Resonance-wood: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
'''Resonance wood''' or ''' | '''Resonance wood''' or '''tonewood''' refers to the top of for instance violins. It is almost always [[Picea abies]] (in rare cases other species as for instance [[Abies alba]] may have been used). As the ring pattern often is visible at the instruments, it is possible to measure the ring widths directly at the instrument or via high resolution photos. Large amounts of tone wood has been traded from several source areas in Europe - in the alps and other forest areas in central Europe. Famous violin areas like [[Mittenwald]] and [[Markneukirchen]] may mainly have used rather local wood (and exported not only violins but also wood), but there will surely be exceptions. The altitude of those areas located in Germany and around may be at about 1000-1500 m. | ||
Good tone wood should, beside good acoustic characteristics, also have a steady increment growth with as little variations as possibly and with straight fibers so not the wedges will look like propellers... The average ring width use to be 1-2 mm. Typical is also low density. | Good tone wood should, beside good acoustic characteristics, also have a steady increment growth with as little variations as possibly and with straight fibers so not the wedges will look like propellers... The average ring width use to be 1-2 mm. Typical is also low density. | ||
Revision as of 22:14, 21 November 2010
Resonance wood or tonewood refers to the top of for instance violins. It is almost always Picea abies (in rare cases other species as for instance Abies alba may have been used). As the ring pattern often is visible at the instruments, it is possible to measure the ring widths directly at the instrument or via high resolution photos. Large amounts of tone wood has been traded from several source areas in Europe - in the alps and other forest areas in central Europe. Famous violin areas like Mittenwald and Markneukirchen may mainly have used rather local wood (and exported not only violins but also wood), but there will surely be exceptions. The altitude of those areas located in Germany and around may be at about 1000-1500 m.
Good tone wood should, beside good acoustic characteristics, also have a steady increment growth with as little variations as possibly and with straight fibers so not the wedges will look like propellers... The average ring width use to be 1-2 mm. Typical is also low density.
The most common way to build a violin top is to cut the same piece of wood into two halves and glue them together so that the youngest ring will be found in the middle. It also happens that wood from different trees are used and that pieces of wood are glued in other ways. In the normal case, with "butterflied" halves glued together - the measurements of the both sides of the instrument will show very high correlation values.