Effect of wood on the sound of oboe as simulated by the chanter of a 16-inch French bagpipe

Many objective and subjective experiments on brass instruments, organs, flutes and clarinets have shown that the influence of material was weak. Yet, the influence of wood on the sound of oboes is still to be determined. In this study, short musical recordings of ten French 16″ bagpipes made of 5 different woods (African Ebony, Santos Rosewood, Boxwood, African Blackwood and Service Tree) were presented to subjects (specialist and naïve), who had to give their feedback on several criteria (global quality, warmth, aggressiveness, brightness, volume and attack precision). The choice of a bagpipe rather than a simple oboe enables to minimize the influence of the musician, as he is not directly in contact with the reed. An influence of the reed material was found, but no influence of the wood. In a second experiment, a discrimination task allowed to confirm that the differences between chanters were not principally due to the wood. Several physical parameters calculated from recorded signals could also not reveal any large differences between woods.