Trumpet Materials
Trumpet Materials
Trumpets may be made of brass, bronze, silver, or plastic. Most trumpets are made of brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc, and sometimes nickel. Some manufacturers are also using bronze and/or sterling silver in various parts of the instrument — bell or bell flare, tuning crook, mouthpiece, mouthpiece receiver. Bronze is an alloy consisting of about 87-88% copper and about 11-13% tin. Trumpet makers may use a bronze alloy that also contains phosphorus, called “phosphor bronze”. Manufacturers may use different materials for different parts of the instrument in order to improve durability or affect sound quality or playability.
The various “blends” or alloys have different names, based on color, and also exhibit different playing characteristics, due to variations in thickness, hardness and stiffness. Softer alloys — those with more copper — create a warmer, darker sound, while harder alloys are more responsive, with a brighter tone that projects better.
Of course, these attributes assume “all other things equal” — tone quality and responsiveness are also affected by the thickness of the metal, the taper and bore of the instrument, the mouthpiece, and of course the player.
Yellow Brass
Most trumpets are made of yellow brass, which contains 70% copper and 30% zinc. This alloy is very responsive and lively, with excellent sound projection. Even if an instrument has a different alloy of brass for the bell or leadpipe, the tubing and valve casings are almost always yellow brass.
Gold Brass
Gold brass contains 85% copper, and is correspondingly redder in color. A gold brass bell provides a warmer sound, while retaining most of the sound projection qualities of yellow brass.
Rose Brass (Red Brass)
Rose brass contains 90% copper and is even redder and softer than gold brass. Used in the bell, it provides a warmer, mellower tone but doesn’t project as well as alloys with higher zinc content. Often used in the leadpipe of student instruments, it helps to prevent “red rot”, a corrosion caused by the build up of acidic dirt and saliva inside the tubing, which dissolves the zinc and leaves the red copper, and in extreme cases can even eat through the wall of the tubing (hint: keep your instrument clean).
Nickel Silver (White Brass)
Nickel silver is a brass alloy of 60% copper, 20% zinc, and 20% nickel, which turns the metal white. Nickel silver is a very hard alloy that is more corrosion resistant than yellow brass.
Sterling Silver
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. Sterling silver is a relatively soft but very corrosion-resistant metal that is sometimes used in lead pipes to prevent red rot. In a bell, it has a sound with more “core” and fewer overtones than yellow brass.
Bronze
Bronze, which is an alloy of copper and tin, often with some phosphor content, is denser and harder to machine. Depending on where it is used, it changes the feel and/or sound of the instrument. Used in the mouthpiece, tuning slide, or bell, bronze creates a more saturated, warmer sound that brightens only at higher dynamics compared with brass. A bronze mouthpiece also causes notes to feel more “targeted”. A bronze bell flare also affects the way sound projects in a room.