Orfeo Magazine #24 - English Edition - Autumn 2024
Swiss Spruce
Alps spruce
Jura spruce
Philippe Mottet
Ermanno Chiavi
Thomas Zahnd
NEW – Format: 22.5 x 30 cm (1.8 kg). 216 color pages + 1 Friederich plan in life size. French & English. Price: € 90 + shipping.
Format: 22.5 x 30 cm (1.8 kg). 208 color pages + 1 Santos Hernández plan in life size.
French & English. Price: € 90 + shipping.
Format: 22.5 x 30 cm (1.8 kg). 216 color pages + 1 Lacote plan in life size. French & English. Price: € 90 + shipping.
Format: 22.5 x 30 cm (1.8 kg). 216 color pages + 1 Arias plan in life size.
French & English. Price: € 90 + shipping.
From the Editor
orfeo
MAGAZINE
Switzerland is not only the land of watches, pharmaceuticals, banks, mountains and ski resorts. Switzerland also boasts impressive spruce forests that for centuries have yielded highquality tonewood and each forest has its own specificities.
Unable to visit them all, however, we settled on just two: one in the Vosges mountains, bordering France, and the other in the Alps, very near the borders with Italy and Austria.
We visited three luthiers who have a true affinity with spruce: Philippe Mottet, Ermanno Chiavi and Thomas Zahnd. All three follow the Swiss tradition of splitting the wood instead of sawing it, as is typical in the construction of chalet rooves and façades, which conserves the whole fibre and makes the wood stronger. Enjoy.
Alberto Martinez
Philippe Mottet, heir of Christian
He built his very first instrument in the workshop of luthier and guitarist Christian Aubin, who had in turn learned lutherie under Robert Bouchet. Philippe Mottet signs the labels of his instruments: anselmus albini alumnus , the Latin for “Anselme (his middle name), pupil of Aubin”.
Aubin and Robert Bouchet
Every inch of his vast workshop exudes orderliness and serenity.
Philippe Mottet – As a boy I used to sing, and as a teenager I studied guitar at the Fribourg Conservatory and at the Lucerne School of Music; I have always been drawn to handcraft and I dreamed of making violins and guitars. In a bid to learn the trade, I visited a good many luthiers until I finally found one who was running summer training courses: Christian Aubin, near Cahors, in France. I thoroughly enjoyed his teaching. One day, Aubin heard me whistling the tune of Trois Beaux Oiseaux du Paradis by Maurice Ravel while I was at work in his studio, and he was both surprised and pleased. I think that our friendship began to develop from that point on.
Christian Aubin was also an excellent guitarist.
P.M. – Yes, his great passion was for music by Bach. He held quite strong views about music and performance, and the repertoire that he played was somewhat different to that of other guitarists. He was one of those rare performers to play, on his superb 1867 Torres, Bach’s sonatas for solo violin. Segovia had transcribed the Chaconne , but not all of the sonatas. In the 1950s, he would play every evening in Paris, most frequently at the Académie de Guitare . That was where he became friends with Robert Bouchet and Daniel Friederich (Christian Aubin learned lutherie under Robert Bouchet and replicating his own Antonio de Torres guitar. He also initiated Daniel Friederich into lutherie). I was lucky enough to
He builds his guitars using the Spanish method.
play on Aubin’s Torres guitar, which he lent to me, for ten years. I discovered the joy of playing on strings with lower tension, with the A tuned to 415 Hz, a semi-tone lower. I found that although the guitar’s voice had less power, perhaps, it had more tenderness and a more noticeable vibrato; it was exquisite! The tuning really changes the way that the guitar is played. These days, since I feel perfectly free to do as I please, I seldom tune my instruments to 440 Hz. I like to find the frequency which brings out the best in each instrument.
What kind of construction did you learn with Aubin?
P.M. – With him, I learned how to build guitars using techniques and moulds directly inspired by those of Robert Bouchet. But I rather quickly found myself drawn to lutes and to making replicas of historical instruments. For that, I continued my apprenticeship under David Van Edward, in England.
Over and above lutes, I became fascinated with Viennese guitars, as I really am fond of their salient fundamental.
What are the main features of your lutherie today?
