Woods with physical, mechanical and acoustic properties similar to those of Caesalpinia echinata have high potential as alternative woods for bow makers

Eduardo Luiz Longui,José Nivaldo Garcia,Edenise Segala Alves,Israel Luiz De Lima,Daniel Romeu Lombardi

doi:10.1590/01047760201420031345

Eduardo Luiz Longui, José Nivaldo Garcia + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/01047760201420031345

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Abstract

For nearly two hundred years, Caesalpinia echinata wood has been the standard for modern bows. However, the threat of extinction and the enforcement of trade bans have required bow makers to seek alternative woods. The hypothesis tested was that woods with physical, mechanical and acoustic properties similar to those of C. echinata would have high potential as alternative woods for bows. Accordingly, were investigated Handroanthus spp., Mezilaurus itauba, Hymenaea spp., Dipteryx spp., Diplotropis spp. and Astronium lecointei. Handroanthus and Diplotropis have the greatest number of similarities with C. echinata, but only Handroanthus spp. showed significant results in actual bow manufacture, suggesting the importance of such key properties as specific gravity, speed of sound propagation and modulus of elasticity. In practice, Handroanthus and Dipteryx produced bows of quality similar to that of C. echinata.

Highlights

Hundreds of wood species are known in the world, luthiers have used only a small number of species for centuries
Five planks of Handroanthus spp. – Bignoniaceae and three planks each of Mezilaurus itauba - Lauraceae, Hymenaea spp. Fabaceae, Dipteryx spp. - Fabaceae, Diplotropis spp. - Fabaceae and Astronium lecointei - Anacardiaceae were purchased in the wood market in São Paulo
Dipteryx spp. wood was in the same range of MOEd as that shown by C. echinata (Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

Hundreds of wood species are known in the world, luthiers have used only a small number of species for centuries. This stems from traditionalism, and from the physical, mechanical and acoustic properties of those woods (SLOOTEN; SOUZA, 1993; SOUZA, 1983). Mechanical and acoustic properties are considered in the selection of woods for musical instruments (BRÉMAUD et al, 2008). The elastic properties of wood directly influence the quality of the sticks for bows (ALVES et al, 2008b; BRÉMAUD et al, 2008; MATSUNAGA et al, 1996; WEGST et al, 2007)

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