<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2180" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: = Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol= e_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>   Hi Stephane. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>   Makes sense. </FONT><FONT size=3>    I believe that piano wire, since it's devel= opment has had differing amounts of carbon content which could effect tone & longevity. Also It's my contention that both plain wire & copper that wa= s used as a wrap combined with very skilled technicians made way better bass strings than most made today. Can't prove it but others have thought so as well.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>  Just look/listen to/at some sets of early 1900 or= iginal sets of Stwy/other  strings that still have 90% of the tonal integrity.= Pretty amazing when I consider how many string sets I replace in more modern= pianos after only 30 to 40 years, especially bass strings.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3> BTW, tension is tension the way understand it.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>    Dale</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><= FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size= =2>Don't know for Steinway, but heard that tests done on strings of a 1864 <BR>Bechstein belonging once to Richard Wagner showed that the steel used = for <BR>strings had similar properties as modern Röslau wire.  1864 is = a time after <BR>the industrialization of the process of making steel, and piano makers were <BR>very quick to adopt the new material.<BR><BR>Stéphane Collin</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>