Hi Folks! Margaret wrote:

 I just got a call from
>Malcolm Bilson.  He has just bought back his first
fortepiano, made by Phil
>Belt, which Mary Sadovnikof has had all these years.  It is
now a veritable
>historical artifact, being the instrument which got Malcolm
into the early
>piano thing.  He is looking for replacement beryllium copper
wire, that stuff
>Phil, and then Hubbard, supplied with those first kits.
Anybody still have
>any, or know where it ca be gotten?  He particularly wants
.014" and .016".
>This is to be an authentic restoration.
>Send replies to Malcolm Bilson at <[log in to unmask]>

Back in 1973 Phil Belt gave me several pounds of iron wire he
had had drawn for fortepianos.  He told me (correctly) that it
was rather soft, and stretched and stretched - and wouldn't
stay in tune. He told me that he had been using Be Cu because
of this, and asserted that this sounded better than the then-
universal steel wire.

My suggestion would be to string it in iron, which was what
Phil really wanted.

                        Best!
                                        Redstone
Peter Redstone,
Harpsichord Maker,
PO Box 75,
Claremont, VA 23899
(757) 866 8477
http://www.ctg.net/redstone