Tonewood for Woodwind Instrument Makers

Exotic tonewood for woodwind instrument makers

ProSono specialises in supplying high-quality African hardwood for the manufacture of musical instruments, including woodwind instruments.

For example, we supply:

clarinet sets (including sets for alto and bass clarinets)
oboe sets
bells and joints for English horns
tonewood blanks for flutes and piccolos
tonewood for pipes and other folk instruments.

Our musical-grade hardwood is meticulously selected and processed. It is responsibly harvested, expertly dried and sawn to required dimensions. It is then carefully packaged and shipped to our customers around the globe.

Hardwood species

African blackwood (grenadilla)*
Black chacate*
Leadwood
Mopane
Red or pink ivory
Other species, per requirements

*Please note that African blackwood and black chacate are subject to increasingly tight supply constraints.

“What I received from ProSono was the best wood I ever saw. All the pieces were indeed musical quality. I have never had a 100% yield before.”

~ Ron Peeler, Peeler Fifes

Mopane for instruments

MOPANE TONEWOOD FOR WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS: PARTS WE ENDEAVOUR TO KEEP IN STOCK Standard sizes in mm \| Where relevant, sections of blanks are indicated before lengths
Clarinet sets	Bells 85/85 x 45/45 x 130 Lower joint 40 x 40 x 320 or 40 x 40 x 285 Upper joint 40 x 40 x 245 or 40 x 40 x 230 Barrel 51 x 51 x 80 or 43 x 43 x 80 or still 40 x 40 x 80
Bass clarinets	40 x 40 x 780 ; 40 x 40 x 760 ; 40 x 40 x 720 or 51 x 51 x 700 and 51 x 51 x 550
Alto clarinets	40 x 40 x 460 or 40 x 40 x 410
Oboes	Bells 65 x 65 x 150 or 60 X 60 x 140 Joints 40 x 40 x 285 or 36 x 36 x 270 or still 32 x 32 x 265
English horns	Bells 70 x 70 x 140 Joint 40 x 40 x 410
Flutes	33 x 33 x 380 or 33 x 33 x 330 or still 33 x 33 x 265 30 x 30 x 510 or 30 x 30 x 410 or still 30 x 30 x 325 and 30 x 30 x 300 28 x 28 x 410 or 28 x 28 x 325 or still 28 x 28 x 270
Piccolos	28 x 28 x 250 + 30 x 30 x 150
Highland bagpipes (HBPs)	14 mopane blanks of 11 different sizes, representing a total of 6.555 dm³. 1 X 54 x 54 x 305 + 2 X 51 x 51 x 225 + 1 X 43 x 43 x 385 + 1 X 47 x 47 x 310 + 1 X 47 x 47 x 195 + 2 X 47 x 47 x 160 + 1 X 47 x 47 x 125 + 1 X 47 x 47 x 115 + 1 X 40 x 40 x 310 + 2 X 40 x 40 x 245 + 1 X 40 x 40 x 220
For mopane for Uilleann pipes (Irish pipes), English pipes, gaitas (Spanish pipes) and bombarde (French pipes), our page on pipes and folkloric instruments provides exact dimensions.

Exotic tonewood for woodwind instruments

Tonewood for clarinets

We offer:

mopane clarinet sets
Mopane is increasingly popular with clarinet makers worldwide. It is an excellent and sustainable alternative to African blackwood, with a warm, rich sound quality and attractive colouring. Mopane clarinets have a unique high pitch sound that makes them preferred instruments for modern and jazz music. Our clients have noted that mopane is also more stable during turning than African blackwood, with less susceptibility to splitting.
clarinet sets in pink or red ivory
Pink or red ivory is technically suitable for woodwind instruments. It offers a density equal to or greater than 1.0 t/m3 and low porosity – and the wood is uniquely beautiful!
African blackwood (grenadilla) clarinet sets
African blackwood remains a favoured wood for clarinets – but availability of this wood is increasingly constrained. African blackwood been classified as a CITES 2 endangered species since 2017. The wood quality is such that only a small proportion of harvested wood is unsuitable for musical instruments. Also, the species’ endemic region of North Mozambique has been at war for the past five years. Forests and ports are controlled by jihadists, and no harvesting is possible. ProSono has limited legal supplies from two countries, in two different regions, with the necessary CITES permits. However, our supply is very limited.
black chacate clarinet sets
Black chacate is a high-density wood suitable for a range of woodwind instruments (including clarinet and classical flute), with a warm, rich sound. Our supply of black chacate is, however, limited.

We also offer other high-quality African hardwoods for clarinets.

For example, a leading clarinet maker among our clients has experimented successfully with African leadwood for clarinets. Visually, the leadwood looks indistinguishable from African blackwood.

We also supply African olive sets, sought after for baroque instruments.

Tonewood for oboes

We supply high-quality mopane sets for oboes, cut to required dimensions.

Tonewood for English horns

ProSono offers mopane sets for English horns, with bells and joints cut to suitable dimensions.

Tonewood for flutes and piccolos

We offer tonewood blanks for flutes and piccolos, as well as pipes and other folkloric instruments.

We supply mopane for flutes and piccolos, as well as pink or red ivory, wild olive and, subject to supply limits, African blackwood and black chacate.

Worth a listen!:

A performance of Bartolomé Pérez Casas’ Intermezzo, featuring a mopane clarinet played by Jochen Seggelke of Schwenk & Seggelke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwPeeVu01bQ

Acclaimed New Orleans jazz clarinetist, Dr. Michael White, playing a mopane clarinet and reflecting on his experiences of New Orlean’s jazz history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORRB9h-Ez8o