Marimba, suggestions sought re qual. sound Austr. timbers

[Ben Veitz]

I am looking and want to hear about good and high quality acoustic/sound Australian timbers to build a 4 and or 5 octave marimba. LIve in Victoria-Bellerine peninsula and also like to hear of timber suppliers.

Ben Veitz

[Ben Veitz]

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[Sebastiaan56]

How much money do you have? Id suggest desert timbers.

[tcowdroy]

The only locally available timber, that I'm aware of anyway, that sounds vaguely OK as a xylophone or Marimba bar is WA She Oak. Queensland Percussion Products use this for their xylophone bars and they sound pretty good. Lots of desert woods have been tried but they tend to be too dense and heavy, and therefor unresponsive.
I have heard through the grapevine that there is a bean tree growing in Queensland, lots in Brisbane apparently and seen there as a pest, that is a close relative of Honduras Rosewood. Not sure if it's a native or introduced. Haven't looked into it at all myself but you might want to check out if there's any validity to the story.
Might be worth contacting David Quinn at Queensland Percussion Products. I know they have done lots of testing of various local timbers for a suitable tone bar wood. John Rechter at Mountain Marimbas in Victoria might have some words of wisdom too

Good luck.