[Hot Tabasco]

The W bars should sound different from gold when tapped by a hammer because it is stiffer. It rings

The ring would be suppressed by the gold coating...........

[DBrow]

“The ring would be suppressed by the gold coating......”

That would depend on how thick the plating was, I’d imagine.

I don’t have gold, but I do have identically shaped lead, iron, tungsten, aluminum, and bismuth bars and they all have a different sound.