This story about German music wire was related by Dr. Clarence Hickman,
of American Piano Company, when interviewed by Nelson Bardon circa 1960.

The interviews by Nelson Bardon were re-printed in "The Ampico
Reproducing Piano", edited by Richard J. Howe, published by Music Box
Society International.  Quoting from page 89:
 - - - - - -

Hickman:

   When World War One came on, all of our piano wire for stringing pianos
came from Germany.  Of course, all those people thought the German wire
was the greatest stuff in the world; and it was pretty good.  And when
you could no longer get it, the American Wire Company spent a tremendous
amount of time on trying to make good piano wire.  And eventually they
did.  They made very, very good piano wire.

   And yet, those people like the heads of Knabe and Chickering and
places like that, when the war was over and they could get German wire,
that's what they wanted.  And by God, when they got in the German wire,
it wasn't as good as what we had and they had to go back and use the
American wire.  But they were so sold on the idea that German wire was
the only thing in the world."

Barden:

   And it's still true today.  There was a Chickering concert grand
Ampico with an "A" mechanism in the city of Boston.  When this guy
started to rebuild it, he took all the time in the world, doing
everything.  He dyed his own felt, to make sure the color would be right.
I said, "What are you going to string it with?" (knowing that he's an
old-time piano man.)

   "Oh," he said, "I couldn't use anything but the best German wire.
I finally found somebody who's got some from the first World War."

   Well, he finally got it and it was all rusty.  He cleaned it all up
and strung the piano and it just sounded horrible.  Wasn't half as good.

Hickman:

   Well, you see, the trouble with the German wire, of course, was that
it was good in its day.  But the trouble with the German wire was that it
stretched.  And somehow or other the American Wire Company learned how to
get their wire up to the point where it was not going to stretch to any
extent at all.  If it stretches, you want it to break rather than
anything else.