Is "red brass" the same as "gold brass"?

Wyvern · Post by **Wyvern** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:44 pm

Cerveny gives the option of their tubas in "red brass". Is that the same as "gold brass", or yet another type of brass?

The color in the Cerveny brochure does look more coppery FWIW.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:57 pm

There are lots of brass alloys and tempers. Here's a list:

http://www.matweb.com/search/GetSubcat.asp

glangfur · Post by **glangfur** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:09 pm

ben wrote:Red brass is the same as rose brass, and it is higher in Copper content than gold brass.

Not really. Rose brass is another name for gold brass, and there are some variations in exactly what alloy different manufacturers call gold brass.

Here is what we use at Shires:

# Y = Yellow Brass: 70% Copper, 30% Zinc.

# G = Gold Brass: 85% Copper, 15% Zinc.

# R = Red Brass: 90% Copper, 10% Zinc.

Edwards uses the same alloy we call gold brass but call it rose brass.

The exact color it ends up looking like on the bell can have to do with exactly how it's buffed at the final stages and what happens to the lacquer.

Art Hovey · Post by **Art Hovey** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:20 pm

The lacquer can make a big difference too. The King (H.N. White) company has used some very dark lacquers in the past.
I used to have a king tuba from the late 1930s that was bronze-colored.

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:07 am

Hey, ben -- thanks, but I wouldn't call it exact. More like an averaging of the various sources. Tubatinker posted a much better reference.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:21 am

iiipopes wrote:Hey, ben -- thanks, but I wouldn't call it exact. More like an averaging of the various sources. Tubatinker posted a much better reference.

I've got the technical stuff.... but I can't begin to tell you which grades are used for musical instruments!

About all I can tell you for sure is that yellow brass is more prone to 'red rot' because it contains more zinc. Zinc is the stuff that precipitates out of the brass leaving behind a more-or-less porous form of raw copper.

I'ld like to see someone make a stainless steel tuba!

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:41 am

TubaTinker wrote:I'ld like to see someone make a stainless steel tuba!

To see how it looks, or to see someone "polish" it with heavy grade steel wool?

JohnMCooper · Post by **JohnMCooper** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:29 am

windshieldbug wrote:
TubaTinker wrote:I'ld like to see someone make a stainless steel tuba!
To see how it looks, or to see someone "polish" it with heavy grade steel wool?

You could call it a Delorean!

tubaguy9 · Post by **tubaguy9** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 6:33 pm

JohnMCooper wrote:
windshieldbug wrote:
TubaTinker wrote:I'ld like to see someone make a stainless steel tuba!
To see how it looks, or to see someone "polish" it with heavy grade steel wool?
You could call it a Delorean!

Heh...loudest tuba on market...best looking tuba, too...I love the color of Stainless...
But expensive as hell, though.

TubaingAgain · Post by **TubaingAgain** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:48 pm

Stainless steel might look good in either polished or ecthed look but bet it would sound like a old kitchen sink being hit with woodin spoons (CHIT)

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:22 pm

tubaguy9 wrote:
JohnMCooper wrote:
windshieldbug wrote: To see how it looks, or to see someone "polish" it with heavy grade steel wool?
You could call it a Delorean!
Heh...loudest tuba on market...best looking tuba, too...I love the color of Stainless...
But expensive as hell, though.

I never was too impressed with the Delorean. The car was actually a 'plastic pig' with thin stainless steel skin overlays. They say those cars were really good at following a 'white line' though!

I would think a tuba made of thin stainless steel would really be resonant!

OldsRecording · Post by **OldsRecording** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:57 am

tubaguy9 wrote:Heh...loudest tuba on market...best looking tuba, too...I love the color of Stainless...
But expensive as hell, though.

I noticed in the WWBW catalog Stomvi is making a trumpet out of titanium, and the price didn't seem to be much higher than any other horn. I'll bet a tuba that could withstand the rigors of supersonic flight or the crushing depths of all but the deepest oceans could make it through an average high school marching band season...

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 10:57 am

OldsRecording wrote:I'll bet a tuba that could withstand the rigors of supersonic flight or the crushing depths of all but the deepest oceans could make it through an average high school marching band season...

Then you haven't seen too many high school bands...