RETWood aims to replace endangered tropical woods in musical instruments with an innovative technical wood material (Sonowood) derived from domestic European wood species. Tropical woods are used for key components of bowed string instruments like violins, cellos, etc. Replacing the tropical wood with material derived from domestic sustainably managed forests has a huge positive benefit for the environment, while at the same time solving pressing problems of the instrument manufacturers and the musicians and also offering a significant commercial opportunity.
Our novel material Sonowood, in its Spruce and Maple variations, has proven to meet all necessary requirements, but in order to penetrate the market of musical instruments with Sonowood, it is crucial to be able to produce fully finished or semi-finished components in many other varieties (wood species) to be in line with prevailing market standards. A focused R&D effort is required to produce Sonowood out of other wood species and more importantly, upscale from the current single-piece production by hand to an automated machining process while maintaining quality.
