Just stopped by to make a little remark for all Trad. Flute players.
African Blackwood is a great material for making instruments, especially winds. However, the African Blackwood is an endangered rain forest wood. Rain forests are being chopped down with horrific speed and many species are threatened by extinction if it dissapears and no one knows what enviromental side effects we might see from that. If demand for these woods would not exist, no one would make them and less trees would be cut down. So please, take your responsibility and do not order a flute made from African Blackwood. There are many good alternatives. Polymer plastic and PVC is better and If you have to have a wood flute, Cherry wood and Rose wood is just as good.
Good point Henrik.
GHP are now available in Plastic, and there are sustainable local woods available for other instruments.
I would imagine that it takes a few hundred years or so for a Blackwood tree to reach maturity, and therefore its use is almost by definition un-sustainable.
I've made some whistles out of plastic, which is less environmentally damaging than metals.
I
Personally,I believe that much of the blackwood currently being made into flutes is old wood which was cut some time ago and stored, as it is not readily available now.
I'm not convinced that the production of wooden flutes is what has had a deleterious effect on rainforests. Given the rapacious nature of modern capitalist enterprise, asking wooden flute players not to contribute to the destruction of the wilderness borders on the perverse. If you are really worried about the rainforests you're barking up the wrong tree (sorry!).
Having said that, the best sounding flute I've ever heard was a Grinter, which I believe was made from an Aussie hardwood called Mulga ...
Here is what Eamonn Cotter, who made my flute, said regarding this in an anterview....
Q: There's a growing concern about the future availability -- and environmental correctness -- of African Blackwood (grenadilla, m'pingo) for flute making. What do you think? Are supplies likely to start running short anytime soon?
A: Yes that's going to be a problem, maybe not today or tomorrow but certainly in the future.
Q: Should flute makers start using other materials that don't have such an impact on rainforests?
A: Well I'm certainly not going to go down the road of synthetic products.There are some intrument makers who have decided to go that way, but I think I'll go back to the engineering work if I have to resort to Polly Pink or one of those synthetic products. I like boxwood, and I have it, but for some reason people don't look for it. I have it as an option. Roger Sherlock plays a boxwood flute, and it has a lovely mellow tone.
People are looking for power and volume now, and you probably don't get that on a boxwood flute. I tried rosewood once or twice, but it doesn't agree with some people, and it smells, too. I tried maple too, but it's a bit soft, and cocus wood, but that's very expensive to get. When it gets to the stage where blackwood is impossible to get I'll have to reassess like everyone else.
Ottery... We all have are part in this. Even if Trad Flutes in Blackwood is not the major reason why rain forest are endangered and no one could blame trad. flute players for being the bigest enviromental pests because they play them, it does have an impact. And it does'nt matter wether the wood was chopped recently or has been stored, as long as there is no demand, no trees would be cut down. That's the rules of capitalism, the rules that have made the forests endangered. Sertainly, there are people that have a lot biger part in this than flute makers, and belive me, I would like to stop them all. But from my point of view, this is the easiest way to effect things. This is my buissenus. Other people will have to mind there own...
I have a keyless flute on order and then a keyed flute (7 yr wait). Both will be African Blackwood because I want the power and volume. I love playing African Blackwood.
It's a shame about the environment but that's not going to stop me from purchasing this type of flute.
It's nice that you care about the rainforests I do too. Boycotting ebony flutes isn't going to put a dent in the slash & burn farming technique of farming in the rainforests. That's why the wood is becoming rare. The farmers burn down fields w/o harvesting the lumber & the trees aren't being chopped down for their wood. I understand & respect your outlook, but boycotting anything is more of a personal statement, it rarely hurts the party your after. Mr. MacDonald doesn't care if you don't buy a Big Mac & he'll go on burning the rainforest for the other 3 million other people who enjoy their Big Macs.
Henrik,
I don't think we do have a part in it. I would love to believe that we could have some control over what is happening to the rainforests, but I know that this type of abusive exploitation is not demand-led. They will cut down the trees whether we use the wood or not. They will then sell it for whatever they can get for it, much in the same way that they kill all the fish in the ocean, even if they can only sell the catch for fertiliser and catfood.
I'm afraid they are not going to see a Grenadilla tree and say "Not much call in Lahinch for this stuff any more, I guess we'll leave it standing..."
If you really want to do something about the rainforests, I'm afraid you'll need guns, bombs, and all the persuasive apparatus that the capitalists themselves use.
