Deterioration of Grenadilla* Instruments

Written by Larry R. Naylor

Prologue

“Grenadilla Wood, Environmental Effects, and Organic Bore Oil” has been on my website since 2001. However, in response to comments from some readers who found that article a bit complex and involved, I offer the following revision. I hope you will find this revision more palatable. To access my 2001 article, please click here.

In this revision, I have divided my previous, single article, “Grenadilla Wood … ” into two sections: Parts 1 — 3, a discussion on wood deterioration, and Part 4, immersion rebuild using organic oils. I offer this revision to you as a dialogue I would otherwise have with you were you to visit me in my Denver shop!

As both a fellow woodwind musician and a woodwind repairman, I believe it is important to understand why our favorite instruments behave or do not behave well. With knowledge and understanding, we then are better able to maintain — if not enhance — its and our respective performance.

For the sake of discussion, I shall refer to woodwind instruments with “wooden bores” as “grenadilla instruments” regardless of whether the wood is in fact grenadilla, or cocobola, or rosewood, or some other exotic hardwood. As shown in Part 2, I shall be very deliberate regarding the term, “central heartwood.”

If you find this revision more readable and if it helps you better understand the subject matter, I would appreciate your feedback. If you find the article unsatisfying, I would welcome that feedback too. With my best regards for your continued joy in playing and enjoying instrumental music, I am …

Larry R. Naylor
NAPBIRT Master Clinician
Copyright, Larry R. Naylor, September 2009