Take what I say with a grain of salt.
 
The last couple of batches of Zuckermann brass I bought had a nasty wave,
with a wavelength of about 1.5" (30mm) or so, and seemed very brittle. By
now, I have been told, this problem has been recognized and remedied, so
don't assume wire purchased now will be like that. On Italian harpsichords
I find it a bit hard drawn (which doesn't really translate into more
reliable or stronger, by the way), and not as sweet and "bloomy" as I like.
However, I have restrung one of my clavichords and I'm in the process of
restringing the other with this wire, which is excellent for those
instruments. Much louder and clearer on clavichord than the expensive
Malcolm Rose brass I had put on them before.
 
For brass-strung harpsichords, I cannot praise the new brass wire offered
by Lutz Bungart's Instrument Workshop highly enough. I have put it on three
Italians now and I love it. Lutz uses the same factory as Zuckermann, but I
think this is custom-drawn for him. It takes a longer time to "come alive"
than some brass, but after about three weeks it really takes off. Lutz gets
it in hanks (it's not spool-wound at the factory) and if you buy spools, he
*hand winds* it for you. It's much, much less expensive than Rose wire if
you buy in quantity. And it has virtually NO spool memory or kinks. I laid
a piece of .012" (.30mm) about 10 feet out on the floor and it lay straight
and flat like a clothes line.
 
You can access Lutz's on-line catalogue at: http://www.fortepiano.com
 
owen
 
 
>I have had a sometime customer of mine write to me asking for replacement
>brass wire for his South German instrument, saying very rude things about
>Zuckermann's brass wire.
>
>Can anyone out there substantiate or refute this disparagement?  From handling
>the wire a few times in the past, it seems like pretty good stuff.  The
>implication of the criticism is that it's drawn too hard.  Anybody have any
>comments about this?
>
>Tyre,
>Dunedin