Keffo,
Although I sympathize with your concern for Africa's ecosystems, I don't think the world production of wooden flutes poses much of a threat. Quite the opposite, in fact. Trees in Africa will continue to be cut down regardless of what materials flutes are made of. In most cases, the locals cut the trees to sell as firewood and charcoal. Dense woods such as blackwood make excellent charcoal and so fetch a higher price. Also, in some areas, the forest is cleared for farming. We're talking hundreds and thousands of acres razed for these uses, compared to the handful of individual trees needed for wooden flute production in any given year.
If anything, wooden flute makers and players could be enlisted to help preserve Africa's forests by continuing to demand--and pay higher prices for--blackwood. Only then will local people see the wisdom of managing their forests for a more profitable and sustainable use, instead of turning them wholesale into fuel. This approach is beginning to take hold here in the States, where private landowners manage hardwood forests for a small but sustainable yield of oak, hickory, and cherry. It's not a perfect solution--they're still removing old-growth trees that provide habitat for at-risk wildlife species--but it's part of a workable mosaic that ranges from tree farms to forest preserves closed to all logging.
I can imagine whole blackwood preserves in Africa where the only logging allowed is for flute suppliers and the profits support local economies far better than charcoal....
Hi Will, I originally wanted to argue that if there was a big enough demand for blackwood flutes, it might actually help the survival of these forests. (small farmers managing this more profitable forest) But I don't know enough about the topic. Thanks for your reply to the original post.
There are a few things I boycott for environmental and/or humanitarian reasons.....but gosh, I don't think I could live without a Blackwood flute : )
Well, if you want to go getting outraged about forests getting mowed down for no good reason, then let's also wipe out English Ivy in the Pacific Northwest. There are hundreds upon hundreds of acres of forest in danger of becoming ivy deserts where the ivy has torn down everything in it's path. Volunteers are needed to go into the wildernesses of the Northwest and remove truckload upon truckload of the stuff.
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes, and fiddle bows
A parallel situation arises with the pernambuco timber grown in Brazil that is used for the best fiddle bows. Apparently, it is in such short supply in Brazil that the Brazilian government has banned its export. However, it is still available from sources outside Brazil who have managed to obtain it by devious means. The situation is apparently so bad that the tree could die out.
The problem with bow making from natural materials is that there is an enormous, unavoidable, wastage, of the order of about 75pc. A bow maker finds it very difficult to predict how a bow is going to turn out until the final stages, and then no matter how careful his skills he might find he has something he cannot sell.
Pernambuco has long been the preferred material for fiddle bows because no other natural wood seems to have the necessary qualities to the required level. Nowadays, there is a useful alternative in carbon fibre. This is a material the properties of which are well understood and can be designed beforehand, so we now have carbon-fibre bows which are eminently satisfactory for most playing, at a price to the player that is a fraction of the price of an equivalent pernabuco bow. Furthermore, the wastage in production is minimal.
There are eminent bow makers who recognise this situation and are looking at ways, for instance, of laminating pernambuco with other materials such as carbon fibre, so as to achieve the best features of both materials. There is even the possibility that future bow sticks could incorporate metal inserts made from specialist alloys.
Btw, a few weeks ago I bought a carbon-fibre bow for
The same is true of wood for drums, the preferred material has historically been african mahogany (non-existant!, in sufficient quantities for drum building), and birdseye and burl rock maple which is now just a veneer over S.American luan, (the same wood that cheap paneling is usually made of). That's why vintage instruments made of of these vintage woods are in such high demand. They are irreplaceable. Quality modern drums are being made of birch but that will probably become scarce in five years. I hope a repeat situation doesn't develop with blackwood but I expect it probably will. All I can think to do is to make sure you have the heirloom quality instruments you require, now, because they are headed the way of the carrier pigeon.
It is not too difficult sometimes to imagine a future similar to that in the old Mel Gibson/Tina Turner movies, (remember MadMax) or Kevin Cosner in WaterWorld.
Zina - that's the same for rhododendron here, but also in Scotland. Conservation volunteers are desperately needed to pull them out of the ground as they outcompete virtually everything else. I went on a conservation 'holiday' several years ago to do just that. Shame they can't make flutes out of the timber!