P.M. – Since I spend half my time in the world of the lute, I am open to other ways of doing things, and
His workshop is just as beautiful on the outside as it is on the inside.
this is especially true when it comes to woods. For lutes, I use woods like holly, yew, quilted maple and snakewood. You can achieve variations in the instrument’s sound and the liveliness of its response by switching between these different woods. With yew, which is the wood of choice for lute bodies, you can even use the sapwood. Being a highly resilient wood, it very quickly reverts to its initial shape. In England it was favoured for making bows for archery, which means that, thanks to its military association, the forests have always been very well protected. This was lucky for luthiers, because a proportion of the trees was set aside for them!
In any case, the hardest thing is always achieving evenness along the top string, especially around the seventh and fifteenth frets. It’s the same headache for every luthier… In my instruments, one critical aspect is that the ribs are laminated, in the manner of Romantic guitars or those by Ramírez. The inner layer on the sides is pine or plum.
I really enjoy working with plum – one of the hardest of the fruit tree woods – which I very often use
He uses hide glue for all of his gluing.
A back for his modern model, under construction.
for making beautiful lute bodies. It offers a vast palette of colours, from orange hues through to purple, which makes it difficult to envisage using it in the guitar world, where preconceived ideas reign supreme: it’s hard for classical guitarists to get away from rosewood and maple!
Do you have any projects lined up?
P.M. – I’ve always got projects in mind, such as when I take a “what would happen if…?” kind of approach. It’s thrilling, because it’s never in response to an order.
Today, if you step away from the sonic aesthetics of “the guitar for winning competitions”, you start to see abso-
lutely beautiful spruce guitars again, with quite traditional soundboards and bracing patterns, on concert hall stages. The trend is starting to shift.
Which woods do you prefer for your tops?
P.M. – I work chiefly with spruce from the forests of the Swiss Prealps, near Rougemont. This forest is north-facing, so its trees grow slowly; the wood is very light, lighter even than timber from the Vosges region and, above all,
The room where he keeps his wood is decorated with lute moulds.
Lute made from African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon), under construction.
I appreciate the fact that the wood is cut properly: split, not sawn.
Although you stress the importance of that, you have no choice but to saw the wood, ultimately, in order to obtain pieces that will be suitable for lutherie.
P.M. – No, I plane the wood, and only at the very end. I work in the same way as for the façade cladding on Swiss chalets, which renders the wood more weather-resistant. First the log is split into quarters, and then each quarter is halved and successively halved again, with each wedge getting progressively thinner. By the end, the resultant slices are only two centimetres thick at the bark edge and taper to practically nothing on the heartwood side. It is the best way to follow the wood’s fibre. In truth, trees hardly ever grow without forming a corkscrew, so it is always best to follow the natural fibres to the extent possible. By working the wood with a plane, the fibres are left whole, and transmission of the sound waves is optimised. I seldom make my soundboards out of just two pieces; I make
Baroque guitar in figured maple, both natural and oxidised.
them from several parts – four, five or six – using the pieces displaying perfect cross-section fibres, free from pockets of resin and the risk of cracking. A soundboard made using this method will have flexibility and strength that differs from one made from sawn wood.
The drawback to the splitting technique is that there is much more wastage. Tonewood dealers generally prefer sawing because they cannot afford to let so much wood go to waste.
Do you make various guitar models?
P.M. – Over the course of my career, I have made many different models. I am not one of those luthiers who gradually perfects just one type of instrument. Many of my instruments were designed on the basis of historical models. Out of admiration for David Russell and his first Dammann, I even made some double-top guitars, and the results
His labels are hand printed from an engraving.
The modestly-sized Torres model, based on the 1890 SE 141, one of the last ever crafted.
“The Anselmus is my main model and it encapsulates my aesthetic identity regarding the classical guitar.” The rosette is made entirely from undyed natural woods: pear, plum, ebony, rosewood, holly and pink ivory.
“As a matter of principle, I aim for a bit of volume and balanced treble frequencies for all my models.”
were most satisfactory. I still make the occasional double-top… I enjoy making Torres copies, which are true replicas, with traditional seven-strut bracing, open harmonic bar and everything else crafted Christian Aubin’s way. Obviously, I also make Bouchet copies.
And your personal models?
P.M. – One of my personal models, which I have name “Jugendstil”, is a kind of updated Viennese guitar, highly personal in terms of aesthetics: the soundboard is fitted with the veins sloping diagonally and a parallel bracing. It enables me to achieve a top offering a different pattern of resistance and to place the braces parallel to the strings. It is quite an unusual instrument…
I also make an Anselmus model, which I would describe as “modern”, with a grid pattern bracing, a lattice of perpendicular braces. In terms of its acoustic aesthetics, I love the result.
