Reply to: Question for a friend--
Peter_Macaulay@DGC.ceo.dg.com
Fri, 10 Mar 95 14:34:20 est
CEO comments:
The major characteristics of soundboard wood are that it should be
stiff and strong (so that it can stand up to the pull of the strings
without being too thick, because thick would mean that it took up
too much energy from the strings to move it), not too heavy (density,
energy again) and springy (so that the string energy goes into moving
the soundboard and is not lost or dulled in the internal friction
of the wood). Close grained spruce (not necessarrily sitka), cedar,
and some redwoods work well. I've also seen mahogany used, in fact
I believe Dusty Strings use it on the bass section of their larger
harps, and maple (though the maker didn't like the extra work, he
had to sand rather than plane the board because the grain wobbles
and so maple gouges easily). Some renaissance harps used apple or
pear wood. You could probably make a soundboard from almost anything
that was strong enuf, but you might not like the sound of the
resulting harp. There's a harpmaker in the Springfield, MA area
(Ansell whatsisname - he's in the Pioneer Valley Harp Guild list
which is at home & I can't remember) who likes experimenting with
different woods, and maybe is close enough for your friend to
contact. Ansell just built a lap harp with a tapered cedar board
and a maple burl veneer which has an awesome sound for it's size.
Peter Mac
peter_macaulay@dgc.ceo.dg.com