A lot of the old victorian verticals and even some from the early 1900's had steel wound strings. Most manufacturers switched after the turn of the century. I have an old Chickering (1884) upright that had steel wound bass and they sounded great. I think the main problem was with rusting ... By the way, there is a good book called "Pianos and their makers" by Alfred Dolge, and it has a lot of historical piano stuff in it-it is good reading.... Good Luck Greg Torres, Technician Niceville, Fl tunapiana@aol.com
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