Bareboard has asked whether I inferred from the Yamaha Music press release regarding their line of lead-free musical instruments that an instrument that contains traditional solder is harmful to the musician's health. The only inference I can make from the press release is that Yamaha Music sees some benefit to removing lead from their musical instruments and wants us to infer that the benefit is to their customers more than to their bottom line. 

If Bareboard's question is what my opinion is, my answer is that I think the blood lead level for musicians using leaded musical instruments is no higher than that of anyone else, and that it would be a huge challenge for someone to propose a mechanism by which lead in a musical instrument could get into the musician. Until someone presents some evidence, my inference on Yamaha's motivation would be that it is an unprincipled attempt to increase market share. They might be doing this by appealing to people's sense of "any move to stop using lead is good for the environment" (with no notion of how the environment is thereby made better) or else by exploiting fear. Remember that the reasoning behind superstition is "it can't hurt, and it might help." How much extra would you pay to protect yourself or your loved ones from lead in the next musical instrument you buy?

Gordon Davy 
Baltimore, MD 
[log in to unmask]
410-993-7399 

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