Regarding the Choice of Woods for Making a Harp Regarding the Choice of Woods for Making a Harp Regarding the Choice of Woods for Making a Harp
01/09/11 14:47
When I was studying harp with Jean Campbell and
Alison Kinnaird in Edinburgh in 1971 I remember
seeing a paper done by an academic from Sterling
who did an analysis of the wood in the old
harps–I'm guessing the two Scottish ones, the
Lamont and Queen Mary. My memory fails, but I think
he said they were either Plane or Deal.
Deal being a somewhat generic term, modernly meaning a board of certain dimensions, not a particular tree, could be in this case is Scots Pine. Scots Pine is very similar in properties to Sitka Spruce and Douglas Fir. All are stiff and tough. Doug Fir is the preferred wood for framing houses, and they used to make masts and propellers out of Sitka Spruce.
Though a softwood, It's a mistake to think it isn't strong. For example, Yew is a softwood, but very hard! It's what they make longbows out of (I experimented with using it as a centerstrip on harps, but it's very hard to come by). And Basswood, a hardwood, is quite soft.
European Planewod (Platanus acerifolia) when cut on the quarter is known as Lacewood. It's a hardwood: strong, but difficult to dry without splitting and signficant shrinkage.
The old sources mention a varietyy of local woods, including willow (European White Willow) and "bog oak" which may have been wood recovered from underground (similarly, Boxwood, treasured for flutes, is buried for about a generation before working it).
I've made a harp out of willow, and several out of similar woods such as Laurel. White Willow is tough and light and doesn't split easily, which would lend itself to an instrument that wants to split. But in general, woods grown near water tend to be softer, and those grown in dryer areas (like the east-facing side of a mountain) are harder - even among the same species (often, when ordering Spruce, one can ask which side of the mountain it grew on). Don't confuse this with wet climate woods. Some of our hardest woods are from the rain forests.
You can look at a tree in its environment and get a notion as to how it might be as lumber. A tall Amazonian needs to support the canopy at its top, so it's probably going to be a good beam. An oak grows out, down and up, so it must have great strength against bending. And indeed, those long low elbows became the keels of many a ship. A willow bends and dips. It becomes an excellent basket.
So one way to choose a wood begins with looking at its strength in the ways you need it to be strong: Is it prone to splitting? Is it stiff? Does it glue well? Does it dent easily?
Next comes a sense of its tone. When you tap on it with your knuckles (holding it so as not to dampen the tone) does it ring? When you rub your fingertips lightly up and down it, does it sound bright like a cymbal?
An example: I recently noticed a harp maker extolling the virtues of Poplar, another moderately strong hardwood commonly used in the industry as an inexpensive "filler" under fancier facings on hardwood laminates. It's used for casework in shelves, etc.,"behind the scenes." There's a lot of it around any shop that builds kitchen cabinets, and since I'm in a co-op with a bunch of "box-bangers" I've had a chance to bang on Poplar a lot. It's great virtue is that it is forgiving to work, and glues and holds a screw well. But it's never impressed me in the tone department. Nor does it have what we call visual "character,"
Which brings me to the final criterion. The wood should have visual interest and depth, especially when you rub the finish on. Woods like Koa (Hawaiian Acacia), and Cherry, and Walnut, and Maple take on an amazing 3D effect when you hit them with that shellac!
We have a great number of instrument makers working with many species. This provides us with a lot of information on how they sound, how they hold up, etc. This experimentation is nothing new. My wife, Roxanne, is currently on vacation in Florence, Italy, and just yesterday saw a violin by Stradivari with a Spruce soundboard and a Walnut body.
A great example of a wood that has gained importance is Koa. This gorgeous wood has become extremely popular with guitar makers, and is ackowledged as a great tonewood. But it is slow to recover from logging, taking about twenty five years to mature so the supply has dwindled. (A local substitute is Black Locust, planted in suburbs in the '50s and being pulled up as they rebuild these neighborhoods. Luckily there is a thriving industry in salvaging these woods. I use this wood almost interchangably with Koa as soundboards for my wire strung harps.)
Deal being a somewhat generic term, modernly meaning a board of certain dimensions, not a particular tree, could be in this case is Scots Pine. Scots Pine is very similar in properties to Sitka Spruce and Douglas Fir. All are stiff and tough. Doug Fir is the preferred wood for framing houses, and they used to make masts and propellers out of Sitka Spruce.
Though a softwood, It's a mistake to think it isn't strong. For example, Yew is a softwood, but very hard! It's what they make longbows out of (I experimented with using it as a centerstrip on harps, but it's very hard to come by). And Basswood, a hardwood, is quite soft.
European Planewod (Platanus acerifolia) when cut on the quarter is known as Lacewood. It's a hardwood: strong, but difficult to dry without splitting and signficant shrinkage.
The old sources mention a varietyy of local woods, including willow (European White Willow) and "bog oak" which may have been wood recovered from underground (similarly, Boxwood, treasured for flutes, is buried for about a generation before working it).
I've made a harp out of willow, and several out of similar woods such as Laurel. White Willow is tough and light and doesn't split easily, which would lend itself to an instrument that wants to split. But in general, woods grown near water tend to be softer, and those grown in dryer areas (like the east-facing side of a mountain) are harder - even among the same species (often, when ordering Spruce, one can ask which side of the mountain it grew on). Don't confuse this with wet climate woods. Some of our hardest woods are from the rain forests.
You can look at a tree in its environment and get a notion as to how it might be as lumber. A tall Amazonian needs to support the canopy at its top, so it's probably going to be a good beam. An oak grows out, down and up, so it must have great strength against bending. And indeed, those long low elbows became the keels of many a ship. A willow bends and dips. It becomes an excellent basket.
So one way to choose a wood begins with looking at its strength in the ways you need it to be strong: Is it prone to splitting? Is it stiff? Does it glue well? Does it dent easily?
Next comes a sense of its tone. When you tap on it with your knuckles (holding it so as not to dampen the tone) does it ring? When you rub your fingertips lightly up and down it, does it sound bright like a cymbal?
An example: I recently noticed a harp maker extolling the virtues of Poplar, another moderately strong hardwood commonly used in the industry as an inexpensive "filler" under fancier facings on hardwood laminates. It's used for casework in shelves, etc.,"behind the scenes." There's a lot of it around any shop that builds kitchen cabinets, and since I'm in a co-op with a bunch of "box-bangers" I've had a chance to bang on Poplar a lot. It's great virtue is that it is forgiving to work, and glues and holds a screw well. But it's never impressed me in the tone department. Nor does it have what we call visual "character,"
Which brings me to the final criterion. The wood should have visual interest and depth, especially when you rub the finish on. Woods like Koa (Hawaiian Acacia), and Cherry, and Walnut, and Maple take on an amazing 3D effect when you hit them with that shellac!
We have a great number of instrument makers working with many species. This provides us with a lot of information on how they sound, how they hold up, etc. This experimentation is nothing new. My wife, Roxanne, is currently on vacation in Florence, Italy, and just yesterday saw a violin by Stradivari with a Spruce soundboard and a Walnut body.
A great example of a wood that has gained importance is Koa. This gorgeous wood has become extremely popular with guitar makers, and is ackowledged as a great tonewood. But it is slow to recover from logging, taking about twenty five years to mature so the supply has dwindled. (A local substitute is Black Locust, planted in suburbs in the '50s and being pulled up as they rebuild these neighborhoods. Luckily there is a thriving industry in salvaging these woods. I use this wood almost interchangably with Koa as soundboards for my wire strung harps.)