On blackwood for bagpipes

The tone and look of bagpipes owes much of its beauty to the wood from which it is made, blackwood.  Harvested from the Mpingo trees of East African countries, the wood’s density and color are desired for making not only the chanter, drones and blowpipe of the pipes, but other orchestral instruments such as clarinet, oboe and wooden flutes are made from this amazing wood.

Take a look at your pipes; feel its weight, look at the detailed work done of the instrument. Most of us just know that their favorite pipe maker has the wood and the skill to literally turn the blackwood into a fine sounding instrument. Theirs’ is a story work looking at as well. Bagpipe makers such as David-Naill & Co. season their Blackwood up to four years, according to their site: http://www.naill-bagpipes.com “ensuring that bores remain true and mounts do not come loose due to wood shrinkage, thus insuring the stability of the finished product.”

The Mpingo tree is grown predominantly in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique. Some estimate that Kenya is all but harvested out of wood with Tanzania approaching such within the next 15 to 20 years. Because of their seasonal growth patterns, the mature tree takes from 70 to 100 years to reach a harvestable size. When cut crossways, the tree’s heartwood has the prized blackwood surrounded by a layer of softer cream colored wood and bark that is unused and is considered scrap material. The older the tree’s growth, the more dense and darker the wood.  Because of its growth patterns, the tree is often very grizzled in appearance. This gnarly grizzled appearance translates into heartwood that is not always usable for wood that is to be turned by lathe for straight instruments such as the pipes. The Mpingo conservancy states that as much as 90% of the heartwood is unusable for instrument product. Its use remains valuable to wood carvers who can use the wood grain patterns to enhance their work.

Yet the Mpingo tree is coming close to commercial extinction by some accounts. The Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative is working with international agencies to better manage this amazing tree.  For more information on such check out:  http://www.mpingoconservation.org  Their web site has quite a bit more information on tree growth, harvesting, quality, black market harvesting etc.

We play them, maintain them, some of us even pamper them, but at times we all take our instruments for granted. The next time you pull them from the pipe case, take a minute to look at the wood and reflect on not just the material or maker of the instrument, but think about the creator of the universe who created the lowly mpingo tree and it’s biosphere unique particular to just that small patch of planet Earth.