Re: Silver or Gold


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Posted by Lesley on November 08, 2001 at 23:13:05:

In Reply to: Silver or Gold posted by Euphonium Player on November 05, 2001 at 18:27:54:

to weigh in and add a different perspective:
Many English horn and Bassoon players experiment with gold and silver bocals. Gold is usually said to create a darker, yet harder to project sound, while silver gives a brighter, "zingy-er" sound. Personally, I play a gold plated version of a very straight bocal, which gives me the projection, but that great mellow gold sound.
This is one of the ways it's explained in "our world":
Silver is a harder metal than gold, so silver gives more ring (high overtones, thus projection) and gold mellows the vibrations, giving a sweeter, but less projecting sound.

Not sure if mouthpieces work the same way, but just my $0.02

-The Oboist Who Fell in Love With a Garage Sale Tuba


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