Hello, I haven’t checked this forum for really a long time, but now I’ve just started reading posts. And it’s so interesting.
I am now writing an Irish flute book in Japanese language, and doing some research about the instrument itself.
The question is, there are several choices for timber, such as ebony, African black wood, boxwood and so on.
I have owned 4 D flutes in 18 years of my playing history, and once I tried cocus wood and boxwood but now I am playing black wood. I found black wood is more responsive and its tone is more powerful than cocus, needless to say than boxwood.
I’ve believed that choice of timber affects the tone colour and playing style a lot, however, I recently came across an article which mentions it has nothing to do with tone colour after a few experiments. It is surface of bore and craftsmanship that counts. So what about density/weight/hardness?
Still as a player I feel each timbers has its unique characters.
So flute players and makers please let me hear your opinion about this, and what is your favourite material and its reason.
And it’d be very nice if someone could explain the characters of some different timbers (ebony, African blackwood, mopane, cocuswood, boxwood, etc ,and also, if you have any flute by rare exotic species).
Before posting this topic, I read web pages by Casey , and Terry. But I couldn’t get a clear answer.
I don’t believe timber has any affect on the tone or sound, but I am not an expert on the matter. Strangely, I’ve heard many people say that boxwood is more powerful sounding than blackwood… I’m sure there are flutes in both extremes with either material.
I like mopane the best because I think it looks nice, and for no other reason. If it sounds and plays nicely and is well made and sturdy, I wouldn’t care whether it is made of boxwood, gold, carboard, blackwood, plastic, or glass. I don’t think the material does anything to the column of air within the flute, so I don’t know how it would change the sound. There was a study done once with Boehm flutes of different materials, and, if I recall correctly, none of the participants could tell the difference.
Again, I am not an expert on the matter, but it doesn’t make any sense to me physics-wise how the material itself would change the sound, unless it was accompanied by a resulting change in construction or internal dimensions.
There are a lot of different factors that affect the tonal characteristics of a flute. The type of wood a flute is made from may be among them. In fact, many players feel that it is, but I think most people would agree that it is far from being the dominant factor, especially when different wood species of similar density and grain structure are being compared. In the overall spectrum of wood characteristics, Boxwood and African Blackwood are really quite similar (both very fine grained, very dense woods). Players often claim to be able to feel a difference between say boxwood and blackwood, but that does not necessarily mean that the audience can hear the difference, especially when flutes have metal lined heads. It may just be the difference in feel in the hand, due to density and weight distribution etc.
I think wood type makes much more difference to the flute maker than to the player or the audience. Makers tend to like African blackwood because it is extremely stable, in addition to being dense and fine grained. Its stability means that a maker can accurately reproduce precise design dimensions and the flute will maintain these dimensions more accurately through its lifetime than it would if it were made from a less stable wood. Woods such as boxwood and fruit woods (plum, pear etc) seem to move much more than blackwood does, with changes in humidity.
The other factor that is important, to players, but even more so to makers, is the propensity of woods to cause allergic reactions. Some woods, such as cocobolo, can make great flutes, but cause problems for many people. Then there is cost and scarcity, which has varied historically and based on country of origin (a country’s climate and colonial spread determine the availability and price of certain wood species). I think all these factors ultimately influenced the choice of wood more than just the tonal properties.
As a Player (Not and expert) I have found by my own experimenting that Boxwood flutes produce a warmer, sweeter sound than the Blackwood flutes that I have played. I brought a Boxwood D flute to a session and was surprised at how quiet it was here compared to my echo’y (is that a word) kitchen. I also noticed that after playing for a good while the Boxwood lost some of its sweetness, the wetter it got inside.
I also have a few blackwood flutes and find that they do produce a more consistent tone, louder and better for noisy sessions. Having said that, Paul McGlinchey plays a Boxwood Pratten flute and it is loud when it needs to be, sweet when it needs to be, so I guess it is a lot to do with the tone the player can make with his or her own mouth and experience.
I have a lot of experience with the smaller fifes and Bb high pitch band flutes and can say that most of them are made from Blackwood or ebonite nowadays, I have only ever seen one Bb band flute made from Boxwood. This may be related to the lack of care that bandsmen take with their flutes and Boxwood being more expensive and more unstable than blackwood. I prefer a blackwood Bb band flute over an ebonite but there is virtually no difference in the toneal differences between them. I have also heard that Mopane tends to crack more easily than Blackwood. Not sure if this helps.
It’s a much speculated about subject, but I don’t believe anyone has been able to demonstrate that flute material makes any significant difference to the sound. I don’t know of anyone who can hear a blind test of a number of flutes and tell what each flute is made of.
It can be said with confidence that the material ranks well below many other factors, (like bore shape and smoothness, etc.) in determining the sound of a flute.