The story goes something like this, off the top of my head:
Once upon a time, before the recent (geologically speaking) series of ice ages, Rhododendron was ubiquitous from northern Europe down to the highlands of Asia Minor (Modern Turkey) and the Caucasus. Once the northern half of Europe was under half a mile of ice, they died out....everywhere except Turkey. So in the eighteenth century when British botanists rediscovered it, they brought it back to English stately homes, whereupon it escaped and thrived everywhere else, eventually to the detriment of virtually all other native shrubbery. Hence conservationist are now desperately trying to recreate a pre-C18th woodland ecology! There are other issues to do with soil erosion and sequestration of nutrients and minerals etc., but I don't know enough about that.
Let me wander for a paragraph. Someone recently quoted Einstein or some physicist on this website to the effect that all science, bar physics, was trainspotting or stamp collecting....whatever. In reality the opposite is often the case. Young Ph.D. students in the 'hard' sciences like physics, molecular biology, etc., are given a very specific set of guidelines to perform their experiments and the results are often predicted beforehand, so it's a case of writing up within a defined framework. Ecology post grads by contrast are given a problem and told to go and solve it! By whatever creative means they have at their disposal. Creative, intellectual science. The Business. (End of deviation.)
Anyway. I know there are initiatives in Peru and some other places now for the sustainable mangement of certain Rainforest hardwoods, where they harvest different strips of the forest at any one time, then allowing the strips to regrow. In the next few years other stips are then havested, and so on. The trouble is, the timber used in flutes, mostly Cocus, takes forever to regrow.
In the meantime, I suspect Keffo is right, we should lay off new blackwood flutes for half a century or so. Go for Cherry- Rose- or Box-woods.
A good resource on this problem and some efforts at creating a sustainable supply is located at .
Well worth a look, especially at the "Fact Sheet" for those who are vaguely aware that there is a problem but who don't know the magnitude of the damage that human "harvesting" of blackwood (m'pingo) can do.
Just what I needed on a monday morning.....Now I'm feeling guilty about my flute(s).......but I'm glad there is a non-profit organization working on conserving the Blackwood forests....
It seems to make sense if you're concerned about such things to try to find a good used or vintage instrument. Sure, it's not as exciting as a brand new this-and-that, but it is an alternative. Same as the idea of buying only used/vintage diamonds since actual people (not just trees) are losing life and limb for them in diamond mining countries. Noble concerns, all of them.
Colleen
What is the difference between grenadilla and blackwood for quality instruments.....? Actually, I see far more expensive clarinets made from grenadilla......
And don't look now, but composite's are right behind these two woods and gaining fast. Apparently some people really do not mind synthetic materials... (I do, but do you?)
"Grenadilla is a name given to a number of different African black woods, most commonly Dalbergia Melanoxylon (sometimes known as Mpingo). It is used for making musical instruments, mainly the oboe and the clarinet. In the past, other types of wood were used and were also called Grenadilla."
"Dalbergia Melanoxylon, mpingo, African blackwood--these are the scientific, African and English names for the tree which is called the "Tree of Music" because of its preeminent position with respect to the utilization of its wood in the manufacture of fine woodwind musical instruments"
Mopane is a fine alternative for Blackwood. It is almost the same density, and sound quality, but a medium brown instead of brown/black. It is also not endangered. I have a set of Scottish Smallpipes in Mopane from Ray Hughes. See Casey Burns Irish flute site for good info on Mopane
Cocobolla (sp?) is an even denser wood that some people have been making flutes and pipes out of. It is so dense it supposedly doesn't float.
Thanks! That explains a lot,..... almost everything. I still have the most nagging of suspicions that Grenadilla and Blackwood are different subspecies and not exactly the same.... just like American rock maple would be different than European maple and African Mahogany would be different than Phillipeane Island Mahogany. Cocobolo is an awesome wood... too dense for instruments. In looking at the referenced site, that blackwood that is 1/2 blackwood and 1/2 white sapwood is just fantastic. I will be shopping for some blanks to supply to woodworkers for special projects. (hush-hush). I want to be the first on the block with one!
Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Just stopped by to make a little remark for all Trad. Flute players.
African Blackwood is a great material for making instruments, especially winds. However, the African Blackwood is an endangered rain forest wood. Rain forests are being chopped down with horrific speed and many species are threatened by extinction if it dissapears and no one knows what enviromental side effects we might see from that. If demand for these woods would not exist, no one would make them and less trees would be cut down. So please, take your responsibility and do not order a flute made from African Blackwood. There are many good alternatives. Polymer plastic and PVC is better and If you have to have a wood flute, Cherry wood and Rose wood is just as good.
Thank you
//Henrik
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by KeffoHenke
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Good point Henrik.
