to anyone who is interested i have a yamaha f-attachment trombone it has gold silver and brass excellent condition for pictures and more info please email at tweetyse@iowatelecom.net thanks

Silver gives a brighter sound, brass gives the natural sound, which is darker, and gold plating (has to be plated on top of silver because of the way it bonds) has the darkest sound. Lacquer will not affect the brightness of the sound, but it seems that way because it kills many of the overtones as it keeps the instrument from resonating. So don`t get a lacquered horn. The differences in the sounds of horns that have a metal outer surface (brass, silver, or gold) is noticeable, but not to the point of being a problem. For a concert band setting, gold or raw (unlacquered) brass is more desireable than silver, but no one will be able to tell in the audience. Lacquer, however, will kill a great deal of the instruments resonance, making the sound less projecting (so that you have to play louder and harsher to be heard) and it won`t have the same color and richness, because of the lost overtones.

To Settle the Matter
Let me put this in chart form from brightest brassiest sound with metals, to the darkest mellowest sounding of metals.
Silver= Brightest and brassiest of any metal. Good for Jazz playing and for Marchs.
Yellow Brass= Same as silver but a minutely darker sound. Good transition metal, can go between orchestral and Jazz easily (most popular metal to make horns out of, because of its versatility)
Gold Brass= Significantely darker and mellower than yellow brass. Good for most orchestral playing, but can do Jazz to a certain degree.
Rose Brass= Darkest of all metals. Best suited for only orchestral playing.
Note- When you plate your horn with a metal then the sound becomes a little more like the metal that you plated with but for the most part remains like the origional metal of the horn. So in your case the sound would be a bit brighter and sharper with the silver but would still sound quite a bit like your horn before it was plated.

Found this on the internet, thought it may be some help.

R = Red Brass: 90% Copper, 10% Zinc. Warm, rich sound with complex overtones, allows for a wide range of colors at different dynamics.
Y = Yellow Brass: 70% Copper, 30% Zinc. Clear, pure sound with strong fundamental, keeps a very consistent tone color and overtone structure throughout the range of dynamics.
G = Gold Brass: 85% Copper, 15% Zinc. Combines many of the characteristics of yellow and red brass for a very balanced and flexible sound.
-Stephen

Your chart is nice, but it is missing a few things. You can`t make generalizations about different metals alone. You have to be willing to look at all aspects of the instrument and the manufacturing technique. A heavier bell or an annealing process to make the metal softer will have a greater effect than the type of metal used. The size of the bell and bore and volume at which the instrument is played also have a great effect, much moreso than the material it is made out of or plated with. For our purposes, let us assume that the instruments are exactly the same except for the metal they are made out of and plated with. Let`s start with standard yellow brass. This gives a sound somewhere in the middle, but it is very consistant throughout the dynamic range. Next you move onto rose brass, which is sometimes the same thing as gold brass, depending on manufacturers. There is more copper in this, so when you play at softer and mid range dynamics, it resonates differently, giving more of the lower, darker overtones. At high volumes, however, it becomes brighter than yellow brass. Next is red brass, which some manufacturers call rose brass. Still more copper causes it to have the same characteristics as the gold/rose brass mentioned above, just more noticeable. After this we get to pure copper, a metal not included in the original chart. It is again dark at low volumes, bright at high volumes. Another metal neglected was bronze. Bronze is a rarely used alloy of copper and tin. As far as I know, only Kanstul uses it in their instruments. I believe the sound is darker and more centered that yellow brass, but more consistent throughout the dynamic range than the redder brasses. Silver is supposed to give a brilliant full tone, brighter than brass, but not harsh, just with a great deal of color. Some people think it is dull, however. Stomvi makes trumpets with titanium bells, which are very loud, harsh and bright. There are also trumpets with crystal (glass) bells which are supposed to be very clear in sound and very brilliant, though I have never played one. Some picollo trumpets are also made with wood, because it supposedly makes them sound more like a natural trumpet. As far as plating goes, silver plating brightens the tone and frees more of the higher overtones, while gold and copper darken the tone and bring out the lower overtones. Unplated metal has the most natural overtones, and more overtones than either gold or silver. Raw metal can be brilliant, colorful and dark all at once. Lacquer just deadens the vibrations, causing the same sound as natural metal, just without the brilliance of the overtones. It is sort of like playing with someone holding the bell very tightly. It muffles the sound.

Hope this helps and clarifies things a bit more.

Yeah your chart is better.

