The Acoustic Properties of Water Submerged Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) and Spruce (Picea spp.) Wood and Their Suitability for Use as Musical Instruments

Wood is a common material used for the manufacture of many products, and submerged wood, in particular, has been used in niche markets and musical instruments. In order to examine if submerged wood in British Columbia, Canada, would be appropriate for use as musical instruments, a study was performed in 2007 on submerged wood from Ootsa Lake, British Columbia, Canada. The results of that study showed the wood was not suitable for musical instruments. In this paper, the wood samples were allowed to age untouched in a laboratory setting and were then retested under the hypothesis that physical acoustic characteristics would improve. It was shown, however, that acoustic properties became less adequate after being left to dry over time. This article describes the density, speed of sound, acoustic constant and characteristic impedance properties for submerged wood and a comparison is made for different applications for musical instruments.