Posted by David on January 09, 2002 at 15:22:11:
In Reply to: Re: Re: 'Why Brass?' posted by Lew on January 09, 2002 at 14:25:13:
The post by Dan is right on the nose. Nickel is easy to work with but the "German silver" he refers to is not.
Perhaps some of the St. Pete's are just plated, however, one should be able to scrape the plating off if that is the case. The horns I have worked on don't just scrape off. It would explain the playing characteristics of the instruments. The Conn 8D is solid nickel, not the German silver (see Dan's post).
It's just a guess on my part here, but if German silver were used, and if it is as hard to bend, cut, manipulate as suggested, the instrument manufacturers would just not use it for anything. Nickel silver, called silver more because of the color than metal content, is easy to form, solder, and generally, use. Valve casings are usually made from brass. The valves themselves are made from a variety of metals - stainless steel, monel, brass, chrome plated brass, and probably others. Seldom are valves or casings made from the nickel as it is a little too mallable.
Red brass or gold brass concerns the copper content in brass which is a combination of, among other metals, copper and zinc. Those of you with metallurgic backgrounds can fill in the exact details here.