Robbie wrote:

> I believe that the difference in sound between metal and wooden pipes
> is mostly due to the shape.  Sheet metal can be rolled and soldered
> to make round pipes, whereas wooden slabs are easily glued in poly-
> gonal shapes.  A simple wood pipe should sound the same if duplicated
> in metal.

If this study was absolutely true, then why are different violins using
different woods and varnishes, different in tone?  Why are grenadilla
wood clarinets distinguishable in tone from plastic clarinets using the
exact same scale or wooden piccolos from silver plated metal piccolos?
For that matter, why does one need a spruce sounding board, instead of
one made from a similar wood, in a piano?

A pipe organ builder I knew, who worked for Wurlitzer, used to
recommend putting a sealant like varnish inside wooden pipes to bring
out a sharper harmonic, as the raw wood would produce a softer/mellower
tone.  The point being is that the materials being used do indeed
affect the sound -- xylophones and orchestra bells are a good example,
tone varies with materials used.

Cheers,

Stephen Kent Goodman

 [ The study demonstrated, to the satisfaction of the organ building
 [ company, that the tone of an organ pipe is not significantly affected
 [ by the material used for the air-column resonator, unless it is too
 [ porous, such as redwood or asbestos.  The study was limited to the
 [ materials which might be used to make open organ pipes, and so has
 [ no relevance to other musical instruments.  -- Robbie