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Greetings!

I have a question about silver plating an instrument. How thick is the current silver plating average? I understand that if a too thin plating may dissapear faster, but If too thick, appart for beign more durable,does It may change the feeling, response, sound etc?

Thank you for taking your time to discuss!

Be very well!
Jose

Good quality silver plate is typically around 40 microns thick +/-. Plating (in my opinion) impacts the playability so much as to the quality of the assembly work performed prior to finishing. The color of your Chevy wagon does not add a jot to how fast it will go 0-60.

Daniel C. Oberloh
Oberloh Woodwind and Brass Works
http://www.oberloh.com" target="_blank

Thank you for your time and response Mr. Oberloh! The same would apply to lacquer?

40 microns = 0.00157 inch.

My guess would be less than half that. Typical silverplating is .0005 inch.

Doug Elliott wrote:40 microns = 0.00157 inch.

My guess would be less than half that. Typical silverplating is .0005 inch.

Like I said,Doug, "good quality silver plate". When I worked in plating many years ago, that was our standard for most of what we did. Took longer and cost more but it wore like iron. It still is my standard for mouthpieces, parts and complete instruments. 40 microns allowed for polishing afterword with minimal risk of cut through. Probably quite a bit less as you noted, for modern instrument maker using brighteners in the process. Considerably more heavy on the instrument made 30 plus years ago for the same reasons we did it when I worked in the field.

D.

The old way, when silver and labor were both cheap.

That definitely explains why the plating on my 1930s-1950s Eb tuba is still so intact, after all that it has been through.