As a matter of principle, I aim for a bit of volume and balanced treble frequencies for all my models. I love instruments with a clear fundamental, because it really brings out the polyphony. I prefer instruments like these over the ones with a bright sound.
In your workshop we saw some caramel-coloured spruce. What is it?
The Jugendstil model: its soundboard is placed with oblique grain, the soundhole is elliptical and the bridge quite unique.
P.M. – It’s oxidised spruce, which I have been heat-treating myself for a long time now, to make it lighter and more stable. It hardens the resin, making it glass-like, which is very good for the sound. The idea came to me after having worked with highly matured wood. This is like an artificial aging process, which I perform in a regular kitchen oven at 180°C (356°F).
I slant the pieces of wood in the oven and let them cook for five minutes each side.
How do you like to finish your guitars?
P.M. – When making a top for a lute, there is no added surface treatment: a bit of wax at most. The soundboard is thus highly permeable to sound; it’s one of the qualities that I admire in lutes… On guitars, we could try using a token amount of shellac, as little as possi-
ble, but this would be counter-productive because successful shellac finishes require multiple coats. For me, wax would be ideal. It’s a luthier’s preference, but rarely a guitarist’s preference, since the top would remain fragile and require maintenance.
Is it better to craft the guitar that we love, or the one being asked of us?
P.M. – Every guitar bears within it something of our personality and sensibilities. We always inevitably make the guitar that we love. We cannot go changing our way of doing things just to satisfy our clients’ every whim, or else it would be like a boat with no skipper, left to aimlessly drift whichever way the wind blows!
The openwork head adds a German-inspired touch.
Le Jugendstil model is a kind of modernised Viennese guitar.
The bridge is bonded to the top directly below the saddle, leaving its front edge raised, as on Baroque lutes. The wings have openings for increased flexibility. This guitar sports a small wooden tornavoz.
Larches, with their golden autumnal foliage, add colour to the Swiss forestlands.
Ermanno Chiavi, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11
11 or 13 string guitars
Ermanno Chiavi learned his craft in Germany with luthier Gerold Karl Hannabach, before settling in Zurich in 1985. He later honed his technique by attending the workshops run by José Romanillos in Sigüenza in Spain. He has fond memories of those training courses: “José was a great man; friendly, open, generous and incredibly gifted with his hands.”
Ten-string guitar with a soundhole inspired by Simplicio.
What is the source of your passion for guitars with multiple strings?
Ermanno Chiavi – I started out by making sixstringed classical guitars but in 2003, the Swedish guitarist Anders Miolin asked me to make him a thirteen-string guitar. He usually played on a ten-string guitar but, as he wanted to play some transcribed piano music, he was looking for an instrument with seven bass strings and a 24-fret neck, affording him a range of five octaves. It certainly was a challenging order for me! I gave it a lot of thought and I bought a computer with a programme that would enable me to experiment on different projects. In the end the guitar was a success – my customer is still using it to this day – and from then on, I received some thirty orders for the same model. It was thanks to this computer-assisted approach to construction that I thought of using it to create other models and also to improve my six-stringed classical guitars.
Which other models?
E. C. – I’ve always enjoyed embarking on different projects and my clients know it.
A few years ago, a teacher from the local conservatory asked me to build guitars for children, with a scale length of 52 centimetres, and I made dozens of them.
My current range of classical guitars includes models with six, seven, eight, ten, eleven and thirteen strings. I also make a “dodecaphonic” guitar: a classical guitar with twelve single-course strings but with special tuning. Building a guitar like this is truly challenging… as is finding strings for it with the right tensions!
My daughter had been singing and playing classical guitar since her teens, but around the age of twenty, she felt like switching to a steel-stringed acoustic guitar. So, I built her a copy of a Washburn from the thirties. And, lo and behold, I had yet another model to offer!
Guitar with eight strings.
Guitar with ten strings.
Guitar with thirteen strings.
Guitar with eleven strings.
Which characteristics do you try to give your guitars?
E. C. – Good volume, obviously, but above all, colours!
I try to achieve a very neutral sound so as to allow guitarists the room to find their own sound. I aim to build instruments that can reveal the guitarist’s personality.
