Hi, I was curious as to whether or not gold plating makes a significant impact on a flute's sound. Thanks!

am i losing it, or has this topic not been brought up on this forum at least 100 times already? try using the search button. most flutists know that gold plating does nothing for the sound. that is only a sales gimmick. it is only the stupid people that choose to believe that.

Well, I don't know much about gold plating, however I just bought an Aurumite flute. Powell fuses rose gold and sterling silver. I played several sterling Powell's and 2 Aurumite ones and noticed a huge difference. Maybe the fusion process uses more gold then plating...not sure. But along with that, I know that I had a long discussion about gold risers in this forum and everyone was saying they make no difference. However, I noticed a huge one and everyone listening when I was trying out headjoints (same heads...different metals) noticed it. Plating freaks me out a little because I have seen it wear down on many flutes (when the lip plate is plated). So, I know many people on here say that gold makes no difference (and I cannot speak for plating in general), but I know my solid gold riser made a huge one. And whatever Powell does with Aurumite, I noticed too...and so did the musicians I dragged with me to hear the trials.

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Just wanted to add that I know I felt dumb when asking the question about the gold riser and getting replies that it made no difference and was just a thing to up the sale. I thought long and hard and played them for several weeks before making a decision. In the big scheme of things, I think what matters most is if you like how it feels and sounds AND if others like the way it sounds.

they are talking about gold PLATING, not solid 14K risers! everyone knows that gold plating doesn't do anything for the sound.

aurumite is totaly diferent to plating it is the fusion of 2 metals ie: gold and silver

There is nothing new about this metal combination it has been use to make sword furnature for samuri swords for hundreds of years called "mokume gane" translated meaning wood grain its the fusion of 2 metals commonly silver and copper or copper with small amounts of gold aproximatly 3-5% called shakudo, shabushi

the process creates a eutectic bond(fusion of 2 metals creating a bond as strong as the parent metals without the use of solder) thin sheets of metal would be packed in a steel frame and placed under a large amount of presure in order to eliminate oxygen and then placed in a kiln and heated to the point of the metal sweating ie: just before melting point.

This would cause the metals crystal structure to grow into each other causing a bond as strong as the parent metals

the metal would then be rolled out into thin sheets and the prosess repeated finaly it would be bent filed and formed in to the desired piece.

After polishing a patina would be uesd in order to oxidise the copper turning it a dark brown and bringing out the woodgrain pattern

metals usualy have to have a common conection ie: copper being a alloy of both silver and gold.

aurumite flute tubes are made in the same way

On our Flutemaker's list, a huge discussion on this has been going on for the last month. Terry Mcgee has begun a new project and has added many things based on all our comments and discussion.

You can find the first introduction page here.

http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/FluteTone-Intro.htm

Joe B

i would have to agree when studying metalurgy the physical property of say silver too gold to platinum is huge and different carat golds even to different alloy combinations can be huge and i'm sure the way the metals resonate would play a part in the sound produced from the stream of air blown across the edge of the mouth piece

i would think that the higher carat rate of gold being a lot more dense than the prior would make the metal sound darker. so it would allso have less spring to the metal it would allso absorb more energy.

and platinum would have to be the most dense of metals it allso have very unusual phisical property's unlike any other


i can remember in uni when studying metalurgy we had some very fine metal sheets and placed them in front of very powerful speakers to see how the metal reacted to soundwaves silver reacted the most while platinum the least and seemed to absorb a large amount of the sound and did not convert it in to energy as in causeing the metal to vibrate.

gold on the other hand was quite diferent depending on what it was alloyed with

18ct yellow gold was a lot more dence and absorbed a larger amount compared to 18ct white gold only diference in the 2 was the alloys as thay both still had 750 parts gold 75% gold 25% alloy

as for work hardened sterling silver you could allmost get it vibrate at a constant and significant rate to the point of cracking solder joins.

yes it comes from a vibrating air colum and to think that the metal containing that air colum plays no part in the sound produced couldent be farther from the truth.

this is something i think i'm going to look in to and do some investigating i still have some contacts in the university of new south wales and i think with some help it would be quite fun to once and for all prove wether or not the metal has anything to do with the sound produced from the vibrating air colum.

i think that the denser the metal the more energy it absorbes energy being the vibrations of air the less dense the metal the more the vibrations or sound waves would be reflected back into the air colum instead of absorbing them yes/no well time will tell.

ill look at setting this up in a totaly controled enviroment ill keep ya posted on my findings

i think that the denser the metal the more energy it absorbes energy being the vibrations of air the less dense the metal the more the vibrations or sound waves would be reflected back into the air colum instead of absorbing them yes/no well time will tell.

This effect is known less commonly as "player feedback". As Micron pointed out it has little to do with the sound of the instrument itself but rather that feeling the player is receiving from the instrument. Platinum is described by many players as feeling very resistant. Aggressive players tend to like it more since it seems to require more energy to drive the air column. This of course would be dependent on the existence of the boundary layer and exactly how it operates in an air column which is not completely understand by science at the present time.

There are many things in flute acoustics which have yet to be discovered or even investigated.

In the immortal words of Lord Rayleigh, "What we cannot measure, we do not know".

You will not be able to know once and for all and put this argument to rest for a long time...

Case in point..I had a repair client complaining about buzzing on her flute. I could not repeat it and I had a bunch of people who tried the flute also failing to make it buzz. The owner came in, played the flute and it buzzed instantly. Only then could we isolate where the flute had it's problem for her.

Herein lies the problem with the acoustic conclusions done by current scientific tests. They do not take into account the myriad of player induced affections. The range of testing is always controlled and limited in this specific regard for consistency. The studies are accurate however for what they have accomplished, but overall they are rather incomplete to date. Much more study and research needs to be done just on the things we do know. The ones we don't about yet have not even made it to the testing concept yet.

Joe B