Materials from Sustainable Resources for Musical Instruments

Abstract

The potential of materials derived from natural or sustainable forest resources for musical instruments has been discussed. The quality of wood species from natural forest resources, having acoustical properties unsuitable for the production of musical instruments can be improved by biological, chemical or physical treatments. The biological treatment refers to the process of decreasing wood density which can be achieved with fungi causing a selective delignification of wood, such as Norway spruce or sycamore that have a ordinary anatomical structure. The selected fungi, at the incipient stage of the attack do not have the enzymatic potential to degrade the middle lamellae of the cellular structure of timber. This procedure can improve the acoustical properties of wood without significantly destroying its mechanical capacities. The chemical treatment refers to the improvement of dimensional stability of spruce for violins produced by the industry. The physical treatment of wood refers to thermal treatment under atmospheric pressure and to the treatment of wood under hydrostatic pressure at normal temperature. New materials from sustainable forest resources have been studied. To overcome the shortage of tropical wood species and of resonance wood for musical instruments, plywood having a specific structure or produced from fast-growing trees could be an obvious alternative. Synthetic materials such as ebonite and plastics can be used to produce student model instruments. Recycling sustainable wood fibres or polymers and developing specific injection molding technology can contribute to mass production of student model musical instruments of good acoustic quality.