So I’m finally going to do it. I’m going to get a B set from Andreas. It’s going to break the bank, but I’ve been thinking about putting my name down for 3 years, so I guess its about time
I’ve always liked the look of plumwood, but I’m looking for people out there who have them. I’d like to know what you think of the sound, and how they look after years of being played.
If I didn’t go with Plumwood, the other choice would be ebony.
Andreas says he doesn’t know of any trouble with plumwood warping (like boxwood does) with age. I thought I’d ask around and see if anyone else has any comments on durability, sound, appearance with age, etc.
His plumwood stuff is the oyster’s iceskates. I ordered a B set (3 years ago) and opted for ebony because the climate in my beloved Minnesota swings wildly between such extremes (but just think of the recreational opportunities!) that I did not want to chance it. You should be fine where you live. Just don’t get transfered.
We met at the tionol in Chapel Hill last year. At the time I had a few pieces of a B set in their unfinished state, in addition to a scabbed together concert pitch practice set. That B set by Koehler + Quinn is made of pear, but I later got a plum wood B chanter from K+Q in place of the pear one. When I got the plum chanter, it was about 2 years old, so it had already started to turn a darker brown color, and it had a brass chanter top instead of a wooden one. Just recently I got a plum wood chanter top to replace the brass one that came with the chanter. There’s a big difference, to my eye, in the color between the 2-year “seasoned” plum and the freshly turned plum (all from the same tree, according to David Quinn). I’ll try to take a picture of the two side-by-side over the weekend and post or e-mail to you to give you an idea of how much color change you can expect from plum wood. I expect that at some point the wood will stop changing color and the two pieces will “match.”
Tommy
Pardon my ignorance, but I’ve never heard the term “oyster’s iceskates.” I’m assuming it’s good?? I really like the look of the plumwood. Do you guys find it has a mellower tone compared to say blackwood? I’d love to hear a set. Later
Yes I have two Rogge chanters B and D in plumwood.
The plumwood chanters are lighter wood in weight than by snakewood which I prefer. I like the sound of the plumwood more to the snakewood as gives a more mellow sound.
Left is D plumwood Jan 2004, middle C Snakewood Sept 1997 and right is B plumwood Dec 2001.
The D plumwood chanter at Rogge’s workshop before I got it.
Fergus ye state that the plumwood is more mellow than the snakewood.Which plumwood are ye talking about?
If its the B then its bound to sound more mellow than the Snakewood in C if its the D and it sounds more mellow than the C then there is something wrang with it!
Slan Go Foill
Uilliam
Seems odd to “waste” snakewood, a real exotic, on a CP chanter
Seriously, it’s more common to find “exotic” woods in the narrow bore stuff. Some seem to think that the differences are more audible in narrow bore chanters, and by inference not audible in CP wide bore stuff. Of course if the choice is cosmetic, that doesn’t matter.
Snakewood is one of the densest woods known. To refer to the previous post, plumwood is much less dense, softer, etc. The plumwood B chanters that I have heard are indeed different in tone (more ‘muted’ might be one way to think of it, but that fails to convey the difference IMO) from my own snakewood chanter, supposedly made with the same reamers in the same manner. Of course that doesn’t prove that they are really the same inside from the point of view of the air column…
Sean Og Potts’ solo CD was recorded on a Rogge plumwood B, and I think it gives a pretty good impression of the sound of the A.R plumwood B sets I’ve heard.
I have a snakewood chanter in D…by Andreas it is spot on ,no problemo…if ye want it for looks however the wood does darken down considerably (well my D has..but my B set in snakewood is still in pristine condition and hasnae darkened??)Maybe its because the D gets to go out to pubs and things and gets fouled up by the crappy atmospheres therein,but anyways its so dark now that it looks almost like ebony! Hang on…Ebony V Blackwood V Snakewood? Oh yes,as well as being the densest wood around it is also poisonous when being turned,so don’t go at it withyer chisel to undercut it :roll: because ye have a perfectly good chanter and want to change it into a perfectly crap chanter
Enjoy
Slan Go Foill
Uilliam
Justine…yep the dust is poisonous…I was over in Andreas workshop when he was turning and he clears everyone out,thats his assistants…Heike Jens and the Dog!! there are quite a lot of woods that are poisonous,cherry for eg.now thats a name thate would conjour up quite the opposite picture,whereas snakewood kinda lives up to its name…but for all that it is a glorious looking wood…the undercutting jibe was for the benefit of another posting and not aimed at yersel
Slan Go Foill
Uilliam
There has been extensive discussion of similar issues regarding cocobolo on the flute list over the years. Cocobolo is another wood that folks often react to; however all the current evidence seems to point to the reaction to cocobolo, other rosewoods, and most exotics being one of two kinds: either contact dermatitis for the player (which gets worse with repeated exposure and seems to strike all players of cocobolo flutes eventually), or (especially for the maker) lung problems which also get worse with repeated exposure. For most “toxic” woods there doesn’t seem to be evidence for “systemic” allergic reactions of the kind put people into shock, at least not proven ones.
There are exotic woods that are actually “poisonous” in that they contain acute toxins, there’s one for instance that’s used to tip poison darts! I don’t know for certain, but what I have read (and heard from makers who use it) suggests that the snakewood problem is like that from cocobolo, an acute irritation reaction which one can develop a sensitivity to, and which affects some people more than others. Certainly a maker would want to have good dust protection when working with it, preferably a “positive pressure” air flow helmet with good filtration. What I’m not sure about is whether the problem with the rosewood family is at its core a histamine reaction which amplifies a minor irritation, or an actual toxicity reaction. Any word from the medical types on the list?
I have never heard of cherry being troublesome, but walnut is said to be a problem. Yew, now there’s one that actually has acutely toxic compounds in it, and there are reports of people getting ill or even dying from acute exposure - it’s the ‘taxols’ apparently, which are used for chemotherapy. Dust from spalted wood presents a different kind of problem, I am told; the spores reportedly can cause lung infections. It seems unlikely to me that a fungus that attacks wood could also take up residence in the human body, but that’s what they say…
