Music instruments made from trees

Probably the top benefit that we as human beings have is the ability to create, enjoy, capture and listen to music. Listening to music floods our brains with a specific chemical referred to as dopamine. This chemical is associated with the feeling of pleasure, reward, and motivation. People who make music are thought to have a higher level of intelligence. When someone has learned to read music and create music it takes a different level of brain power to do that. Music plays such an important part in all of our lives that it engages the same parts of the brain as pleasure. It is therefore clearly used as a mood enhancer and elevator. Music has the unique ability to sooth or calm us when we are feeling anxious or sad. I think it has a unique ability for the body to heal as well.

Instruments are made from wood because it is easier to carve and cut in contrast to polymers or metal. Depending on the wood species used it is also light. Wood is tough with great acoustical, tonal qualities with the ability to transfer sound in the direction of the even-grain of wood being used. A lot of these instruments are hand made here in the United State.

Types of instruments’ made out of trees

There are many instruments’ that are made out of trees with each tree having a certain characteristic. Different types of wood make up physical properties such as color, density, beauty, strength and function. Some different trees that make most of the musical instruments are hardwoods such as the Ebony Tree (Diospyros ebenum), Rosewood Tree (Dalbergia sp.), Mahogany Tree (Swietenia mahagoni,) Pau Brasil (Caesalphia echinata), Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), White Ash (Faxinus americana), Alder (Alnus sp.) Oak (Quercus sp.), Birch (betula sp.), Willow (Salix sp.), Poplar (Polulus sp.), Beech (Fagus sp.) Horn beam (Carpinus betulus), Basswood (Tilia sp.), Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), American Chestnut (Castanea dentata), Horse-chesnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) and many others. Some evergreens that make up musical instruments’ are Spruce (Picea sp.), Cedar (Thuja sp.), Pine (Pinus sp.), Fir (Abies sp.), Larches or Tamarack (Larix laricina) and in the grass family Bamboo ( Phyllostachys sp.)

With all the vast numbers of tree species to make musical instruments, comes a vast number of musical instruments made from wood. Say that five times fast:)) Here are many: Organs, pianos, guitars (electric, bass, acoustic), soprano (ukulele), violins (fiddles), viola, harp, cello or (double bass), Xylophone, clarinet, many flutes, recorder, drum kit (drum sticks), bongos, maracas, rain sticks, metronomes and many others.

How my favorite instrument, the electric and acoustic guitars are made

The sound of the electric guitar is the instrument that resonates with the greatest appeal to me. The Fender Stratocastor plus Telecaster are made in Corona, California has a body made out of mostly Alder. Sometimes it is made of Ash, Rosewood or Maple because the wood is lightweight while strong with a mostly neutral full tone sound. It also has a low balanced lower end with a subtle mid range. The neck is usually made of Sugar Maple due to its dense strong characteristics. It also includes an inlaid rosewood fingerboard stabilized in kilns, shaped and slotted for frets. The strings on the electric guitar are either made of nickel or steel; sometimes steel wire that is plated in nickel.

On the other hand the Gibson (Les Paul) is made in Nashville Tennessee, whose wood of choice is made out of Mahogany. The Gibson electric is prized for its focus centered lows and rich mids. The necks are most oftenly set in with a rosewood fret board, while the body has two pickups, independent volume and tone control with a stop tail bridge. These guitars are known for their density that make for a long-lasting quality guitar.

Martin acoustic guitars are made in Nazareth, Pennsylvania where they are known for quality craftsmanship. At Martin, they use hide glue with a quartersawn wood cutting technique that is noted to preserve to tonal qualities in the wood. Quartersawn wood is far less likely to expand and contract with the weather elements. These instruments slowly break in over time. Martin uses less thin to preserve the guitar so that the wood is able to breathe as it ages. Each martin acoustic guitar is specifically built with a custom rosette to strengthen the sound hole and therefore, the rest of the guitar.

Taylor acoustic guitars, to me, have the best tonal quality of the acoustic line up. They are made in El Cajon, California and Tecate Mexico. This company integrates 25 different exotic and tropical wood species varieties into the body and necks of their guitars. Urban Ash and Rosewood are two of the most widely used wood types.

Organs and pianos

Its hard for me to determine which other instruments I like the best. I like the sound of them all, but here I am going to discuss the organ that is noted as a percussion instrument. Organs are known as a hybrid instrument. They are a combination of wind vibrated in pipes to create tones of many different sounds, waves, and frequencies; plus they have a built in keyboard to make that vibration happen. When the pipe has a greater length the pitch will be lower, while if the pipes are shorter it will produce a higher pitch. Mozart declared the organ the “king of all musical instruments'” because of the immense amount of sounds the instrument can make. Some pipes in an organ are the size of a pencil while others 70 ft long ad 2 ft in diameter. The organ makes this remarkable panopy of sounds since the pipes get used simultaneously or separately to play the same notes.

When organs are made the most important raw material is wood. The parts on an organ that are build out of wood include the wind chest, casing, pipes, bellow compartment, the action and the console. A good source of well seasoned wood is essential to build a nice quality organ. Of course, much of an organ gets built with metal as well, but here I am only highlighting the wood. The tree species of wood that are used in building an organ include, Mahogany, Black Walnut, Spruce, Pine, Maple and Oak.

A piano on the other hand is a large musical instrument with a sound board enclosed in a wooden case. The inside has metal strings that get struck by inner felt covered hammers when the keys are pressed. The piano strings vibration is stopped by dampers when the keys are released and get regulated by length and volume by two or three foot pedals.

Many high quality pianos use spruce for the soundboard. Hardwoods are used for the framing of the piano and the body for stability, strength and an enduring longevity. Tree species types that get integrated into the construction of a piano include Maple, Ebony, different Brazil trees, Birch, Fir, Oak, Spruce, Cedar, and Rosewoods The strings on a piano or often called piano wire are made of high quality steel to endure years of hard tension and wear and tear. Piano keys are made out of Holly (Llex aqiufolium or Llex mitis), sugar pine or spruce, but also ivory, while the black keys are made out of Ebony.

Wooden Flutes

Until 1877, all flutes where made from wood until metal was introduced. When a builder chooses what source of tree species he or she is going to use to make a flute, the timber must first get cut to the length desired. That piece then gets turned on a lathe to get the piece to the right rounded desire or appeal. After that, a central hole gets bored, usually using a gun drill because they are long, to drill up the middle where the air can get passed. With the exterior finely sanded to a finish, a special jig is used to drill the embouchure or (mouth part) that refers to the shape of our facial muscles, teeth and tongue when we blow into the instrument. Another special jig is used called a “setting out machine” to ensure that the holes are in the right place in a straight line. These holes then get key seats cut in a volcano shaped form to fit the fingers.

There are many different varieties of trees that use several more tree species to make flutes. Some local tree specimens that are used is Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), but other not so local is Bamboo, Eastern African black wood (Dalbergia menanoxylon) also known as Mpingo, in Tanzania, Granadilla, boxwood, mpani, cocobolo and couswood. Other flutes have been made out of ivory and often times straight bones.

Conclusion

In this article i talk about the many musical instruments that have been constructed through time with the many varieties of tree species that where used to make them. Music releases a chemical in our brain called dopamine that creates a euphoric effect of true inspiration. It comes from vocals or instrumental sounds or both combined in a way to produce beauty of expression, harmony with emotion. My true longing for is that you liked this article, if you have any questions please leave a comment or email.