Bobert you have to also consider the pricing on such metals such as copper. Copper although has a wonderful dark rich sound it is extremely hard to work with and so far I`ve only found one company who bothers to work with it (Schmeltmzer Germany). Also there are 100`s of different things that effect sound so we simply have to assume the the metal(s) that the horn is made out of will effect the sound the most as it is the most prominent factor, and then we will have to assume that plating or laquer will simply cover up the main metal(s) sound somewhat and add its own flare. You have to take every metal and technique used to make the horn, whether it be chemical or simple heating, in to consideration. We can assume that the metals of the horn make the most difference, then bore size, then the make and physical characteristics of the horn, then the plating and/or laquering, then techniques used in the production of the horn, and in the end all of these factors are so jumbled up that they all share some of their characteristics. In the end the only sure way to know what a horn will slightly sound like is to try out one that has that technique used on it, or that plating, or that laquering.
-Stephen

I would also argue that metal plating will have little effect, if any on the sound the bell produces. There are many silver plated brass instruments that look nice, but sound about the same as their brass brethren. The bigger difference between the brass and the silver in this case is the lacquer, since brass horns are normally lacquered when new. Incidently, some newer epoxy lacquers are not as hard as the cellulose acetate lacquer of olden times. The solvent used to spray real lacquer (Methylene Chloride) is a known carcinogen. This difference in old versus new lacquers or the decision to refurbish a horn is worth considering.
I would argue further that older "silver" horns, like the King Silvertone or newer Silversonics are really Sterling Silver throughout the bell section. King horns had a British Sterling symbol embossed in the bell to signify this. Sterling silver is 92.5% silver and 7.5% Copper which gives it much greater mechanical strength than pure Silver. This alloy provided a dark sounding horn great for jazz lead, but too brilliant for symphonic use.
These particular horns also featured quasi-conical bores by using "dual bore" slides. This had the effect of softening the sound of the horn, so as not to sound like a big trumpet. "Dual bore" was only used on small bore jazz horns like the Olds Super, King 2B, Martin, etc.
In closing this diatribe, my 1942 Olds Super has a rose brass bell and a Nickel ring around the bell edge, which presumably darkens the tone. All I can say is the LA manufactured Olds Super is a wonderful, affordable, jazz horn, that if purchased from a private owner, may be one of the best instrument values going and clearly will be an investment, since they quit making them in the 60s.

I actually posted this a while ago, but here it is again, important issue.

I took a physics of music class at SJSU a few years back and here is what I learned. Contrary to popular belief, the type of metal used makes very little difference in tone, sometimes not even noticable depending on the player. Bell shape, the angle of bends, brace placement, and the player themself makes a much larger difference. This is strictly a physical explanation, in reality, there is a difference. Maybe it`s partly subconscious, if you expect there to be a difference there will be. In my experience, I have noticed a little bit of a difference swiching back and forth, but I`m not convinced that it was the horns themselves and not me thinking about it. Also remember, these differences are more between brass, red brass, gold brass, and the like. When you add silver, it does brighten up. (or it should...)

So for me, it makes such a small difference, that when choosing a horn, I look at many other things before metal composition. You can still get an extremely deep sound out of a brighter metal, and you can get a thin peircing bright tone out of a darker metal. I play a Bach Strad 16m for jazz, with the gold brass bell, and it isn`t much darker then the normal brass color. And, when I was testing Edwards equipment before I bought that, I tried all the same equipment, but switched just the bell from the brass to the rose brass. The difference that was there was noticable, but only when I really paid attention to it, but not enough for me to justify spending more or less for a certain bell color.

That said, I prefer the darker rose and red brass colors. They look pretty sick. And, if it makes more of a difference for you than me, there ya go. It really is all personal.

I remeber this dude in high school that brought a new silver bone which his granddad has bought him for his birdthday. He marched with dat muther for two days and then got careless and had it run over by a two-ton truck. We were all laughing at the poor dumbass. He threw that bone away but we thought he could`ve at least melted it down for the silver. Dumb ass.

New horns tend to be brass with silver plating, so you can`t get silver by melting them down. If it were an older horn or some special modern horns, you might be able to. Some people also buy broken instruments, so don`t throw them away.

I wouldn`t throw that away, I`d put it up on my wall like a trophy. A friend of mine in the SJSU marching band had his horn run over by one of the trucks, and after playing a rehersal with it as a joke, he put it on his wall and got a new one. Things like that can be great memories, or even bad ones, but they shouldn`t just be tossed. They should be showed off.

Dude, totally go silver. Silver brass instruments are the best looking you can get they just look great