rosewood flute

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eubiedubie
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Post by eubiedubie »

Anybody have an opinion on the difference in sound between a rosewood and blackwood flute?Is one better then the other,are they about the same or different but equal?
Mal
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Post by Mal »

"Caution must be excercised when evaluating opinions about the relative suitability of various species of timber for woodwind construction, a subject which seems to generate an abundancy of opinions based on a paucity of scientific substantiation...." (apologies to Alan Greenspan).

Seriously, I think instrument makers would agree that an ideal flute material would have the following characteritics: A. Hard and able to be given a very smooth surface. B.Highly resistant to absorbing moisture. C: Tough, and resistant to breaking or cracking. D: Non-toxic. E. Easy to work. Resonance has nothing to do with it scientific studies have shown. The walls of the wooden flute tube are too heavy to be excited by the sound waves to any discernable degree, and study published by the University of New South Wales points out. (See Terry McGee's Website for details).

SO!! Sounds like some kind of plastic might make the best flute, doesn't it? That's what your kid's school band clarinet is made or, so why don't the expensive flute makers, like Olwell, Healy, Burns, McGee et al make flutes that way!

Wouldn't it be interesting if they did! Michael Cronnolly (M&E Flutes) and Desi Seery (among others) do, and for very reasonable prices! But the material that a flute is made of is a minor part of the final cost, and so who would spend a thousand bucks for a PVC Olwell or Hamilton? In other words, aesthetics have a lot to do with this.

If you want the opinion of somebody who ought to know, since he makes his living making top quality Irish flutes from Rosewood, Grenadilla (blackwood) and Cooktown Ironwood (an Australian timber) send an E-Mail (or phone)to Skip Healy and ask him what he thinks. He uses Madagascar Rosewood as his standard timber in his new less-expensive line of two-piece flutes, but will make them in Genadilla or Cooktown ironwood, (the timbers he uses exclusively for his top line) for an extra $50. Skip has a website

Casey Burns has experimented with many different timbers for his Irish flutes at one time or another, but has settled on Grenadilla and Mopane (an other African timber, which looks like Rosewood). For a comparison check his website.

Terry McGee, an Australian maker of both Irish and classic Baroque flutes, makes instruments from Grenadilla, Gidgee (an Australian species), and also Boxwood, which is popular for the classic flutes and for which he charges a little more.
Terry told me that, in his opinion, Grenadilla is unsurpassed.)

Recorder makers also use a variety of woods but mainly Grenadilla, Rosewood, Maple(impregnated with Bakelite), Boxwood and Pear, the latter two being historically correct for 17th, 18th and early 19th century instruments.

Grenadilla is an expensive wood to use because it is becoming difficult to obtain suitably sized pieces that do not contain hidden defects (caused by fires set to clear scrub lands for farming in Africa). That means a lot of wastage, both of timber and time, for the flute makerm and is why instruments made of Grenadilla cost more to make.

Mal
bruce_b
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Post by bruce_b »

<<Seriously, I think instrument makers would agree that an ideal flute material would have the following characteritics: A. Hard and able to be given a very smooth surface. B.Highly resistant to absorbing moisture. C: Tough, and resistant to breaking or cracking. D: Non-toxic. E. Easy to work. Resonance has nothing to do with it scientific studies have shown. The walls of the wooden flute tube are too heavy to be excited by the sound waves to any discernable degree, and study published by the University of New South Wales points out. (See Terry McGee's Website for details). >>

Yes, it's not the walls resonating, but there are still several things going on to easily explain why different woods sound different. The smoothness of the bore at the microscopic level is apparently important, so subtle differences in woods can have a significant effect on tone. Depending on the sound you want, smoother may *not* be better. Also, different materials damp some frequencies more than others, probably at least one reason why blackwood is often described as sounding darker, and cocus brighter. It's not the wood resonating, but almost the opposite effect that's important, which is it's ability to selectively filter certain frequencies.
Interesting topic, it's been beaten to death over at woodenflute.
Mal
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Post by Mal »

Check out the Univ. of N.S.W study results on Terry's website, Bruce. I think you will find them interesting. And it you can understand more than 10 percent of what they are talking about, please enlighten me!

Best

Mal
bruce_b
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Post by bruce_b »

<<Check out the Univ. of N.S.W study results on Terry's website, Bruce. I think you will find them interesting. And it you can understand more than 10 percent of what they are talking about, please enlighten me!>>

Mal, I'm still trying to understand exactly what I wrote yesterday. Thanks, I will check it out.
jim stone
Posts: 17185
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2001 6:00 pm

Post by jim stone »

The flute makers and whistle
makers I've talked to who use both, seem to
think that blackwood sounds better
than rosewood.
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