I generally work with Indian rosewood and Canadian maple for the bodies and spruce from the Swiss Alps for my soundboards.
I like a light spruce, between 370 and 400 kg/ m 3. Whenever I buy wood, I measure its weight and flex, which I jot down on each and every piece. I spend a fair amount of time analysing and interpreting each board that I get my hands on. These measurements help me to understand which bracing and which construction would be most suitable in each case. Once the guitar is finished, I measure and adjust
Twelve-string guitar with its fingerboard designed to enable all strings to be fretted for the first three frets only.
Placing the rosette up high leaves room for an extensive lattice bracing layout.
Behind the plan for a six-string with a scale length of 63
Detail of an understated of natural woods.
Veneer strips and a mosaic for rosette ornamentation.
six-string guitar
63 cm.
mosaic pattern ornamentation. understated rosette
Tool organiser with a headstock outline for a six-string guitar.
Preparation of a
Classical guitar soundboard with its crossed-fan bracing.
A mould is used to glue the sides of a classical model.
He designs his guitars with the help of a computer.
guitar back in curly maple with four braces.
“The guitar that I make the most is the classical model. I have built about 300 of them.”
Chiavi has a soft spot for tops in bearclaw spruce.
the frequency between F and G by adding or removing wood.
In your workshop we noticed tops with differently placed soundholes.
E. C. – Yes, the placement of the guitar’s soundhole can vary. What is important is its diameter and its air volume throughput. If I am making my model with a small soundhole, for example, I offset that by adding a soundport on the side.
Tell us about your different models.
E. C. – The guitar that I make the most is the classical model sporting six strings. I have built about three hundred of them in all.
I offer two different versions thereof: one conventional, with a centred soundhole and bracing comprising two crossed fans, which some guitarists prefer because of its warm sound. The other version that I make has the soundhole in the upper bout and lattice bracing, which offers a more neutral sound and suits other guitarists better. This second version, with its large soundboard surface area, gives me more latitude for adjusting the frequency.
The guitars with seven or eight strings are based on the same construction as the six-string model. The seventh and eighth strings, which increase the bass register, are tuned to D and C and can be played along the entire fingerboard.
The head is designed to incorporate the additional strings while preserving the same size and symmetry.
The soundhole can be either the one situated in the upper bout or the one inspired by Simplicio’s double-soundhole model. The bracing pattern, however, is always the one with two very light crossed fans, since this layout lets me best exploit the large soundboard surface and delivers the best acoustic outcome.
The ten-string guitars are also based on the same construction as the six-string model. The headstock design enables the addition of the four extra tuners while ensuring an optimal string pathway.
His guitar model for children, with a scale length of 52 cm.
“I built for my daughter a copy of a Washburn from the thirties.”
The headstocks on guitars with eleven or thirteen strings are designed to accommodate additional tuners – very light– which Alessi makes to order. The fingerboard is designed to be used under all strings for the first three frets only. After the third fret, the fingerboard narrows and some of the bass strings remain off the fretboard. As of the twelfth fret, it narrows further, which saves on weight, and makes the entire construction appear lighter, visually. Not only do the additiona l strings extend the overall register downward; I have also extended it upward with five extra frets, making a total count of twentyfour frets. The fretboard on the thirteen-string model thus affords the player the possibility of playing across five octaves.
The fingerboards on these models are raised, for easier access to the strings beyond the twelfth fret and a more relaxed left hand position.
Then there is the “dodecaphonic” guitar that I mentioned earlier, which is a classical guitar with twelve single-course strings but with special tuning: G / A / B / C / D / E / A / d / g / b / e / a. In addition to expanding the tonal range downward with the additional bass strings, the guitar also offers an extended range upwards, thanks to the addition of a high A string. Placing the rosette higher increases the vibrating surface of the soundboard by nearly a third as compared with a classical guitar.
What a pity that you never had the chance to sit down with Francisco Simplicio!
E. C. – Yes, I certainly would have had a few questions for him!
I have learned a lot by undertaking repairs on guitars. Seeing the handiwork of the master luthiers is extremely edifying.
I have had the privilege of seeing, hearing and measuring many excellent guitars: Hauser, Romanillos…
I learned something from each and every one of them.
Hallwyl Castle, in the Canton of Aargau, near Zurich.
