I have a question for anyone out there that`s interested:

I`m curious and I`d like to have a little fun, so I was thinking about gold electroplating a silver mouthpiece and seeing how it works. Does anyone know of a reason why NOT to do it? It`d be fun to try.

Also, would it affect the playability at all? I have a piece of crap mouthpiece that came with my intermediate trumpet, Yamaha 11B4 I think it is, and unless anyone can think of a reason not to, I want to try this.

Thanks for your time,

Christopher Kemsley

Hi, I`m Sarah. Sorry, I can`t answer your question but I`d like to make a comment. I didn`t like my first mouthpiece, so I purposely bought an 11B4 because my friend said it was working well for her. I find it a really good mouthpiece, is it restricting my playability?

Hmmm, that mouthpiece came with my trumpet, and it seems to be the equivelent of a 7C mouthpiece - ie a beginner mouthpiece (for the most part). I find the 3C a lot easier to play and get a better tone out of it.

it won`t do much good for a mouthpiece that you don`t like. you might like to do it to your mouthpiece that you do play on.

There are a number of gold plated mouthpieces available. I have read that the gold plating helps darken the tone somewhat, but it should`t affect the playability of the mouthpiece.

Many mouthpieces can be bought gold plated, which is done with an electroplating process. The sound quality shouldn`t change at all, but the feel should be a bit warmer and smoother on the face, and a little slicker. Gold also is much more resistant to oxidation than silver.

I don`t have an answer for your mouthpiece issue, as I play the Tenor Sax. But I was curious as to who your parents were and how you got stuck with the same name I have...

Regards,

Christopher Lewis Kemsley