GHP are now available in Plastic, and there are sustainable local woods available for other instruments.
I would imagine that it takes a few hundred years or so for a Blackwood tree to reach maturity, and therefore its use is almost by definition un-sustainable.
I've made some whistles out of plastic, which is less environmentally damaging than metals.
I
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by Pied Piper
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Personally,I believe that much of the blackwood currently being made into flutes is old wood which was cut some time ago and stored, as it is not readily available now.
I'm not convinced that the production of wooden flutes is what has had a deleterious effect on rainforests. Given the rapacious nature of modern capitalist enterprise, asking wooden flute players not to contribute to the destruction of the wilderness borders on the perverse. If you are really worried about the rainforests you're barking up the wrong tree (sorry!).
Having said that, the best sounding flute I've ever heard was a Grinter, which I believe was made from an Aussie hardwood called Mulga ...
Here is what Eamonn Cotter, who made my flute, said regarding this in an anterview....
Q: There's a growing concern about the future availability -- and environmental correctness -- of African Blackwood (grenadilla, m'pingo) for flute making. What do you think? Are supplies likely to start running short anytime soon?
A: Yes that's going to be a problem, maybe not today or tomorrow but certainly in the future.
Q: Should flute makers start using other materials that don't have such an impact on rainforests?
A: Well I'm certainly not going to go down the road of synthetic products.There are some intrument makers who have decided to go that way, but I think I'll go back to the engineering work if I have to resort to Polly Pink or one of those synthetic products. I like boxwood, and I have it, but for some reason people don't look for it. I have it as an option. Roger Sherlock plays a boxwood flute, and it has a lovely mellow tone.
People are looking for power and volume now, and you probably don't get that on a boxwood flute. I tried rosewood once or twice, but it doesn't agree with some people, and it smells, too. I tried maple too, but it's a bit soft, and cocus wood, but that's very expensive to get. When it gets to the stage where blackwood is impossible to get I'll have to reassess like everyone else.
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by Ottery
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Ottery... We all have are part in this. Even if Trad Flutes in Blackwood is not the major reason why rain forest are endangered and no one could blame trad. flute players for being the bigest enviromental pests because they play them, it does have an impact. And it does'nt matter wether the wood was chopped recently or has been stored, as long as there is no demand, no trees would be cut down. That's the rules of capitalism, the rules that have made the forests endangered. Sertainly, there are people that have a lot biger part in this than flute makers, and belive me, I would like to stop them all. But from my point of view, this is the easiest way to effect things. This is my buissenus. Other people will have to mind there own...
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by KeffoHenke
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
I have a keyless flute on order and then a keyed flute (7 yr wait). Both will be African Blackwood because I want the power and volume. I love playing African Blackwood.
It's a shame about the environment but that's not going to stop me from purchasing this type of flute.
Joyce
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by JMH
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
It's nice that you care about the rainforests I do too. Boycotting ebony flutes isn't going to put a dent in the slash & burn farming technique of farming in the rainforests. That's why the wood is becoming rare. The farmers burn down fields w/o harvesting the lumber & the trees aren't being chopped down for their wood. I understand & respect your outlook, but boycotting anything is more of a personal statement, it rarely hurts the party your after. Mr. MacDonald doesn't care if you don't buy a Big Mac & he'll go on burning the rainforest for the other 3 million other people who enjoy their Big Macs.
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by Rachel123
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Henrik,
I don't think we do have a part in it. I would love to believe that we could have some control over what is happening to the rainforests, but I know that this type of abusive exploitation is not demand-led. They will cut down the trees whether we use the wood or not. They will then sell it for whatever they can get for it, much in the same way that they kill all the fish in the ocean, even if they can only sell the catch for fertiliser and catfood.
I'm afraid they are not going to see a Grenadilla tree and say "Not much call in Lahinch for this stuff any more, I guess we'll leave it standing..."
If you really want to do something about the rainforests, I'm afraid you'll need guns, bombs, and all the persuasive apparatus that the capitalists themselves use.
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by Ottery
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Keffo,
Although I sympathize with your concern for Africa's ecosystems, I don't think the world production of wooden flutes poses much of a threat. Quite the opposite, in fact. Trees in Africa will continue to be cut down regardless of what materials flutes are made of. In most cases, the locals cut the trees to sell as firewood and charcoal. Dense woods such as blackwood make excellent charcoal and so fetch a higher price. Also, in some areas, the forest is cleared for farming. We're talking hundreds and thousands of acres razed for these uses, compared to the handful of individual trees needed for wooden flute production in any given year.
