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Tonewood
Tonewood refers to specific wood varieties used for woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments. The word implies that certain species exhibit qualities that enhance acoustic properties of the instruments, but other properties of the wood such as aesthetics and availability have always been considered in the selection of wood for musical instruments. According to Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms, tonewood is:
Wood that is used to make stringed musical instruments. The term is often used to indicate wood species that are suitable for stringed musical instruments and, by exclusion, those that are not. But the list of species generally considered to be tonewoods changes constantly and has changed constantly throughout history.
As a rough generalization it can be said that stiff-but-light softwoods (i.e. from coniferous trees) are favored for the soundboards or soundboard-like surface that transmits the vibrations of the strings to the ambient air. Hardwoods (i.e. from deciduous trees) are favored for the body or framing element of an instrument. Woods used for woodwind instruments include African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) – also known as grenadilla – used in modern clarinets, oboes, and wooden concert flutes. Bassoons are usually made of hard maples, especially Norway maple (Acer platanoides), but sometimes palisander and rosewoods (Dalbergia spp.) is used in older or French-system bassoons. Wooden flutes, recorders, oboes, and early clarinet-like wind instruments of the Baroque and Classical periods may be made of various hardwoods, such as pear (Pyrus spp.), boxwood (Buxus spp.), or ebony (Diospyros spp.).
Some of the mechanical properties of common tonewoods, sorted by density.
CFRP, glass, aluminium, and steel added for comparison, since they are sometimes used in musical instruments.
Density is measured at 12% moisture content of the wood, i.e. air at 70 °F (21°C) and 65% relative humidity. Most professional luthiers will build at 8% moisture content (45% relative humidity), and such wood weighs less on average than that reported here, since it contains less water.
Data comes from the Wood Database, except for 𝜈LR, Poisson's ratio, which comes from the Forest Product Laboratory, United States Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture. The ratio displayed here is for deformation along the radial axis caused by stress along the longitudinal axis.
The shrink volume percent shown here is the amount of shrinkage in all three dimensions as the wood goes from green to oven-dry. This can be used as a relative indicator of how much the dry wood will change as humidity changes, sometimes referred to as the instrument's "stability". However, the stability of tuning is primarily due to the length-wise shrinkage of the neck, which is typically only about 0.1% to 0.2% green to dry. The volume shrinkage is mostly due to the radial and tangential shrinkage. In the case of a neck (quarter-sawn), the radial shrinkage affects the thickness of the neck, and the tangential shrinkage affects the width of the neck. Given the dimensions involved, this shrinkage should be practically unnoticeable. The shrinkage of the length of the neck, as a percent, is quite a bit less, but given the dimension, it is enough to affect the pitch of the strings.
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Tonewood
Tonewood refers to specific wood varieties used for woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments. The word implies that certain species exhibit qualities that enhance acoustic properties of the instruments, but other properties of the wood such as aesthetics and availability have always been considered in the selection of wood for musical instruments. According to Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms, tonewood is:
Wood that is used to make stringed musical instruments. The term is often used to indicate wood species that are suitable for stringed musical instruments and, by exclusion, those that are not. But the list of species generally considered to be tonewoods changes constantly and has changed constantly throughout history.
As a rough generalization it can be said that stiff-but-light softwoods (i.e. from coniferous trees) are favored for the soundboards or soundboard-like surface that transmits the vibrations of the strings to the ambient air. Hardwoods (i.e. from deciduous trees) are favored for the body or framing element of an instrument. Woods used for woodwind instruments include African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) – also known as grenadilla – used in modern clarinets, oboes, and wooden concert flutes. Bassoons are usually made of hard maples, especially Norway maple (Acer platanoides), but sometimes palisander and rosewoods (Dalbergia spp.) is used in older or French-system bassoons. Wooden flutes, recorders, oboes, and early clarinet-like wind instruments of the Baroque and Classical periods may be made of various hardwoods, such as pear (Pyrus spp.), boxwood (Buxus spp.), or ebony (Diospyros spp.).
Some of the mechanical properties of common tonewoods, sorted by density.
CFRP, glass, aluminium, and steel added for comparison, since they are sometimes used in musical instruments.
Density is measured at 12% moisture content of the wood, i.e. air at 70 °F (21°C) and 65% relative humidity. Most professional luthiers will build at 8% moisture content (45% relative humidity), and such wood weighs less on average than that reported here, since it contains less water.
Data comes from the Wood Database, except for 𝜈LR, Poisson's ratio, which comes from the Forest Product Laboratory, United States Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture. The ratio displayed here is for deformation along the radial axis caused by stress along the longitudinal axis.
The shrink volume percent shown here is the amount of shrinkage in all three dimensions as the wood goes from green to oven-dry. This can be used as a relative indicator of how much the dry wood will change as humidity changes, sometimes referred to as the instrument's "stability". However, the stability of tuning is primarily due to the length-wise shrinkage of the neck, which is typically only about 0.1% to 0.2% green to dry. The volume shrinkage is mostly due to the radial and tangential shrinkage. In the case of a neck (quarter-sawn), the radial shrinkage affects the thickness of the neck, and the tangential shrinkage affects the width of the neck. Given the dimensions involved, this shrinkage should be practically unnoticeable. The shrinkage of the length of the neck, as a percent, is quite a bit less, but given the dimension, it is enough to affect the pitch of the strings.