A couple of years ago, I had the chance to play a very nice baroque lute by Martin Bowers he had just made where the back was from wood saved from an old barge if my memory serves me correctly. It was 13 courses with bass rider rather than swan neck, but forget the original it was a copy of - it might come back to me later. The sound was good, as was the finish. He had built it "on spec" rather than to commission and brought it along to one of David Van Edwards summer schools in lute building. He later sold it, though I don't know who to, but others who were there might remember more details than I do Nick -----Original Message----- From: Sandy Hackney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 27 March 2006 16:00 To: Rob Dorsey; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'lute list' Subject: [LUTE] Re: Luthiers (wood)
Many years ago I saw a film with Dombois and Sandro Zanetti (a luthier of note in the 70s) and they were examining a door from a 500 year old barn. Subsequently, Zanetti used the door for lute building. I have no idea how it came out... Sandy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Dorsey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "'lute list'" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 8:47 AM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Luthiers (wood) > Dana, > > Other than the obvious need to age wood sufficiently to stabilize the > moisture content throughout the piece, the debate on aging of tonewoods > can > be a heated one. I have a couple of soundboard sets that are over 40 years > old. They have been stored correctly and are in great shape. Even though > I'm > not sure of the aging issue, I would not build an instrument from them > except for myself. Selfish? Yep, but they are irreplaceable. For others > I'll > use newer soundboard halves available to the trade. > > Mostly it is important that anything under varnish is well "seasoned". > Seasoned in this case means that the wood has completely stabilized in > moisture content and that those included resins which improve with > oxidation > have reached their peak. This can take a bit of time. Not having the > equipment to analyze my meager stocks, I like wood to be a couple of years > in my shop, or on a trustworthy suppliers rack, before I feel really great > about it. Like I said before, I hate cracks. > > Best, > Rob Dorsey > Florence, KY USA > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 3:41 PM > To: lute list > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Luthiers > > Rebecca asks about luthier practice regarding wood aging. > > This holds for most workers in wood I suspect, not just instrument makers. > > Wood goes thru subtle changes over several years of climactic changes, it > is > good to store wood for several seasons against future need, but, only some > of the wood used in an instrument actually benefits from prolonged ageing. > > There are limits to how many instruments a luthier can produce each year, > so > its not all that hard to plan ahead and stock the wood, but financing it > could be a burden, and if demand grows you have to make a choice - > stockpile > orders, hire and train, out-source some of the work (eg - pegs, pegboxes, > neckblanks) to somehow provide enough wood for an expanded workforce, > while > at the same time recruiting and paying the extra help. > If your building exceeds yoru wood supply you have to somehow arrange for > suitable wood. Thankfully there are firms that carry aged wood, albeit at > a > price. > > Dealers in 'tone wood' will have highly figured and otherwise interesting > wood, some is recently kiln-dried, other will have been air-drying for a > decade or longer. > > Sometimes you come across wood that is special, perhaps a tree locally > felled by Hurricane or Tornado, perhaps some highly figured wood seen at a > local lumberyard, perhaps your share of an estate. Such wood sits quietly > in the attic/garage/odd corner awaiting that special project. > -- > Dana Emery > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > >
