Why wood needs to rest

Green wood is still alive: it holds water, it moves, it warps. An instrument made from it would crack and lose its tuning in no time.

That is why tonewood is seasoned naturally, in the open air, for many years. Over that time the fibres settle and the plank becomes lighter and more resonant.

In the workshop every piece is tapped with the knuckles before it is chosen. The sound it gives back already says a lot about the instrument it could become.