessarily “need” a mention. I don’t think there are any beryllium bells currently being made, but that’s just a theory. I mentioned nickel and bronze because they’re seeing more widespread use in the modern mouthpiece industry.
You’re definitely right about the plating. Too many variables to be able to test in complete isolation.
@@SamuelPlaysBrass Makes sense, it's a shame there's so many contradicting rumours about it. At the same time, it's definitely a good thing that we don't have people needlessly exposing themselves to Beryllium, specially when so much of the manufacturing is outsourced to countries where workplace hazards aren't taken seriously.
Once my dream trumpet - a Schilke with a tunable beryllium bell. Now my more modest unobtainable dream horn is a silver plated Schilke.
The British manufacturer Sterling made a 0.5" bore trumpet. They didn't make many of them but one of my friends has one. They also supplied that valve block to Taylor for their early Chicago Custom trumpets. I owned one of those and the sheet bracing overcame the bore size issues a bit and it didn't feel that big. The actual Sterling 0.5" bore trumpet is a beast. It doesn't have a gap either, it has a smooth transition into the leadpipe. It is unnecessarily big.
I play a rotary trumpet in the orchestra and its a very small bore but the bell is a lot bigger than a piston trumpet.
A .500” bore sounds like a nightmare for someone like me. Almost no impedance to lean against, I’d imagine… but then again, with rotary trumpets, the impedance is enough to almost give me a headache. I think my gripe with them is that the valve section occurs so soon after the receiver, meaning the bore at the valve section has to be exceedingly small. Never had much luck with the lower or “longer” fingerings on a rotary.
I find that the rotary trumpet doesn't get enough volume in the very low register. My favourite trumpet is my Bach 43. My 8310z is a close second.
@@GordonHudson We are very similar in that regard! I struggled greatly in the lower register the last time I tried a rotary trumpet, and my favorites are generally my 8310 and lighter weight Strads and Scodwells.
Just to note some and most most manufacturers will put lead in making brass to give it corrosion resistant and soft in limber and ply ability. The only manufacturer I know that removed lead from yellow brass due to toxic environment hazard is Yamaha. For sure there is lead in brass. There is a reason why family doctors say not to give car/ house keys to babies cause they will put it in their mouths and the body fluids will react to the brass and leach out lead into their system.Also way back silver ware cutlery was made out of brass and heavily silverplated . Same thing with brass mouthpieces , it so you don’t get lead poisoning . Lead was use in everything from paint to metal.
I thought lead was taken out of brass decades ago. You mean to say even manufacturers like Bach are still machining with lead to this day?
Bach have definitely stopped using lead in mouthpieces now, and advertise the fact on their new mouthpieces.
Denis Wick definitely still uses a couple percent lead. See their article "Our new warning label - what it means: learn about lead in brass"
Alloy 360 is the most common rod brass product, commonly referred to as free cutting brass. This alloy contains 2.5 to 3 % lead, the lead acts as a lubricant while the material is being machined.
Really cool and informative!! thank you sam!
How much harder is the piccolo trumpet than the usual b flat trumpet. I'd really like to play piccolo trumpet but I don't know how well I'd do. Also is the piccolo cornet the british bass band equivalent to the piccolo trumpet?
The piccolo trumpet and its brass band equivalent, the Eb soprano cornet, are very difficult. Typically, they do not actually allow you to play any higher than on a standard Bb trumpet. The unfortunate thing is how much practice they require versus how much use they realistically see. I have to practice each quite a lot to stay in shape, whereas the amount of times I actually perform on piccolo in a given year can generally be counted on one hand. I think it's rewarding to be able to play them, but not always terribly practical.
Adam Rapa at Lotus markets his bronze stuff as being warmer and darker than brass, and I feel like I can hear it sometimes. Does that mean there is something else going on with tapers or something?
This was a mistake on my part. I read about that today, actually. For some reason I’d gotten the idea he was marketing it as an intermediate between brass and nickel but I guess it’s on the opposite end if the spectrum. That would explain why my 1XL B is so hard to push to brightness.
Do you have a video on the conn coprion director or at least a video where you play it?
I have some Shorts and a restoration series about it in the works. Unfortunately it’s not a phenomenal players. It’s alright, but not much more than that. I linked a Coprion vs. brass trombone bell video in the card on this video that I think serves as a better demo.
Love this series! Got a question though, can you tell whether a trumpet has silver lacquer or silver plating just by looking at it?
Maybe someone else can weigh in on this, but I can’t say I’ve ever heard of silver lacquer being used on a trumpet. The lacquer I’m familiar with is just a clear coat, or at most a slightly yellowish one. All of the silver-colored instruments I’ve seen have either been nickel silver with a clear lacquer coat, nickel-plated, or silver-plated.
@SamuelPlaysBrass I only ask because the guy that cleans my trumpet asked me if it's silver lacquer or silver plate because it makes a difference to the Sonicare cleaner.
Ohhh, that's interesting... I personally am not a huge fan of sonic cleaning in general, so proceed cautiously. I've heard tell of sonic-cleaned horns getting really messed up and not playing as well afterward. My preference is for chemical cleaning.
Carol Brass lacquers over their brushed silver plate instruments, so it is possible.
I was wondering if silver Bach strads were more for durability than sound. Maybe so.
Nickel maybe, but silver isn’t that durable. It’s mostly just pretty.
What about carbon fiber or beryllium?
(a) This video is only about metals. I’ve never once gotten to test other material categories like carbon fiber or Lotus’ wood mouthpieces, and the physics gets pretty weird once you venture out of metal territory, so it was beyond the scope of this video.
(b) Schilke was not truthful about the “beryllium” bell. I don’t know if there ever were, but there are certainly no beryllium bells being manufactured today. Beryllium is toxic AFAIK, so those bells are actually a thin layer of electroformed copper. While 100% copper would ordinarily result in a darker tone than 70/30 yellow brass, the extreme thinness of the bell wall in this case completely overrides the material properties and actually results in a brighter, thinner tone.