Bassoon wire – sample #4: G-05 Forrests Music Brass Wire 21 gauge wire: 127 ppm Lead (+ Copper + Zinc).

Wire Product Description:
G-05 21 – Bsn Reed Wire, 21 ga Brass, 60ft
Purchased at: https://www.forrestsmusic.com/

When tested with an XRF Instrument the wire pictured here had the following readings:

• Lead (Pb): 127 +/- 61 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 299,900 +/- 1,500 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 699,000 +/- 1,900 ppm
• Nickel (Ni): 311 +/- 127 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 279 +/- 122 ppm
• Note: No other metals detected.
• 3-minute test (180-seconds)

The level of Lead found on this wire was not easily replicated in additional testing. The margin of error is so high compared to the level found (& the nature of wire also makes it a difficult product to test using XRF technology) that I would prefer to see some lab testing to confirm whether or not this product consistently had Lead at this level. In the meantime – with 8 samples tested, and six of those testing negative for Lead, it seems like it is easy enough to choose a different product that was confirmed to be Lead free (pending additional testing on this specific brand and style of wire.)

Please click here to see all eight examples (from several different vendors / manufacturers) and their correlative XRF test results. 

As always, thank you for reading and for sharing my posts. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama