Derived from the Birmingham Wire Gauge. #6 = 26 B.W.G.; #7 = 25½ B.W.G.; #8 = 25 B.W.G. and so on up to #20 = 19 B.W.G.

Broadwood piano company stated that they were using steel wire in 1815 from Germany and Britain, but this has not been confirmed. According to the Oxford Companion , it was in 1819 that Brockedon began drawing steel wire through holes in diamonds and rubies . Before 1834 wire for instruments was made either from iron or brass, until Webster of Birmingham introduced steel wire. The firm seems to have been called Webster and Horsfall, later wire is said to have also come from Nuremberg and later still from Berlin. Wire has been plated in gold, silver, and platinum to stop rusting and plated wire can still be bought, but polished wire is best.

In 1884 In England the imperial standard wire gauge was sanctioned by the board of trade. Prior to this we used the Birmingham wire gauge. Most UK makers used Birmingham's piano wire. This was due to Webster and Horfall of Birmingham's who in 1854 invented a means of making tempered cast steel piano wire. The Germans had done this before, with little success. The wire from Birmingham's factory was much stronger than the German wire.

On September 20, 1994, Rowland Carson posted a list of the 39 most used gauge systems in use worldwide:

Of these Birmingham still features with the following:

• Birmingham Gauge BG ~ iron hoop & strip, steel sheet
• Birmingham Wire Gauge BWG ~ iron & steel telephone wire
• Birmingham Wire Gauge for Silver & Gold ~ silver & gold
• Stubs Iron WIre Gauge ~ iron wire
• Stubs Steel Wire Gauge ~ steel drill rod