All tonewood articles
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Premium ❘ Feature
Stars of Africa: South African tonewood
Wood physicist Martina Meincken presents the results of a study investigating whether indigenous woods of southern Africa might be suitable for use as tonewood for instruments
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Focus
Ask the experts: What should a luthier look for when choosing tonewood?
For a beginner luthier, choosing the perfect spruce and maple for an instrument can be a confusing process. Three experts in wood selection offer some guidelines
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News
V. Richelieu: Exploring alternative tonewoods in contemporary viola and violin making
Originally focused on solving the ’child’s viola problem,’ Vermont-based makers V. Richelieu focus today on the importance of sustainable material sourcing in the face of climate change and resource depletion
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Premium ❘ Article
Analysis October 2023: Climate change and tonewood
The past summer has seen catastrophic heatwaves strike almost all of Europe. What effect have they had on the forests of spruce and maple that tonewood dealers depend on?
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Video
The violin made from indigenous African tonewoods
Listen to the violin made from Knysna Blackwood and Hardpear
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News
Violin crafted entirely from wood of indigenous African trees
Scientists at Stellenbosch University in South Africa embraced the project as a way to investigate new potential tonewoods and their acoustic properties
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Premium ❘ Focus
Did the Cremonese have access to wood with unique special qualities?
Were the old Cremonese luthiers really using better woods than those available to other makers in Europe? In this article from 2013, Terry Borman and Berend Stoel presented a study of density that suggested otherwise