If anything, wooden flute makers and players could be enlisted to help preserve Africa's forests by continuing to demand--and pay higher prices for--blackwood. Only then will local people see the wisdom of managing their forests for a more profitable and sustainable use, instead of turning them wholesale into fuel. This approach is beginning to take hold here in the States, where private landowners manage hardwood forests for a small but sustainable yield of oak, hickory, and cherry. It's not a perfect solution--they're still removing old-growth trees that provide habitat for at-risk wildlife species--but it's part of a workable mosaic that ranges from tree farms to forest preserves closed to all logging.
I can imagine whole blackwood preserves in Africa where the only logging allowed is for flute suppliers and the profits support local economies far better than charcoal....
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Hi Will, I originally wanted to argue that if there was a big enough demand for blackwood flutes, it might actually help the survival of these forests. (small farmers managing this more profitable forest) But I don't know enough about the topic. Thanks for your reply to the original post.
There are a few things I boycott for environmental and/or humanitarian reasons.....but gosh, I don't think I could live without a Blackwood flute : )
Joyce
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by JMH
Another worthy cause!
Well, if you want to go getting outraged about forests getting mowed down for no good reason, then let's also wipe out English Ivy in the Pacific Northwest. There are hundreds upon hundreds of acres of forest in danger of becoming ivy deserts where the ivy has torn down everything in it's path. Volunteers are needed to go into the wildernesses of the Northwest and remove truckload upon truckload of the stuff.
Really. I'm not kidding. http://www.noivyleague.com/Pages/ivy_removal.html
Zina
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes, and fiddle bows
A parallel situation arises with the pernambuco timber grown in Brazil that is used for the best fiddle bows. Apparently, it is in such short supply in Brazil that the Brazilian government has banned its export. However, it is still available from sources outside Brazil who have managed to obtain it by devious means. The situation is apparently so bad that the tree could die out.
The problem with bow making from natural materials is that there is an enormous, unavoidable, wastage, of the order of about 75pc. A bow maker finds it very difficult to predict how a bow is going to turn out until the final stages, and then no matter how careful his skills he might find he has something he cannot sell.
Pernambuco has long been the preferred material for fiddle bows because no other natural wood seems to have the necessary qualities to the required level. Nowadays, there is a useful alternative in carbon fibre. This is a material the properties of which are well understood and can be designed beforehand, so we now have carbon-fibre bows which are eminently satisfactory for most playing, at a price to the player that is a fraction of the price of an equivalent pernabuco bow. Furthermore, the wastage in production is minimal.
There are eminent bow makers who recognise this situation and are looking at ways, for instance, of laminating pernambuco with other materials such as carbon fibre, so as to achieve the best features of both materials. There is even the possibility that future bow sticks could incorporate metal inserts made from specialist alloys.
Btw, a few weeks ago I bought a carbon-fibre bow for
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
The same is true of wood for drums, the preferred material has historically been african mahogany (non-existant!, in sufficient quantities for drum building), and birdseye and burl rock maple which is now just a veneer over S.American luan, (the same wood that cheap paneling is usually made of). That's why vintage instruments made of of these vintage woods are in such high demand. They are irreplaceable. Quality modern drums are being made of birch but that will probably become scarce in five years. I hope a repeat situation doesn't develop with blackwood but I expect it probably will. All I can think to do is to make sure you have the heirloom quality instruments you require, now, because they are headed the way of the carrier pigeon.
It is not too difficult sometimes to imagine a future similar to that in the old Mel Gibson/Tina Turner movies, (remember MadMax) or Kevin Cosner in WaterWorld.
# Posted on July 9th 2003 by irish ruff
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Zina - that's the same for rhododendron here, but also in Scotland. Conservation volunteers are desperately needed to pull them out of the ground as they outcompete virtually everything else. I went on a conservation 'holiday' several years ago to do just that. Shame they can't make flutes out of the timber!
The story goes something like this, off the top of my head:
Once upon a time, before the recent (geologically speaking) series of ice ages, Rhododendron was ubiquitous from northern Europe down to the highlands of Asia Minor (Modern Turkey) and the Caucasus. Once the northern half of Europe was under half a mile of ice, they died out....everywhere except Turkey. So in the eighteenth century when British botanists rediscovered it, they brought it back to English stately homes, whereupon it escaped and thrived everywhere else, eventually to the detriment of virtually all other native shrubbery. Hence conservationist are now desperately trying to recreate a pre-C18th woodland ecology! There are other issues to do with soil erosion and sequestration of nutrients and minerals etc., but I don't know enough about that.