I think that last bit’s right, accordionstu, but I think it does also have to do with the particular flute and maybe even with the particular piece of wood that it’s made from. I have a boxwood Rudall that’s potentially (when you want it) the loudest flute I have, and it only gets better the longer you play it in any one session. OTOH, if I haven’t played it for a while, the first time I pick it up it looks like a banana after about ten minutes’ playing. That doesn’t happen provided I keep playing it regularly.
I totally agree about the warmer sound of boxwood. Others have called it a “buttery” sound and I’d go along with that. I didn’t really understand what people meant by that until I got this flute.
I’m with paddler on this one. Availability, Density, Durability, Stability, Cost and Appearance are large factors when choosing wood for flute construction. I would list Construction as the foremost overriding factor involved in resultant sound. The most powerful modern flute I’ve ever had the privilege to play was a 6 key Boxwood flute made by Sam Murray.
First, it’s great to see hatao posting here, he’s an excellent flute player and I’m happy to see he’s writing a book!
The March 1998 issue of Scientific American had an article on flute materials. It cited an experiment in which a blindfolded audience couldn’t tell the difference between the tone of a flute made of cherry wood and one made of concrete. However, it’s not clear whether the player could tell the difference, and I think an experienced player could.
The challenge is that it’s impossible to do a truly controlled experiment: is it really possible to make an exact, perfect replica of the same flute in different woods? I’m skeptical.
But the most plausible explanation I’ve heard for the differences we hear in these different woods has to do with smoothness of the bore. When I look down the bore of my boxwood flute, the bore has a dull finish compared with the bore of my blackwood flute, which reflects light more like a mirror. The theory I’ve heard is that the rougher bore of the boxwood flute causes perturbations in the air column, resulting in a “cloudier” tone than what you’d get from blackwood. That makes some sense to me, but I also have heard flute makers say that most of a flute’s tone quality comes from the head joint and the cut of the embouchure. You can see this for yourself by taking the same head joint and playing it on different flute bodies. When I’ve done that, the difference between flutes is much more subtle than if you instead take different head joints and put them on the same flute body. When I bought my D flute, the maker had two different head joints to choose from, and each gave the flute a very different sound. I have a C flute with two head joints as well, and the same differences are evident: one has a harder, louder sound, and the other is much more mellow and rounded.
If the head joint is lined, which mine are, the type of wood shouldn’t make a difference except in the embouchure hole, where you’re blowing against wood. Maybe blackwood and boxwood are different there, and it’s possible that in combination with the bore perturbations this creates a different sound from a boxwood flute than a blackwood flute. I don’t think this has to do with loudness (I’ve heard plenty of very loud boxwood flutes) but more to do with tone quality.
To answer the other question Grenadilla and African Blackwood are the same wood. For some reason African Blackwood is the term used for flutes and Grenadilla is the term used for clarinets, I don’t know why. Tradition I suppose.
Not so much playing character as practical considerations, but ebony is prone to cracking in flutes (though quite favoured for dry-blown instruments like bellows pipes) and box to warping.
and also, if you have any flute by rare exotic species
Solomon Blackwood (aka Pacific Blackwood, Tubi or Queen Ebony).
It’s as dense as African blackwood, but not quite so dark (deep brown rather than black) and seems to take up more oil. I wasn’t actually planning on wood at all and was all set to go for a Delrin keyed flute till Dave Copley tempted me by offering this, but now I wouldn’t change it for anything! Not so much because I believe different woods play differently to each other and/or polymers (I don’t really), but because it’s beautiful and I love it, which makes me feel good about my playing.
I wouldn’t say that boxwood is prone to warping. But then, I may have a different idea of what that word means. Boxwood never seems to stay still, not matter how old the piece is. It bends and twists in different conditions of temperature and humidity … and sometimes, apparently, just because it feels like it. I use the word “warp” to mean that thing when a piece of wood gets permanently bent out of shape, as for instance oak is prone to do. (Not that oak is, or could be, used for making flutes.)
I’m no expert on wood or instrument making, so my own idea of the word “warp” may be just individual to me.
I use the word “warp” to mean that thing when a piece of wood gets permanently bent out of shape
Which is exactly what I meant and has happened to me and others with box instruments (in my case a low-pitch Bressan replica recorder). And I’d also class a bend that varies with conditions as a warp.
Not that it makes a lot of odds but in furniture/cabinet making the term “warp” is used for a piece/plank of wood that has a twist in it whereas “bow” is a for a piece of wood that resembles something Robin Hood would use. I guess if you were unlucky you could have a flute that was both warped and bowed.
Whatever the dictionary definition (which I’ve not actually looked up), the term has been widely used and understood for donkey’s years to describe unintentionally banana/bow-shaped woodwinds and you’ll find examples of such use from makers and players alike on these very forums…
It’s not so much a dictionary definition but a woodwork and timber trade term - in which there is a difference between warping and bowing.
If you had a one piece flute a warping effect would cause the fingerholes to twist around the flute (most likely causing it to split) and they wouldn’t be in line - but a bow in the flute would make it resemble a banana.