Thomas Zahnd: from jazz
Thomas Zahnd
used to be a teacher who practised self-taught lutherie making jazz guitars. It was after taking a course with Tobias Braun in Austria that he turned to classical guitar lutherie.
Does the classical guitar have a long history in Switzerland?
Thomas Zahnd – No, the guitar was never really part of the Swiss musical tradition. The classical guitar arrived quite late, around the 1950s. In Swiss lutherie today there is no single dominant influence: not Spanish, nor German, nor French, nor Italian. Each luthier follows their own path. In my case, my inspiration comes from the great Spanish luthiers; I love the sound of their guitars.
I was initially strongly influenced by Hauser’s guitars but later, I found that my acoustic aspiration shifted to those by Arias and Santos. Tobias Braun’s brilliant guitar-making course then nudged me very firmly in that direction.
to classic
Thomas Zahnd in his workshop in Bern.
This page, gluing a back; opposite page, various construction details of his classical guitar model.
How did you come to lutherie?
T. Z. – I was a teacher specialised in working with intellectually disabled children. I would teach them to how read and write, but I would also assist them in expressing their personality through manual activities, drawing and painting. In the 1990s, in parallel to my job as a teacher, I taught myself how to build archtop jazz guitars, and would make them in my living room. I love the Gibson L5 guitars!
In 2016, I felt the urge to make classical guitars and I heard that Tobias Braun was running a guitar-making course in Austria. Those classes were fantastic; I have never learned so much in just two weeks! Over the three courses by Tobias that I attended, in 2017, 2019 and 2020, I built Hauser, Arias and Santos models.
The guitars by Vicente Arias have always astounded me. They seem to defy the laws of physics: they are incredibly light (around one kilo), respond swiftly and directly, and yet somehow produce rich, deep basses!
Unfortunately, Swiss guitarists don’t like the Arias model, which they find too small; nor do they appreciate guitars made of pale woods; I have had a cypress guitar sitting here for two years awaiting a buyer.
Billet of spruce as it appears when cleaved, ready to be planed.
And what models are you offering today?
T. Z. – I have my own model, embodying a blend of everything that I have learned, but above all inspired by the traditional Spanish guitar: neither double-top, nor lattice. My bracing comprises five struts and a slanted harmonic bar.
His personal model follows the Spanish guitar tradition.
For the back and sides, I mostly use Indian rosewood, cypress or maple, but I also keep a little Ceylon satinwood ( Chloroxylon swietenia ) and service tree wood ( Sorbus domestica ) in my stock of timber. The rosette is made with undyed, natural woods. I use traditional hide glue and French polishing with wax-free shellac. The headstock takes its inspiration from Robert Bouchet’s guitars, albeit with two notches that I added lower down.
I have named my model “La Gordita” (a Spanish word for chubby) because she has a generous waist.
Where does the spruce on your guitars come from?
T. Z. – There is a tradition here in Switzerland of making wooden rooves and façades using little tiles of spruce or larch that are cleaved to size, never sawn. I’m fortunate enough to live near a carpenter specialised in restoring such houses,
The headstock is inspired by Robert Bouchet’s guitars. The rosettes are made up of undyed, natural woods.
“In the luthier’s workshop, there shouldn’t even be a notion of time.”
and he chooses his wood very carefully. Whenever he cuts a fine billet of spruce, he sets it aside for luthiers. I love the spruce from this area, the Bernese Oberland, because it makes the trebles in guitars sparkle.
Swiss luthiers are little-known abroad; why is that?
An archtop jazz guitar, copy of a Gibson L5.
T. Z. – That is true. I think that luthiers like Maurice Ottiger and Philippe Jean-Mairet had a presence in the European lutherie fairs, but not any more. Swiss luthiers have a small output and sell their guitars chiefly in Switzerland. There are reasons behind this isolation: the market is small, demand low and cost of living high. Generally, luthiers in Switzerland split their time between lutherie and some other occupation.
The other problem is that Switzerland is not part of the European Community. I therefore have to pay taxes on the wood that I import from Germany and my clients have to pay taxes on my guitars upon importing them into their country. This makes our products expensive and hard to sell.
Do you have any advice for budding luthiers?
T. Z. – I would advise them to change attitude, to go into the workshop and forget about time, and to work to the very best of their ability. In the luthier’s workshop, there shouldn’t even be a notion of time. Tobias would always tell us: “What counts the most is patience.”
