Acoustic dissipation in wooden pipes of different species used in wind instrument making: An experimental study

Abstract

In this study, the acoustic dissipation is investigated experimentally in wooden pipes of different species commonly used in woodwind instrument making: maple (Acer Pseudoplatanus), pear wood (Pyrus Communis L.), boxwood (Buxus Sempervirens) and African Blackwood (Dalbergia Melanoxylon). The pipes are parallel to the grain, except one which forms an angle of 60° with the fiber direction. An experimental method, involving input impedance measurements with several lengths of air column, is introduced to estimate the characteristic impedance and the attenuation factor in the pipes. Their comparison reveals significant differences of acoustic dissipation among the species considered. The attenuation factors are ranked in the following order from largest to smallest: maple, boxwood, pear wood, and African Blackwood. This order is the same before and after polishing the bore, which is an essential step in the making process of wind instrument. For maple, changing the pipe direction of 60° considerably increases the attenuation factor, compared to those of the other pipes, parallel to the grain. Further, polishing tends to reduce the acoustic dissipation in the wooden pipes, especially for the most porous species. As a result, the influence of polishing in the making procedure depends on the selected wood species.

Environmental factors and wood qualities of African blackwood, Dalbergia melanoxylon, in Tanzanian Miombo natural forest

“…Such defects may affect the general performance of musical instruments. For example, the internal surface condition of the wood can impact acoustic attenuation in the cylindrical resonators of woodwind instruments [22]. As a result, sawmills can generate only a small amount of timber of the necessary quality, with an actual timber yield of 9% [23].…”

X-ray Computed Tomography Analysis of Historical Woodwind Instruments of the Late Eighteenth Century

“…This is the subject of a long and dividing debate amount scientists and musicians, the former denying a significant effect of the material (see e.g., [ 15 ]) and the latter claiming to be able to appreciate perceptible differences even among instruments made of different wood species. The discussion has recently been found a consensus, at least concerning the wood instruments, with acoustical studies demonstrating the effect of the surface structure of different woods on the sound of resonating tubes [ 16 ].…”