Here is some information that I received recently from Phil Bleazey.
Mopani:-
Probably the nearest to the rosewoods of early instruments, both in looks and sound, it gives a good bright tone and blows up to a good volume quite easily and carries well in noisy environments (sessions). A stable wood, I have never had one returned due to distortion. Ecologically my preferred foreign timber, this is what my importer says:
“Mopani is a very under utilised timber mainly used for specialist applications like musical instruments so the volumes used are not massive (like Brazilian Mahogany 10 years ago). Also, what tends to happen when specialist logs like Mopani are felled, the impact on the enviroment around them is minimal. The logs are usually felled by gangs using primitive machinery and saws and the logs are usually dragged through the forest to roadside rather than the roadside being taken to the logs.” This is why I try to use Mopani in place of Blackwood where I can convince customers to make the change.
African Blackwood:-
The flute players favourite, gives a good solid tone, not as lively as mopani, but quite loud. Recently cutters have started to move North into Tanzania due to depletion in South Africa with a resultant drop in quality. The organisation “Flora and Fauna” are asking makers to cut back on the usage of this material.
Yew:-
A less usual but very satisfactory wood for woodwinds, gives a sweet warm tone but not so loud, popular with players who play solo or “in the parlour”
Extract from “A Modern Herbal” by Mrs. M. Grieve F.R.H.S.
"YEW (Taxus Baccata)
Poisonous Parts: Leaves, seed and fruit
Habitat: Europe, North africa, Western Asia
Description. A tree 40 to 50 feet high, forming with age a very stout trunk covered with red-brown, peeling bark and topped with a rounded or wide-spreading head of branches; leaves spirally attached to twigs, but by twisting of the stalks brought more or less into two opposed ranks, dark, glossy, almost black-green above, grey, pale-green or yellowish beneath. The so-called fruit is bright red, sometimes yellow, juicy and encloses the seed.
No tree is more associated with the history and legends of Great Britian the the Yew. Before Christianity it was the sacred tree favoured by the Druids, who built their temples near these trees - a custom followed by the early Christians. The association of the tree with places of worship still prevails.
Many cases of poisoning in Cattle have resulted from eating parts of the Yew
Constituents: The fruit and seeds seems to be the most poisonous parts of the tree. An alkaloid taxine has been obtained from the seeds; this is a poisonous, white , crystaline powder, only slightly soluble in water; another principle, Milossin has also been found.
Uses: The wood was formerly much valued in archery for the making of long bows. The wood is said to resist the action of water and is very hard, and before the use of iron becames general , was greatly valued."
The above extract gives a good description of the tree. I know several instrument makers who use it and am myself extremely pleased with the light sweet sound produced. There is some bad press about the poisonous nature of the tree, however, one of my suppliers claims to eat the berries (not the seed) and is a very healthy man in his sixties, anyway you are not going to eat your flute, are you?
