Description
These tailpieces are hailed for being both eco-friendly and long-lasting, offering an excellent alternative to traditional exotic wood tailpieces. With Sonowood, it’s now possible to transform abundant local wood varieties into something closely resembling their exotic wood counterparts. These high-quality materials combined with the Bois d’Harmonie company’s savoir-faire is unprecedented. The acoustic quality and environmentally-friendly design is convincing for even the perfectionist musicians out there.
Weight
16g (without tensioners)
Manufacturer
Bois d’Harmonie
Origin
France
Product details for the Sonowood Violin Tailpiece
These tailpieces provide an alternative to exotic woods (such as rosewood, ebony, or pernambuco). Their high density is achieved through an artificial process, allowing European tree species to really shine.
These tailpieces demonstrate increased reactivity, richness and remarkable brilliance.
The French company Bois d’Harmonie guarantees a flawless finish and can adapt to meet all the needs of your instrument, including size, color, details, engravings, and more.
Bois d’Harmonie also makes tensioners that can be installed on your instrument. These tensioners do need to be installed professionally.
These tailpieces are new and only available in limited quantity. Feel free to contact me to enquire about current inventory or lead time on orders.
What sets the Sonowood Violin Tailpieces by Bois d’Harmonie apart?
- These are very high-quality tailpieces that perform just as well as their counterparts traditionally made of exotic wood varieties.
- Manufactured in Lyon, France, these tailpieces are environmentally-friendly, as only local wood spieces (such as spruce, maple, beech, walnut) are used.
- A high-performance Tailcord® braid tailpiece (20cm) is included.
How does Sonowood increase wood density?
Let me quickly explain the process Sonowood® uses to make local wood varieties more musical.
The result is actually obtained via mechanical compression of the wood. Picture a gigantic mechanical press that can transform a large plank of wood into an identical plank that is much smaller but significantly more dense.
This of course could not be achieved without highly specialized processing that protects the wood. Part of the secret is heat. When heated to 120° Celsius or above, the wood lignine liquefies and becomes plastic-y.
By controlling this temperature and its propagation in the material (it’s complicated, but we’ll come back to this another time), it is possible to precisely control not only the density, but also the color. This process makes it possible to produce color—from reddish caramel to black—without the addition of chemicals.
A few numbers to resume:
- The velocity of sound is between 4’200 and 5’400 m/s. In comparison, ebony is approximately 4’500 m/s.
- But the density reaches between 1,200 to 1,400 kg/m3, which is very close to or even higher than many protected exotic wood species.
Luthier’s review
These tailpieces are a very recent innovation. When I had the chance to see the first prototypes, I was immediately impressed. Their appearance is remarkable. The density of materials gives them a polished look that is generally only characteristic of valuable objects.
Their tone quality and response are outstanding. This could lend an additionally rapidity and definition to your overall sound, should those elements be lacking.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.