Oboes and clarinets are manufactured from black Ebony. Traditionally professional instrument makers used to store Ebony for 20 and up to 30 years before using it to build fine musical instruments.
In recent years the demand in Europe for these instruments rose steadily. This means that nowadays, there hardly is any oboe made of wood which has been dried and stored for that length of time.
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Musical Instruments and Moisture
The following story shows the importance of the moisture content or humidity levels on the drying process of wood. An oboe player, who has become famous in Claudio Abbados' Youth Orchestra and works for several European concert and opera houses, has told me about his observations: The second tree of these two Celtic maples was more fortunate. A spruce has grown just under it and absorbed the forces of the cliff edge. The maple was able to grow straight and free of tension. This stability and harmony continues to reproduce itself throughout the tree, up into its crown and results in the quality wood we like to use.
The art of forestry is about working with this extraordinary process instead of hindering it. Nature really doesn't need human intervention. The first maple tree has accomplished its job. It is deeply rooted, has stabilized the earth and keeps it from slipping. However, this struggle has left marks on the stem and wood. Even though it has grown in a tree community which is perfect for maple trees, I would not use its wood for difficult tasks like long and wide floor boards or glass frame.
Through pushing and stemming, the fine roots spread and dfer the heavy load of the growing tree into the slippery hill side or cliff. When they explore deeper soil levels, they carefully include any bump and little pebble. The constant nutrient exchange between roots and soil stabilizes and renews the forest floor even in initially depleted areas and facilitates growth.
The way the tree is rooted in the ground is a deciding factor for the straightness and growth of the fiber and its quality.
Let's look at the two maples. Both seedlings landed in a difficult location at the edge of the cliff. The increasing weight of the growing trees will cause the cliff edge to give way, therefore the roots and the trunks need to balance these forces. This load increases many times when the tree carries snow or its crown is bent by the forces of a storm.
The small tree grew into a structural wonder. No building engineer in the world is able to transfer the weight of these buildings as ingenious as trees do via their root systems. Its brother was luckier; a spruce tree (to the right) allowed it to grow straight. The trials of growing at the edge of a cliff are inscribed in the twisted grow of a Maple tree.
These illustrations are the real drawings of two Celtic maple trees which both grow on the same cliff edge above a creek. To grow at this abyss, the roots which first held the sprout when it only weighed a few grams eventually has to defer the weight of a five to ten-ton adult tree into the ground. (In Austria and Germany, only half of the yearly re-growth in forests is being used for manufacturing. The rest stays in the forests to provide shelter and nutrition for young trees. Just in Austria alone, it takes approximately two minutes to grow enough timber for a single family home! That would amount to 260,000 homes per year. If all of these houses were built, it would take 30 years to house every Austrian, from small child to old age in a solid, wooden house.)
In a human family, every member has different tendencies and skills. In the forest too, we need to find the best musicians for the orchestra, the most skilled people for trades, and academics for intellectual work and so on.
The following example of two Celtic maples growing right next to each other shows that they are not necessarily the same quality and grow equally. Two Brothers Standing at the Abyss
When working with natural materials o trying to understand human nature, we always need to observe and tune into each being anew and avoid generalizing. The previous elaborations about spruce monocultures and mixed forests communities shouldn't lead us to the conclusion that all natural forests consist only of 'violin wood'. We do know how we can increase the wood quality and reduce the need for chemicals. Here in the Austrian and Bavarian Alps, we have plentiful quality wood growing to build healthy and lasting homes. Right now, more trees grow in our forests than we are currently using.
Working with these experts and finding precious trees has provided me with great insights and helped me to persist when the road became hard and rocky. Once we reflect on the way most trees are selected and culled, anonymously and in large quantities, we start to question the direction the wood industry is taking.
I never met an instrument maker who wanted to use fast-grown wood which was harvested in spring. They only consider the best and mature trees which have grown in high altitudes and were harvested at the right time.
The violin-makers often find their way back to our saw mill and look for violin wood. Sometimes they leave with a really good piece and are 'over the moon'. As a forester, I was lucky enough to work with some violin builders in my region. We often went out to look for the perfect sounding tree. For days we would search without much success. Then finally when we did find the one perfect tree, we felt exhilarated and blessed. After carefully noting down its coordinates, it was scheduled to be harvested at waning/new moon in Capricorn.
Following Stradivari's Footsteps
To build violins, cellos and guitars, instrument builders manufacture ultra-thin, very fine wooden lids. They need to vibrate freely without tensions, remain stable and not crack and of course sound great. These are the very particular requirements in order for the wood to be used. The type of wood, its grain structure and the way we use it, all have an influence on the finished product. For the instrument builder, even the growth directions in one and the same tree are important. When building a house though, it is enough to look for trees that have grown in their natural environment.
Even though both alphorns were carved out of the same wood, their sound was markedly different.
The instrument builder needed to make one of the alphorns several centimeters shorter to match the pitch of the other horn. Sounds created with wooden instruments help us recognize the subtle interactions of wood fiber and vibration. The air column which swings 'against the grain' of wood sounds different to the one which swings with the grain. He used a device which guaranteed him identical radius, wall thickness and shape of both instruments. The only difference between both alphorns was: one horn's direction of blowing into was from the root to the crown and the other was from the crown to the root.
When he trialed both instruments for the first time, he was perplexed! The pitch of the instruments was markedly different! An alphorn builder from 'Salzburg' told me the following story. He found a large wooden post which fulfilled all his prerequisites and demands for building an alphorn. Good wood like this is very rare and he wanted to build two alphorns out of it.
Indeed, he manufactured an identical shaped twin alphorn pair from the same tree. The Distinct Twins
Some woodworkers try to keep things simple and say dismissively: "Spruce is spruce, there is no big difference." However, individual differences between trees are caused by their individual location, composure of forest soil and climate. Those factors have quite a large influence on the growth and behavior of the trees' fiber and structure, even in one and the same tree. Once you want to know where the wood came from, the seller will ask his supplier. Soon the saw mill and forester will be confronted and this will cause them to start sorting their wood accordingly. The end result of all these efforts will be buildings, toys, furniture and other wooden items free of chemicals and toxins.
We and the next generation need to take this opportunity to build a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle. I gleaned these insights from my experience of processing many thousands of trees from the forest to the finished item. The formula is always the same: observe nature and act accordingly.
To consider the origin of the wood is not only relevant to the forest owner or other wood professionals but also to the end consumer. A spruce grown in unnatural circumstances is inferior in quality and less durable compared to one which grew in its natural environment and conditions.
Taking this a step further, I would not use wood from monocultures in low-lying areas for a job like a winter garden or glass facade. The demands on the frame are high and the wood must be stable and calm. Due to Holz100 technology, even large projects like hotels can be built with solid wood. Holz100 offers fire safety sound insulation, security and comfort at a level unmatched by normal building methods.
If one compares the end product of wood grown in its natural environment with wood grown in a monoculture, one can see the qualitative difference. |
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