Let me wander for a paragraph. Someone recently quoted Einstein or some physicist on this website to the effect that all science, bar physics, was trainspotting or stamp collecting....whatever. In reality the opposite is often the case. Young Ph.D. students in the 'hard' sciences like physics, molecular biology, etc., are given a very specific set of guidelines to perform their experiments and the results are often predicted beforehand, so it's a case of writing up within a defined framework. Ecology post grads by contrast are given a problem and told to go and solve it! By whatever creative means they have at their disposal. Creative, intellectual science. The Business. (End of deviation.)
Anyway. I know there are initiatives in Peru and some other places now for the sustainable mangement of certain Rainforest hardwoods, where they harvest different strips of the forest at any one time, then allowing the strips to regrow. In the next few years other stips are then havested, and so on. The trouble is, the timber used in flutes, mostly Cocus, takes forever to regrow.
In the meantime, I suspect Keffo is right, we should lay off new blackwood flutes for half a century or so. Go for Cherry- Rose- or Box-woods.
Danny.
# Posted on July 10th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
A good resource on this problem and some efforts at creating a sustainable supply is located at .
Well worth a look, especially at the "Fact Sheet" for those who are vaguely aware that there is a problem but who don't know the magnitude of the damage that human "harvesting" of blackwood (m'pingo) can do.
# Posted on July 13th 2003 by ghostwriter
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Durned URL didn't show up in the above post -- http://www.blackwoodconservation.org
# Posted on July 13th 2003 by ghostwriter
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Just what I needed on a monday morning.....Now I'm feeling guilty about my flute(s).......but I'm glad there is a non-profit organization working on conserving the Blackwood forests....
Joyce
# Posted on July 14th 2003 by JMH
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
It seems to make sense if you're concerned about such things to try to find a good used or vintage instrument. Sure, it's not as exciting as a brand new this-and-that, but it is an alternative. Same as the idea of buying only used/vintage diamonds since actual people (not just trees) are losing life and limb for them in diamond mining countries. Noble concerns, all of them.
Colleen
# Posted on July 14th 2003 by cdavick
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
What is the difference between grenadilla and blackwood for quality instruments.....? Actually, I see far more expensive clarinets made from grenadilla......
And don't look now, but composite's are right behind these two woods and gaining fast. Apparently some people really do not mind synthetic materials... (I do, but do you?)
# Posted on July 14th 2003 by irish ruff
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Ruff,
Grenadilla and Blackwood are the same thing.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Grenadilla is a name given to a number of different African black woods, most commonly Dalbergia Melanoxylon (sometimes known as Mpingo). It is used for making musical instruments, mainly the oboe and the clarinet. In the past, other types of wood were used and were also called Grenadilla."
and from "http://www.blackwoodconservation.org/wood.html";
"Dalbergia Melanoxylon, mpingo, African blackwood--these are the scientific, African and English names for the tree which is called the "Tree of Music" because of its preeminent position with respect to the utilization of its wood in the manufacture of fine woodwind musical instruments"
Mopane is a fine alternative for Blackwood. It is almost the same density, and sound quality, but a medium brown instead of brown/black. It is also not endangered. I have a set of Scottish Smallpipes in Mopane from Ray Hughes. See Casey Burns Irish flute site for good info on Mopane
Cocobolla (sp?) is an even denser wood that some people have been making flutes and pipes out of. It is so dense it supposedly doesn't float.
Hope that helps.
Bruce
# Posted on July 15th 2003 by bpfrocket
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Thanks! That explains a lot,..... almost everything. I still have the most nagging of suspicions that Grenadilla and Blackwood are different subspecies and not exactly the same.... just like American rock maple would be different than European maple and African Mahogany would be different than Phillipeane Island Mahogany. Cocobolo is an awesome wood... too dense for instruments. In looking at the referenced site, that blackwood that is 1/2 blackwood and 1/2 white sapwood is just fantastic. I will be shopping for some blanks to supply to woodworkers for special projects. (hush-hush). I want to be the first on the block with one!
# Posted on July 15th 2003 by irish ruff
Re: Anti African Blackwood Flutes.
Bruce, thanks for drawing our attention to the Wikipedia. It looks like being a great resource!
Trevor
# Posted on July 15th 2003 by Trevor Jennings