Woods Used For Making Flutes
A variety of tone woods are used for crafting wooden flutes — generally woods that have a high degree of density. Choice will usually depend on the players needs, but financial considerations and availability also play a role. Some tone woods, most noticibly cocus wood, are now very hard to find and therefore very expensive. The following is a little information about the tone woods that are most commonly used for making flutes — some of which have risen to more prominent use due to the scarcity of the classic tone woods such as Cocus, African Blackwood and certain varieties of Rosewood and Boxwood. Martin Doyle has commented on the general tonal properties of each timber in the context of what each one might produce when fashioned into a flute.
African Blackwood
African Blackwood is often the first choice of Irish flute players due of it’s exceptionally bright tone and power. A spindly hardwood tree that takes at least sixty years to mature, African Blackwood grows in Eastern Africa where it is known as Mpingo. The timber is extremely hard and heavy, and makers of woodwind musical instruments prefer it to ebony because of its fine tonal and acoustic properties, extreme stability and resistance to saliva. Due to overuse, the availability of suitable quality African Blackwood has declined in recent years although there are now local organisations in East Africa dedicated to its management and sustainability. Read more...
Tonal properties: Strong, bright and focused with plenty of volume.
View: Martin Doyle six key flute in African Blackwood.
Cocuswood
Cocuswood is a dense tropical hardwood native to the West Indies that is also known as Jamaican ebony. A flowering tree, the best known species to yield cocuswood is Brya ebenus which is horticulturally known as the Jamaican Rain Tree. Cocuswood was used heavily in England and France during the 19th century for making flutes and other woodwind instruments. It has been harvested virtually to extinction and nothing seems to have been done to preserve this beautiful wood for future use. Possessing exceptional tone, Cocuswood is renowned for its brightness and also for rich tonal ‘colour’ in the form of subtle overtones that are of greatly valued by musicians.
Tonal properties: Softer tone than African Blackwood but lively with plenty of potential for power. Has the ability to get a lot of bounce on the notes. A broad range of hormonics and colour in the tone.
View: Martin Doyle D flute made of cocuswood.
Boxwood
Before African Blackwood and Cocuswood became available in the 19th century, woodwind instruments were often made of European boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) — a small evergreen tree native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, southwest Asia, from England south to Morocco and east through the northern Mediterranean to Turkey. Boxwood has a fine grain structure and is a lighter timber that offers a sweeter, mellower voice than the hardwoods, but is prone to warping. It’s natural colour is a pale yellow that slowly darkens to a rich honey colour, and it often has darker veins running through the grain.
Tonal properties: Simple, sweet and very musical like a singing voice. Melodious tone with the ability to produce clear, crisp notes.
View: Martin Doyle D flute made of Boxwood and Martin Doyle F flute made of Boxwood.
Amazon Rosewood
The name rosewood is used to refer to a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining but found in many different hues. Possessing good tonal properties and being very suitable for turning, all rosewoods are strong, heavy and develop an excellent polish. It is a timber valued for instruments such as flutes and guitars but is also used for billiard cues, the black pieces in chess sets, handles, furniture, luxury flooring etc. In general, supplies are now poor through overexploitation. Rosewood is a member the large genus Dalbergia to which other notable woods suitable for instrument making are also belong: African Blackwood, cocobolo, kingwood, and tulipwood. Read more...
Tonal properties: Softer tone than African Blackwood but still quite loud. A focused, well rounded tone with the capacity for clear and distinct notes.
Mopane
The mopane (aka mopani) tree only occurs in the far northern areas of southern Africa. It is a hard, heavy and oily timber that is termite resistant which makes it very useful as a construction material. Outside of Africa, mopane is increasingly being used for musical instruments, particularly woodwind, as suitable quality African blackwood has become harder to find. The tone is as rich as African Blackwood, as powerful, but warmer, resembling the tone of the Cocuswood. Its high density and good workability make it an attractive alternative to Blackwood, especially in very dry and humid countries, where Blackwood has a tendency to split. Read more...
Tonal properties: Strong tone with the capacity for good volume.
View: Martin Doyle D flute in Mopane.
Tulipwood
Most commonly tulipwood is a yellowish greenish wood yielded from the tuliptree found on the Eastern side of North America and in some parts of China. But the tulipwood that has come in to be used by flutemakers is a different species from Latin America — particularly Brazil, Colombia, Guyana and Venezuela. Commonly known as Brazilian tulipwood, it is a very dense high-quality wood with lovely figure that is commercially used as furniture inlay and for small turned items. An Australian tulipwood also exists, the common name of which is Harpullia. Certain varieties of Harpullia are widely planted as a street tree along the eastern coast of Australia. Read more...
Tonal properties: Light and clear tone.
Honduran Rosewood
Honduran Rosewood grows only in Belize and occurs in fairly large patches along rivers including the drier inter-river areas. It is typically pinkish brown to purple, with alternating dark and light zones forming a very attractive figure, and a medium to fine grain. Denser than Indian rosewood, Honduran rosewood is well known for its good tonal properties and capacity for strong projection. It is one of the heavier hardwoods and compares well to Brazilian rosewood. Honduran rosewood is very similar visually and tonally to the rare Southeast Asian rosewood; the grain lines are unusually tight and straight, yielding a subtler beauty with less figure than Brazilian rosewood or Cocobolo.
Tonal properties: Can vary from having a soft to a hard tone depending on the piece of timber.
Cocobolo
Cocobolo is a tropical hardwood that grows in Central America. The heartwood is typically orange or reddish-brown in color with darker irregular figurings weaving through it. An oily timber, Cocobolo's heartwood changes colour after being cut and stands up well to repeated handling and exposure to water. A very hard, fine textured and dense wood, Cocobolo is easily machined although its oiliness tends to clog abrasives and fine-toothed saw blades. Due to its density and hardness, even a large block of cut Cocobolo will produce a clear musical tone when struck, and it can be polished to a lustrous, glassy finish — making it very suitable for flutes. Read more...
Tonal properties: Softer tone than African Blackwood but broader — closer to Cocus wood but with a narrower range of harmonics.
Related pages:
- African Blackwood Conservation — conserving timber stocks for the wooden flutes of the future.
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