Another example of his model but with cypress back and sides.
A small river near Bergün, the location of Florinett’s head office.
The high quality of Swiss spruce
The rise in temperature in recent years has been extraordinary in Switzerland and indeed around the world. Over the last century, the country’s average annual temperature increased by 2 to 2.5 degrees endangering its spruce trees.
In Switzerland’s low-altitude forests, the yearly number of days on which the mercury passed 25 degrees has increased by 50 to 70%, while the number of frosts has gone down by 15 to 45%. Should this trend continue, spruce trees will no longer enjoy optimal growth conditions in the warmer areas and may be gradually replaced by local oak varieties. We visited two firms specialised in the sale of tonewood: Florinett and Swiss Resonance Wood.
Florinett operates in the forests of the Grisons region, in eastern Switzerland, famous for its magnificent alpine landscapes and winter sports locations (such as Saint-Moritz and Davos). The Canton of the Grisons is bordered by Liechtenstein to the north, Austria to the east and north, and Italy to the south and southeast. Practically all of the Grisons region is mountainous and a fifth of its total surface area is covered in forest.
Swiss Resonance Wood operates in the Risoud Forest (spelled Risoux in Switzerland), in the Jura Mountains, straddling the border between France and Switzerland. It is one of Europe’s largest forests, with a length of thirty kilometres and breadth of eight.
The timberlands in both regions reach an altitude of between 1,300 and 2,000 metres. Their trees live in a particularly rugged environment, notably a combination of frigid cold and poor soil; the two main factors behind their slow growth. The ages of some of the trees here can be counted in centuries, meaning that these forests provide outstanding tonewood for lutherie.
Wood for soundboards drying at Swiss Resonance Wood.
Florinett: spruce in
Andrea Florinett, a forest lover.
the heart of the Swiss Alps
Since the year 2000, Andrea Florinett and his team, operating in the Grisons region, in the heart of the Swiss Alps, have been selecting top-quality wood for the manufacture of instruments under the label Tonewood Switzerland.
What features distinguish your tonewood from others?
Andrea Florinett – Our cold, mountainous climate, as well as a short growing season produce spruce trees with tight, regular growth rings.
The trunk needs to be knot-free, very straight (without any twisting) and contain little resin.
The location in which the trees grow is of paramount importance. The best spots are in the shade, on slightly-sloped terrain. Ideally, there should be a mix of ages in the growing area, with little trees growing in the presence of the large ones, which is mutually beneficial: the small trees prevent the big ones from pushing out low branches and the taller trees shelter the little ones from the wind.
Upon Florinett’s invitation, we witnessed some winter tree felling, during the new moon phase.
If I give you the figures, you will see how very difficult it is to find tonewood: our firm cuts 60,000 m 3 of wood each year, but only 300 m 3 will be useable for lutherie.
Is the spruce from your forests on the heavy side, or light?
A. F. – In any forest, there will be areas where the resultant wood is lighter and others where it is heavier: the weight may vary between 320 kg/ m 3 (rare) and 420 kg/m 3. We are very familiar with these areas. The difference stems from the soil’s richness, whereas there are numerous factors influencing the quality of soundboard wood: the sound emitted upon percussion, the speed of transmission, the weight, the aesthetics… This is all accounted for in our classification. The soundboards that we call “Mastergrade” comprise 2-3% of our overall soundboard output. Such wood is truly exceptional; from a healthy tree that has been growing undisturbed for 250 years, free of any stresses, including from neighbouring trees or storms. It’s a miracle!
Precious few of these trees will be selected for use as tonewood.
When is the best moment for felling a tree?
A. F. – We fell the trees in winter and only in the four or five days leading up to the new moon. We follow the same calendar as gardeners. We look for spruce trees at an altitude of between 1,300 and 2,000 metres. As a general rule, we only cut specimens with an average diameter of at least 45 centimetres, having reached an age of 200 to 250 years. Next, the billets are split into quarters and the soundboards are stored at an altitude of between 1,400 and 1,600 metres. In our alpine climate, natural air-drying leads to a gradual, gentle drying process.
You also offer thermally modified soundboards.
