old brass wire

[Dan Squire]

On 11/2/95, Stephen Birkett wrote:
>Someone posted a question referring to crystallization of old brass
>wire (not sure who). While I've seen this process complete in some
>10 year old Sitar strings I have,...

Steve,
You actually watched the crystallization process in an old brass wire?
Did you see a face-centered cubic, body-centered cubic, or a hexagonal
close-packed crystal structure? I know that many elements and
compounds exist in more than one crystalline form under different
conditions of pressure and temperature, but this is a new one for me.
Please elaborate on what you saw.

Dan Squire
Houston, Texas