I have a brass copeland low D,
which I like very well. There have been some
differences expressed here about whether the silver
Copeland low Ds sound better. Today
at the Tional here in St. Louis, well, there were
Michael and Jim, with lots of whistles, including
both brass and silver low Ds. So I played the
brass, which sounded like mine.
Then I played the silver; they sounded
better, more ‘silky’ as Jim R. describes them.
So, in my now more informed opinion,
the silver ones sound better, though
the brass ones sound very good. Best
I think it was those particular ones that sounded better. I have had the opposite experience.
Could be. I’ve had similar experiences with
nickel v. silver high D copelands.
Silver has its own sound, IMO.
I don’t think I’ve proved anything
or anything like that. Best
I didn’t realise that people bought silver Copelands for the sound.
IMO opinion, Copelands are very variable and it doesn’t seem to have much to do with the material used. If you get a great Copeland, you get a truly amazing whistle—I think all of us who got lucky would agree on that.
Very much in the FWIW department, let me say
that I’m not alone in my opinion: Michael and Jim
say so, too. We may all be mistaking variations
between particular whistles for something
else, of course.
Perhaps Michael and Jim spent a bit more time on those silver whistles because they respected the silver more than the brass. I have played between 50 and 100 Copelands (made of nickel, brass, silver, phosphor bronze, and solid gold) and can honestly and knowledgably say that material has nothing to do with variation in quality, tone or playability.