Mahogany

[Don_Mannino@yca.ccmail.compuserve.com]

     Audrey Karabinus wrote:

     >You mentioned that Bubinga and Sapele are the types used in hammer
     moldings, and that Bubinga is from Africa.  Do you know where Sapele
     is from?  You also mentioned that Young Chang gets their Luann and
     Nyatoh from S.E. Asia -- what are those the types used for veneers?

     First let me repeat - I am by no means an expert on woods.  What I say
     here is from my experience with Young Chang only.

     Sapele wood also comes from Africa as far as I know. It is the most
     beautiful veneer wood for piano exteriors (ever see a British made
     mahogany upright? That's usually sapele), but is hard to work with,
     and lots of wood is lost when the log is milled.

     Luann is a light weight, soft mahogany. It grows quickly and is being
     replenished, but to what degree I don't know. Most oriental
     manufacturers use Luann in their grand rims, and if they use
     "laminated hardwoods" in other cabinet parts this is usually Luann.
     The yield after cutting luann is excellent, and it's easy to work with
     in manufacturing, which is why it's used so much.  It is not cheap -
     the raw logs are much more expensive per board foot than maple. Even
     after figuring for the losses in cutting (something like 10% of the
     luann is lost, while 30% or so of Maple is lost) it costs more than
     maple. But it's so easy to work with that the manufacturers continue
     to use it for rims and cabinet parts, etc. Smells good when being cut,
     too.

     Nyatoh is not a true mahogany, but it looks like a dark reddish
     mahogany. It is harder than some maples, and is used for structural
     parts in the piano. For a while Young Chang grands had Nyatoh rims,
     but supply problems stopped that.

     You must not see many new Young Chang pianos.  So far Young Chang is
     holding at about 12 grains per inch because our lumber mill in
     Washington is doing a good job of acquiring the Spruce.  We also sell
     some Spruce to other manufacturers, and the volume allows us to keep
     the best for ourselves.

     The difference in cost between a laminated Spruce board and a solid
     board depends completely on what is used in the core.  If a laminated
     Spruce board is made well, then the material costs are nearly the same
     as a solid board - the inner spruce can be wide grain, but the grain
     angle and the consistency throughout the board is still important.
     Leaving a knot in the core under the bridge would do strange things to
     the tone!

     The reason people use laminated boards is because they usually DO hide
     awful wood in the center. That's really why these boards sound so bad.
     A laminated board can be designed to sound good, but then the cost of
     the board isn't much (if any) lower than a solid board. So why make it
     that way?

     Don Mannino