24
November 6, 1920.
USE OF WOODS
IN MUSIC INDUSTRIES
Strength, Rigidity, Beauty of Figure, Color, and Resonance, Considerations
in Selection by Buyer Requiring Two Hundred and
Fifty Million Feet Annually
The various uses of wood in the musical instru-
ment manufacturing industry and the requirements
for the different purposes are told in an instructive
way by Hu Maxwell in American Forestry. The
maker of one kind may want a wood of extra
strength and unusual stiffness in order to give the
necessary rigidity. Another may desire a kind that
behaves well in joinery and is not inclined to ex-
cessive strinkage'and warping. Sometimes a wood
is wanted which possesses high resonance. Or,
perhaps, the maker of veneers intended for use in
the bodies of. large musical instruments, looks for
a wood for the cores or inner sheets of built-up
panels, and he selects one which holds glue well
and is not much inclined to warp and check during
changing conditions due to heat and moisture.
Beauty of figure or attractive color may be the
chief quality sought by the maker of the outer
parts of instruments, the portions which are seen
and by which many purchasers judge the merit and
value of the instrument. If this is the manufac-
turer's purpose, he is interested in none but beauti-
ful woods and selects those which are most pleas-
ing, says Mr. Maxwell.
An Exacting Industry.
Few industries are more exacting in their de-
mands for choice material than the music industry.
Musical instrument makers are exacting buyers but
big ones. The annual demand by all makers in the
United States exceeds 260,000,000 feet, and if all
the species were carefully set apart and counted, the
number would probably exceed one hundred.
In
statistics the woods are generally grouped accord-
ing to genus rather than species, several being in-
cluded under one name, as oak, ash, elm, maple,
and spruce.
Both softwoods and hardwoods are employed in
this industry. Ten of the former are on the list,
all of which are native of the United States. Not
a foot of imported softwood is used, unless possibly
a little spruce from Canada for sounding boards,
but none such is shown by the records. The total
annual demand for softwoods exceeds 43,000,000
feet as follows:
Spruce, 29,144,150; white pine, 9,394,820; yellow
pine, 2,107,994; sugar pine, 1,004,400; hemlock, 615,-
600; Douglas fir, 480,400; redwood, 286,200; balsam
fir, 101,400; cypress, 70,000; Cedar, 17,500, total, 43,-
222,464 feet.
Demand for Spruce.
In quantity spruce exceeds the other softwoods
in the above list. Though it is named as though
it were a single species, several spruces are includ-
ed in the group, the principal being the eastern red
spruce that grows from the mountains of West
Virginia to northern Maine, the largest supply com-
of the northern Pacific coast. Some spruce of the
black and white species, from New England and the
Lake States, and from the adjacent regions of Can-
ada, contribute to the musical instrument industry,
the total of spruce exceeding 29,000,000 feet annual-
ly.
The value of spruce in this industry is due chiefly
to its resonant qualities. It is a musical wood. Pe-
culiarities of growth make it so. It takes up and
transmits vibrations more perfectly than any other
wood that can be had in adequate quantities.
The scientific explanations of spruce resonance
have not all been alike, neither are they all con-
sistent. Agreement is pretty general, however, that
the cause lies in the wood's long fibres and in their
uniform and regular arrangement. The fibers vi-
brate like so many taut cords. Comparison might
be made to a group of tightly-stretched strings, par-
allel and of equal length, each vibrating free from
interference by the others, and in all unison, having
been acted upon by the same impulse. Wood con-
sists of fibers which may be compared to strings
either parallel or interlaced. The most of those of
spruce are parallel, hence their fine musical qual-
ities. Most other woods have shorter fibers and
they may not be arranged so that they can vibrate
freely, one interfering with another. Oak is a
wood of that kind, and it is very poor material
for sounding boards for pianos.
The Sounding Board.
The most highly specialized use of wood, due to
its resonance, is found in the piano sounding board.
The finest spruce goes there, though occasionally
other woods have held the place. Southern white
cedar was once more popular than spruce as sound
ing boards, but it is not so now.
The piano is not the only musical instrument
which profits by the resonance of wood. The pipe
organ does it, but probably not so much as form-
erly. Most pipes are now made of metal. The
quality of wood in a violin has much to do in de-
termining the value of the instrument. The old
master makers of violins, like Stradivari, Amati,
and Guarneri, selected their wood and prepared it
with as much c^are as they bestowed on the actual
shaping and joining. Maple has always been one
of the finest voilin woods, and it is nearly always
combined with some softwood like pine or spruce.
Talking Machine Uses.
Some of the finest working in wood is done in
producing high class horns for talking machines
and music boxes. The horn is a sort of sounding
board, correponding to that of the piano. Thei»e
are very fine intruments which are made without
wooden horns, but many persons claim that the
wooden horn gives a softness and richness of the
tone which is extremely rare.
The xylophone is a small musical instrument
which does not rank very high in science or art.
Its name is a combination of two Greek words
meaning "wood sound." The music which it pro-
duces is caused more by the vibrations of wood
than is the case with most musical instruments
which utilize the resonant qualities of that material.
In most of them the sound is transmitted to the
(Continued on page 28.)
LEARN TO TUNE PIANOS
up" his new arrivals and to keep his second-
hands in order.
C[ Every Practical Tuner should know how to
correct the irregularities of the player-piano.
^ Every Piano Salesman who aims to be thoroughly
proficient should learn to tune.
It Doesn 't Cost Much-
Age Is No Bar to Learning-
It Doesn't Require Much Time,
Write for Booklet
POLK'S SCHOOL OF PIANO TUNING
VALPARAISO, INDIANA
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