Re: Re: Alexander f tuba to sell


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Posted by nickel/Nickel-silver on May 18, 2003 at 16:53:31:

In Reply to: Re: Alexander f tuba to sell posted by ?? on May 18, 2003 at 06:16:28:

Nickel is OFTEN alloyed with many other materials, both ferrous and non-ferrous alloys.
Nickel-copper alloys typically contain only 65 percent nickel, switch the terms around as in copper-nickel alloys and you only have about 10 percent nickel. Nickel-chromium alloys, containing approximately 40 to 70 percent nickel, are used in corrosive chemical environments and high-temperature applications such as heating elements and jet engine parts, generally not a great finish for musical instruments, though since there is SO much Basic nickel being mined in the easter bloc part of the world it IS unfortunately used on horns like the St Pete. Why unfortunate? Highly toxic! Nickel-copper-zinc alloys, including nickel silver with less than 18 percent nickel, are used for decorative purposes, including jewelry. Can't really play semantics with the terms, my friend, as they are general terms used to generally describe a wide variaety of alloys. No one says their tuba is sterling-silver plated do they? Truth is horns seldom get close to 98% silver in the alloy used to plate them, so nickel is added to the alloy (along with copper for co-valent bonding of the otherwise uncooperative-with-each-other molecules) to make the resulting finish more durable. Hence "nickel-silver."

The old term of "german silver" - just about as nebulous really, is commonly used to describe ferrules and the like, to say nickel-silver plating makes a distinction as those ferrules are solid (rather than plated)....but also subject I suppose to just as much hair-splitting, since there is no standardized usage amongst manufacturers of instruments.

Dale "wonders what part of the request e-mail only for info is unclear" P.



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