Brass Mouthpiece Tops
With our durable, hypoallergenic coating!
A$149.00A$119.95
We want our mouthpieces to not just sound great and look great, but to feel great. This is why our brass mouthpiece tops are produced with a special hypoallergenic coating.
Specifically, we use a Titanium Nitride coating which is an extremely hard, ceramic-like material with a shiny gold finish. It is a lubricious/slippery coating similar to something like gold, but it is a much tougher, more durable material. It is often used on medical implants because as a coating it prevents ions of the underlying material leaking through, which are what cause reactions.
Yes, standard plating like Silver plating does this, too, but only if the plating is applied with a good amount of thickness. If it is a thin coating, there may be microscopic pores or microcracks in the plating that are sufficient to ions to get through and cause a reaction.
Additionally, while allergies to PURE Silver are extremely rare, it is not uncommon for silver used in mass-production to have impurities in it or for a lower grade of silver to be used, one that has deliberately been 'watered down' with other metals to save on cost. Unfortunately, those other materials are things that can cause common reactions like swelling, inflamation, etc. Standard plating is much more likely to wear or develop pores and microcracks over time, even good plating, which is why people playing on silver plated mouthpieces still experience metal allergies even though a silver allergy is super rare.
So we have chosen a material that is proven to be hypoallergenic, and proven to be EXTREMELY durable. The other use for Titanium Nitride is in coating things like drill bits and cutting tools, because the coating can significantly reduce tool wear and improve longevity of the tool. It does that two ways: (1) because the coating is really tough and (2) because the coating is slippery. Those two things are exactly what you usually want in a mouthpiece coating!***
*** If you're someone who likes a textured or "grippy" rim, talk to us and we'll help you get what you needc.