Leadpipe material -- red brass vs nickel silver

[bort]

It's my understanding that both red brass and nickel silver are used for leadpipes for corrosion resistance. Is there a reason for choosing one material over the other?

I've always thought that nickel silver looked a lot cooler, but not sure if there is any *real* difference. Is there?

[hbcrandy]

Nickel silver is a harder metal than red brass. But, from my experience in the French horn world, the alloy of the bell flare and bell tail most effect the sound and carrying power of the instrument, not the leadpipe.

The late Walter Lawson did acoustical research on this and found this to be true. When Walter played with the Baltimore Symphony, he made each section member screw-on bell flares of yellow brass, gold brass and nickel silver. These bell flares were used depending on the music that was being played and the hall in which the orchestra was performing.

Walter also did much research on leadpipe taper as it affects open partial intonation of the horn. The leadpipe taper is more critical on the horn than it is on the tuba. The horn in F is the same length as the F tuba. However, due to the fact that the tubing of the F horn is about 1/2 of the diameter of the F tuba and the horn mouthpiece is so small, the horn player more frequently plays in the upper partials of the total tube length. Therefore, there are more notes on the F horn that have antinodal points in the leadpipe that depend on an optimized leadpipe taper for intonation. The tuba has less notes that are affected by the leadpipe taper. Only some of your higher partials may be affected.

So, my advice is don't worry as much about the alloy of your tuba leadpipe. If your tuba plays well in tune with itself with the current leadpipe, don't change anything.

[Art Hovey]

A brass leadpipe can be bent without difficulty if you don't try to overdo it. That's a good quality because most tubas come from the factory with an uncomfortably-positioned receiver. (What's right for one person is usually wrong for the next.) A german-silver leadpipe is much harder to adust.
For maximum corrosion resistance and adjustability I would choose annealed copper leadpipes.

[GC]

That's a good quality because most tubas come from the factory with an uncomfortably-positioned receiver.

Amen. I'm of average height but have a short trunk. I have to hold almost every upright tuba off the chair with my legs because the mouthpieces hit me anywhere from nose to forehead if I set it on the chair and tilt the horn so that it's weight-balanced.

Another issue with nickel-silver is that it can crack as it get really old, but it patches fairly easily.

[bort]

Thanks everyone! I think nickel silver just looks cool, so I want sure if there was a reason to not use it. Bet it would really look slick on a Neptune.

[bort]

Ooh, good idea!

But why skip straight to gold, and not at least do silver plating first? Nickel silver isn't silver at all...

If I were keeping the Neptune and IF parts were at all available from the Buffet Group, I'd consider ordering a nickel silver Neptune leadpipe as try it out.