A. F. – The idea is to artificially age the wood. Thermal treatment of soundboards involves heating them, without oxygen, up to a maximum temperature of 160°C in our special kiln. This process, known as torrefaction, gives the wood a darker colour and partially evaporates the res -
Currently, sound transmission measurements are performed only upon request.
“Little trees grow in the presence of the large ones, which is mutually beneficial.”
in, hemicellulose and lignin. There are several advantages to using heat-treated spruce over untreated spruce: faster transmission of the sound (both radially and longitudinally), lower density and the fact that the wood can be used immediately, without further maturing.
Were you affected by the terrible storm of 2018?
A. F. – That storm, which decimated a sizeable part of the Val di Fiemme forest in Italy in October 2018, also caused a lot of damage here. But between November and April, we cleared out the fallen trees and cleaned up the forest. We then replanted, of course. That was unusual, because we do not habitually replant here; we simply let nature take its course and the forest regenerates by itself.
Luckily, we don’t have a problem here with spruce bark beetle, causing diseases that affect spruce throughout Europe. The Swiss government has worked hard to keep its forests in good health, eliminating any tree that shows signs of disease so as to prevent contamination.
Any projects, going forward?
A. F. – There is a growing demand for sound transmission measurements, particularly from luthiers making violins. For the moment we do it only upon request, but now we are thinking of doing it systematically.
Triple A soundboard, weighing 383 kg/m3, with a transmission speed of 5,330 m/sec.
Samples of cherry, walnut, maple and yew.
Swiss Resonance
Spruce in storage at Swiss Resonance Wood.
Resonance Wood: Jura spruce
In the la Risoud (or Risoux) forest, in the Jura mountains, we met with Théo Magnin, Director of Swiss Resonance Wood. He has been roaming this woodland since he was a boy and he is the third generation of this family firm, founded in 1976 and specialised in the sale of wood.
How would you characterise the spruce from the Risoud forest?
Théo Magnin – The growth rings are very close together because the trees in this region grow slowly.
For wood to be serviceable in lutherie, the tree that it comes from should have a diameter of at least 50 cm, and be 200 to 300 years of age, with a very straight trunk, free from any rotation or hidden knots, with no branches in the lower part and a properly centred heart. In sum, it’ll be one tree in every 10,000!
Théo Magnin shows us a magnificent specimen of spruce, displaying very promising characteristics for lutherie.
When is the right time to fell the trees?
T. M. – Our forebears had noticed that if the wood was cut during the waning moon phase when there is no sap – essentially, in winter when the trees are dormant – the wood would dry more quickly and be of superior quality. This understanding stems from knowledge amassed through long-term observations and, above all, the need to obtain wood of the highest possible quality. In winter, when the moon is waning, the trees’ levels of sap are at their lowest, meaning that the
BOSTRYCHE
Bostryche typographe : a small beetle, about 5 mm long, which is ravaging spruce trees in Europe’s forests. Usually, a spruce that is in fine fettle should be able to ward off an infestation by secreting a sticky resin. But the European spruce bark beetle primarily attacks spruce trees that are in poor condition, weakened by storms or drought.
The Risoud forest (Risoux in France) is one of Europe’s largest.
wood is lighter and the risk of developing mould or parasites is reduced.
Your range includes torrefied spruce; what is it?
T. M. – It is a procedure that accelerates ageing. Our clientele includes two different kinds of luthier: those who prefer naturally-matured soundboards, ten to 15 years of on-site ageing; and those who choose torrefied spruce because it can be used straight away and, above all, because of its appearance: its golden colour. Pairing a body of walnut with a thermo-treated soundboard, for example, results in a stunning combination.
Which other tonewoods do you sell?
T. M. – Spruce accounts for about 80% of our sales, but we also offer walnut, figured maple, acacia, Platanus and woods from fruit trees (pear, apple, etc.). I have decided to deal only in local varieties, woods that are 100% Swiss. We have magnificent woods here in Europe; I’m not interested in selling African woods.
We noticed some dead spruce in the forest; what caused that?
T. M. – We currently have a real problem with spruce trees; they’re being infested with Bostryche typographe, an insect that can kill them. I think that the increasing temperatures and droughts in recent years have weakened the trees and the insects have been able to colonise them. It’s terrible; if this outbreak continues, we will have no highquality spruce trees left in less than five years.
An outstanding piece of spruce, with closely-knit, regular veins.
and Switzerland.
The Risoud forest is in the Jura mountains, on the border between France
