Here is a delightful, boxwood clarinet in C made by WHITAKER LONDON. According to Waterhouse, William ‘A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors’, Whitaker can be traced as an instrument maker between the late 18th century and 1837. Since the signature does not include the addition ‘& Co’,...
Here is an exciting little instrument for flute collectors and enthusiasts everywhere. It is a double-wall piccolo… made in Italy. So, what do we mean by double wall? Double-wall metal wind instruments featured a hollow body with two tubes. This innovation was first patented in 1879 in Italy by Agostino...
Here is an exciting instrument for flute collectors and enthusiasts everywhere. It is a double-wall silver flute made by the maestro Agostino RAMPONE (1843-1897) in Italy. Double-wall metal wind instruments featured a hollow body with two tubes. This innovation was first patented in 1879 in Italy by Agostino Rampone who...
No collectables website would be complete without a Rudall Carte & Co. flute. This exquisite, solid silver alto flute is a beauty to behold and was made by England’s finest flute-makers of the mid-twentieth century. The company was established in 1872 as successors to Rudall Rose, Carte & Co and...
Let’s face it… the subject of pitch is complicated. Pitch has been the focus of whole books, treaties, conferences, workshops and of course musicians over the course of history. So, what do we mean by pitch and why are there so many pitches? In terms of instruments, why are there...
This 13-keyed B-flat clarinet is crafted in boxwood, with nickel silver rings and keys. The workmanship is of a very high level and the boxwood has a lovely, aged honey colour. It even has its original case! Giacinto Riva worked in San Giovanni in Persiceto in the province of Bologna, Italy...
This large and quite outlandish instrument is known as a Verdi contrabass trombone. It is rarely seen by audiences nowadays, but maybe we can change that 😉. [Just making the photos was so much fun!] The Verdi contrabass trombone is a member of the trombone family and is the largest form...
This rare Cocuswood English flageolet with alternative piccolo head joint was made by a company led by George BUTLER (1795-1870) – the head of a family of instrument makers that were producing and dealing in brass, woodwind and many other instruments in Dublin and in...
Quarna Sotto beginnings Quarna Sotto is a tiny village hidden way in the forested hills above Lago d’Orta in the Italian Piedmont region. It is where the story of the Rampone family began and still continues today. Long before Agostino Rampone was born, in the early 1800s, Francesco Bonaventura RAMPONE and his...
Here is a five-keyed flute by LEONHARDT. Some initial research has led us to a flute made by the same maker at the Michaelstein Abbey collection in Germany. A boxwood clarinet by Leonhardt with the same stamp was also recently sold at auction in the UK. This instrument is crafted...
Cocuswood is the very dense hardwood of a Caribbean flowering tree called the ‘Brya ebenus’.
‘Brya ebenus’ belongs to the pea family ‘Fabaceae’ and is native to the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Cuba. It also goes by the quite romantic name of Jamaica Rain Tree because it blossoms bright yellow-orange flowers right after it rains.
Cocuswood’s lovely medium to dark reddish-brown colour is further enhanced with dark blackish streaks. With time, its colour darkens. The grain of cocuswood tends to be straight or a bit wavy. It has a wonderful natural lustre and a fine, even texture.
So absolutely nothing to do with coconuts or coconut trees at all! Really!
With its amazing density, hardness and colour, it’s no wonder that this wood was considered to be one of the very best tonewoods and was widely used in the manufacture of woodwind instruments in the 1800s. It was an exotic, tropical alternative to woods such as boxwood, which were widely used at the time. Flutes, oboes and bagpipes were crafted in cocuswood as well as other items such as carvings or inlays.
Back then cocuswood was all the rage and sadly, due to this previous over-exploitation and the small size of its natural habitat, this wonderful natural resource has been commercially exhausted. So, it is not a protected species, but extremely expensive and difficult to source – making it a very special wood indeed.
