Natural fiber composite for musical instruments
Pulp-based natural fiber composites are emerging as one of the most interesting new opportunities for the Finnish forest industry in recent years. An industrial cluster is being built in Finland with EU support.The abundance and high processability of wood create many opportunities.
"If the price of paper per kilo is around one euro, the price per kilo of musical instruments ranges from a few hundred to even a thousand euros," says the project manager of the Tonal Innovation Center project. Heikki Koivurova.
The industrial project develops industrial innovations, such as musical instrument wood, from the familiar softwood pulp. One of the first users of the new material is Flaxwood from Joensuu, Finland, which has patented the use of natural fiber composites in musical instruments. The company aims to enter the musical instrument building market, which is estimated to be worth 6,4 billion euros, with natural fiber composite instruments.
Flaxwood guitars, made from composite, have received significant recognition in the US and European markets.
“The outlook is already good,” enthuses Flaxwood's CEO. Jukka-Pekka Karppinen.
Composite materials can achieve even better quality results than traditional musical instrument woods. Natural fiber composites are tunable, durable, and recyclable, not to mention better control over the effects of humidity.
Justified optimism
The Flaxwood guitar is a hybrid model that combines a wooden body and a composite neck. Last winter, Flaxwood and its impressive products were launched at the US music fair. It plays a flagship role in the Tonic (Tonal Innovation Center) project, which combines and develops the musical, manufacturing and marketing expertise needed to produce sound-based products and services with Finnish companies and public actors into a center of excellence that uses international dimensions.
The concrete goal of the Tonic collaboration project, which was launched in 2009, is to create a Finnish cluster of musical products employing 350 people and worth approximately 65 million euros by 2025. The Tonic project involves approximately 20 companies from all over Finland.
Ecological points were a success at the fair
According to Karppinen, the reception at the Summer NAMM show in Nashville – where a violin fingerboard made of a natural fiber composite replacing endangered ebony was introduced – was very enthusiastic. Luthiers, fed up with increasingly expensive and poor-quality ebony, would be willing to place orders.
The Tonic seminar for the new instrument business will be held in Joensuu on November 18–19.11.2010, XNUMX. The forum considers open discussion between suppliers of traditional materials and representatives of new technology to be essential. The Joensuu seminar is an excellent forum for this, says the director. Mike Dickinson CF Martin & Co. states. CF Martin is one of the world's leading mass-produced acoustic guitar brands. Dickinson is responsible for the company's sustainable development of alternative materials.
The cluster's guests will also include a professor who is one of the world's leading experts in natural fibers and nanocomposites. Kristiina Oksman From Sweden and influential in the Yamaha design team, among others Marianne Bailey From England.
– Reijo Holopainen –
