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Here's a rhetorical question....Has any maker used different alloys or metals for bass string windings? I remember the World War 2 era Steinways that had steel-wound strings due to the copper shortage at the time.

Why is it a rhetorical question? The answer is yes. Iron windings were common 100 years ago. Aluminum had been used on several pianos as well where copper is too heavy for fine windings yet additional mass is needed to fix scale problems. I'd not be surprised to hear of a few other alloys. Any particular reason for the inquiry?

Some cheaper pianos used copper-plated iron overwinding up until the 70s or so, a combination of the worst qualities of both of those materials.

Ari Isaac uses stainless steel on the underwrap of his singles. I don't know anyone else who does that.

Steve

I restored an East German war-time piano that had brass wound bass strings! Dead as door-nails the lot of them, it was cracking all over. Needless to say my bass string maker designed a new set of coppers for me. What a difference!

"Ari Isaac uses stainless steel on the underwrap of his singles. I don't know anyone else who does that."
Pure-Sound wire controversially uses stainless steel in an attempt to emulate the 1850 to 1900 sound, I'm posting a new forum about this