Per the Woodwind and Brasswind (presumably lifted from Yamaha literature). While the saxophone isn't addressed, the effect of plating on clarinet keys and posts didn't just nibble at the edges of a discernable difference, didn't merely add warmth to the tone, but actually made "a dramatic difference".
Boy have I (many of us) been wrong on this one.
Case closed, no further room for discussion. On to precious stone key touches...
Yamaha YCL-CSG Series Professional Bb Clarinet
What is HAMILTON PLATING?
Hamilton plating is an alloy of gold and nickel. It's extremely resistant to wear and discoloration, and delivers a powerful tone with excellent projection. On the CSGH instruments, the Hamilton Plating is actually not only on the keys, but on the posts as well. In artist testing, it was shown to be a dramatic difference between instruments that had just Hamilton plated keys and Hamilton plated keys and posts.
... Reflectivity is inversely related to emissivity and when added together their total should equal 1 for an opaque material. Therefore, if asphalt has a thermal emissivity value of 0.90 its thermal reflectance value would be 0.10. This means that it absorbs and emits 90% of radiant thermal energy and reflects only 10%. Conversely, a low-e material such as aluminum foil has a thermal emissivity value of 0.03 and a thermal reflectance value of 0.97, meaning it reflects 97% of radiant thermal energy and emits only 3%. ...
Pure Gold -> Absorbs and emits 10% of radiant thermal energy and reflects 90%
Pure Silver - > Absorbs and emits 2% of radiant thermal energy and reflects 98%
Pure Gold -> Absorbs and emits 10% of radiant thermal energy and reflects 90%
Pure Silver - > Absorbs and emits 2% of radiant thermal energy and reflects 98%
I'm not aware of anyone making a pure gold sax, only plated. So it's plated brass vs silver. Then again, is there an instrument that is entirely made of solid silver? I think they usually have brass bits.
having played a Silver plated BA for nearly 20 years I have to say in my opinion that the plating does darken the sound but my particular horn sounds amazing .
I have been playing the same TH&C alto for 55 years. It is the horn my folks bought for me when I was 10 to start instrumental music (yes I realize how lucky I was and yes I am still thankful). For my HS graduation the horn was repadded using the Buescher snap system and refinished in gold plate since the lacquer was developing pits. The only difference in the way it played and sounded before and the job was attributible to the fresh pads and setup. I just like the look of plated horns and find them much easier to keep looking good.
The sax walls are absolutely NOT like a reverb unit
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