Materials – The Bamboo Grove

Materials

Materials for oriental music instruments are mostly organic materials which are becoming increasingly harder to extract due to its slow rate of regeneration. With the exception of bamboo, most materials are no longer extensively extracted in China as they are getting rare.

Due to market forces, the prices of the materials fluctuate greatly every season, and the common market names of the materials are varied and often confusing. Here, we try our best to standardize the names using Latin scientific names of Genre and Species.

The is also no standard gauge for the grading of the materials, but we attempt to grade them here as accurately as possible, with the inputs supplied by the various luthiers and manufacturers.

NOTE: The grade of wood is largely due to the differences in the cutting across the lumber. Generally, G1 Woods are denser and has more uniformed grains as they are the center-cut lumber. It is unreasonable to request quartersawn lumber in today’s market due to rarity of the wood, thus, the center plank is usually highest graded.

Name	Scented Rosewood 花梨 Dalbergia odorifera
Commonly passed off as	Aged Rosewood when stained
Origin	Vietnam, Cambodia,
Density	0.93 ~ 1.05 g/ml
	Grade 1 Density above 1g/ml Almost no knots in the grains Uniformed shade throughout Uniformed distance between grained lines Complete Concentric circular grains if circular gains showing Grade 2 Density above 0.97g/ml Slighly knotted (less than 2 per linear foot) Uniformed shade Deviation of grain distance more less than 15mm per foot run and across more than 5 grainlines Possibly incomplete concentric circular grainlines Grade 3 Lower desity Random Knots Shading may be non-uniformed due to slanted cut of wood (to avoid wood damages)

Name	Cambodian rosewood 酸枝 / Dark Rosewood 黑酸枝 Dalbergia Oliveri / Dalbergia Cultrate or variant in Same Genus
Commonly Passed off as	Aged Rosewood
Origin	Vietnam, Cambodia, Brazil, Zimbabwe
Density	0.96 ~ 1.09 g/ml
	Grade 1 Density above 1.03g/ml Almost no knots in the grains Uniformed shade throughout Uniformed distance between grained lines Complete Concentric circular grains if circular gains showing Grade 2 Density above 1.0g/ml Slighly knotted (less than 2 per linear foot) Uniformed shade Deviation of grain distance more less than 15mm per foot run and across more than 5 grainlines Possibly incomplete concentric circular grainlines Grade 3 Lower desity Random Knots Shading may be non-uniformed due to slanted cut of wood (to avoid wood damages)

Name	African Black Sandwood/Dalbergia、黑檀 Dalbergia Melanoxylan
Commonly Passed off as	Ebony 乌木／Carbonized Blackwood 碳化乌木
Origin	Zimbabwe, North Africa, Brazil
Density	0.96 ~ 1.29 g/ml
	Grade 1 Density above 1.2g/ml Almost no knots in the grains Uniformed shade throughout Uniformed distance between grained lines (compacted to not more than 5mm per linear foot Grade 2 Density above 1.1g/ml Slighly knotted (less than 2 per linear foot) Uniformed shade Deviation of grain distance more less than 15mm per foot run Grade 3 Lower desity Random Knots Shading may be non-uniformed due to slanted cut of wood (to avoid wood damages)

Name	African Sandalwood 非洲小叶檀科特迪瓦小叶檀 Baphia nitida
Commonly Passed Off as	“Purple/Violet/Red” Sandalwood Indian Sandalwood, 印度小叶紫檀
Origin	Brazil, Zimbabwe
Density	0.99 ~ 1.15 g/ml
	Grade 1 Density above 1.09g/ml Almost no knots in the grains Uniformed shade throughout Uniformed distance between grained lines Complete Concentric circular grains if circular gains showing Grade 2 Density above 1.0g/ml Slighly knotted (less than 2 per linear foot) Uniformed shade Possibly incomplete concentric circular grainlines No lower grade available due to small pith size of usable lumber

Name	Recovered Rosewood 明清老红木、旧料老红木
Origin	Vietnam, Cambodia, China
Density	Above 0.9 g/ml
	Grade 1 Density above 1g/ml Almost no knots in the grains Uniformed distance between grained lines Complete Concentric circular grains if circular gains showing Grade 2 Density above 0.9g/ml Slighly knotted (less than 2 per linear foot) Uniformed shade No lower grade available due to small pith size of usable lumber Due to rarity and stability of Recovered Rosewood,they are not often graded, so long as the sound of the instrument matches expectations.

Name	Paulownia 梧桐泡桐
Origin	Lan Kao, Henan, China
Density	Generally 0.7 – 0.8g/ml
	Grade 1 Almost no knots in the grains Uniformed distance between grained lines Complete Concentric circular grains if circular gains showing Sounds Uniformed upon tapping across lumber plank Grade 2 Slighly knotted (less than 2 per linear foot) Some discapencies in distance between grains Sounds Generally Uniformed when tapping across lumber plank Grade 3 Knotted Grains uneven Incomplete circular grains

Name	Indian Red Sandalwood, “Purple/Violet/Red” Sandalwood 印度小叶紫檀 Pterocarpus santalinus
Origin	India
Density	Generally 1.15g/ml
	Ungraded, due to small girth of usable lumber, and rarity of the material itself. Wood is generally consistent when available.