Beyond Spruce & Maple
Luthiers are opening new frontiers using nontraditional woods
In the early ’90s, Helmut Ulrich sat in a shaded garden in Afghanistan and talked about precious stones with his wealthy Pakistani business partner. Ulrich had excelled at the trade since mining for Austrian emeralds in his teens and dealing rubies and sapphires in his 20s. But the trade left him blind after a mine explosion took his sight.
Learning by feel and sound, 18 years ago Ulrich began making drums and eventually violins, violas, cellos, and viola d’amores.
Initially, he employed the traditional spruce and maple combination, but after a few years he received a gift that altered his direction—a slit drum made entirely of wenge, a hard, dark wood from central Africa typically used to make drums that can communicate over long distances. “When I heard that wood, it was a very interesting horizon,” Ulrich says.
Ulrich is among just a handful of violin makers who are thinking outside of the typical spruce and maple combination. As they continue to make new discoveries, others are left to ponder the merits of sticking with tradition or breaking from the pack.
Among the alternative woods being used by adventurous luthiers to construct fiddles these days are balsa, bubinga, black walnut, huon, Douglas fir, myrtle, white pine, poplar, willow, and redwood.
This article, "Beyond Spruce & Maple," is part of the Strings Archive, which you can access with a paid site subscription.
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