Ok, one more question, then I’ll shut up. Ha. KINGWOOD. Pakistani pipes aside, what about it as material for an instrument?
Joey
typo
[ This Message was edited by: joey_schu on 2002-12-16 11:01 ]
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That’s higher than ebony and I think slightly higher than African Blackwood, or at least the same neighborhood, so you get an idea of its suitability for pipemaking. It’s certainly an attractive wood. Chanters made of kingwood sound a lot like african blackwood chanters, so if you like a brighter sound, it’s a possibility. I prefer ebony, though. I just like its warmth. Yeah I know reeds have something to do with it, a lot to do with it, in fact, but I still hear differences between AB, ebony, kingwood, etc.
Thanks. That’s info I needed, exactly.
Joey
The debate over the “best wood” will always go on…many say theres no way the human ear can tell the difference between AB and Ebony etc…and that it’s all a matter of reeds…blah blah blah. Me? I agree…wood DOES make a difference! Kingwood is an excellent wood for pipes. It’s attractive, nicely grained, stable and produces fine tone.
Many high quality woods are often overlooked for the UP’s due to many people’s fixation on ebony and blackwood…hmm..holly, boxwood, the rosewoods, snakewood (wow!) fruitwoods like apple (very nice mellower tone)…
DB
I’m all for woods other than blackwood. One thought occurred to me once when considering what timber to request for an instrument, and that was potential resale value. DUMB, I know, but it did occur to me.
Maybe as folks get more educated we’ll be seeing more crazy timbers. I think timber DOES make a difference, but I argue that the difference is subtle . . . an argument for going for whatever timber you like. I have a snakewood (Loxopterygium sagotil) set by Rogge, and snakewood makes a really nice set of pipes.
Pink ivory (Berchemia zeyheri) is my favorite, though, right up there with cocus (Brya ebenus).
As you might notice, I think it’s helpful to give the botanical names when mentioning timbers since everything has several common names. Remember that Genus is always capitalized and species is never capitalized, and traditionally they’re italicized. We’re Homo sapiens sapiens, for example, and AB is Dalbergia melanoxylon.
Stuart
[ This Message was edited by: sturob on 2002-12-16 13:06 ]