piano wire

[Carl Meyer]

About 15 yrs ago I got about 100 lbs. of piano wire from an estate along
with a lot of other stuff. There were 5 lb rolls of most sizes.  I've been
using this stuff all these years.  I really like working with 5 lb rolls.  I
made dispensers out of 1/8 inch peg board and cut a hole in the top to pull
the wire out.  I have a 5 lb roll of 11 1/2 thru 22.

A couple of problems:  Two or three are brittle.  I can't put a bass string
type loop without the wire fracturing.  I always have to find a small roll
for that size.  Not much of a problem except when an old piano had those
loops for every string.  Probably not uniformly annealed.  Probably
different brands as well.  Also, a few rolls don't match the others in color
and sheen.  There are a few sizes I'm running low on.

I've considered investing in a 5 lb roll of each size hoping I'll get the
same color, sheen etc. for appearance sake. I'd like to use only one brand
and type for everything.

Question: I've heard some say "Brand X is the best" but never could get an
understandable reason.  Is there much difference in brands or types?  Do
some sound different?  Is it practical to use only stainless?  And why why
why?  Thanks for any biased or otherwise opinions.

Carl Meyer  Assoc. PTG
Santa Clara, California
cmpiano@home.com