Wood

The wood an instrument is made of affects not only its appearance, but also the quality of its sound and the way it plays.

When choosing the wood, aside from your preferences and liking for a particular sound, you should consider how you will be using the instrument. Will you be performing most often as a soloist or in small chamber music groups? Also, your decision could be affected by practical details like how often you travel, how many hours a day you play, and the temperature and humidity of your home.

Boxwood

European boxwood is the traditional wood for baroque woodwind instruments.
Boxwood is a very close-grained wood which is easy to turn and lends itself excellently to instrument-making .It produces a warm sound, rich in overtones. The color ranges from pale to dark yellow. Occasionally the wood contains gray lines or streaks.These are minerals which have been absorbed by the wood and have no effect on its quality. Boxwood's wonderful physical and sound-producing characteristics are offset by its tendency to swell and shrink when exposed to changes in humidity. This means that, over time, the bore of an oboe can become oval-shaped and can cause the instrument to warp. For this reason it's a good idea (especially with a boxwood instrument) to have it re-bored occasionally if changes in intonation or response develop.

Maple

Maple trees can be found all over Europe. My oboe da caccias are made from Bosnian mountain maple, which is denser and harder than other kinds of maple. Maple is easy to turn and to stain. Maple can also be used to make other oboes.
The sound is not as loud as boxwood, though still very centered.

Plum

Plum is a relatively soft wood which, after it has been turned and finished, displays a beautiful grain. The sound of this instrument is milder and more intimate than boxwood, which makes it excellently suited for chamber music, especially with recorder, flute, or violin.

Rosewood (Palisander)

Despite the hardness of the wood, instruments made of rosewood yield a warm, dark, and surprisingly responsive sound.

Grenadilla

Grenadilla is one of the hardest woods. Its specific gravity is 1.3, which means it sinks immediately in water. Because of its hardness, this wood is difficult to work with. It is extremely stable and is hardly affected by large changes in temperature and humidity.

Oboes made of grenadilla are louder and more direct than other oboes, but still have a pleasingly dark sound. Their brilliance makes them ideal as solo instruments.