Mopane

High-quality mopane wood for sale

Mopane is a durable, very high-density African hardwood with exceptional musical tonal qualities.

ProSono Hardwoods is a leading supplier of mopane for clarinets, oboes, flutes and other woodwind instruments. We also offer mopane guitar backs and sides.

Mopane is a particularly good alternative to African blackwood for woodwind instruments.

See tables below for details of the mopane parts we endeavour to keep in stock.

Mopane characteristics

Botanical name: Colophospermum mopane
Alternative names: mopanie, mopani, gumane
Average dry weight: 77 lb/ft3 (imperial), 1.3 kg/dm3 (metric)
Mopane hardness: 3,390 lbf (15,060 N) on the Janka scale
Even grain pattern

Applications

“I have made three sets of mopane bagpipes and I agree it does produce a very mellow sound. When turning, I notice that very few or no flaws are produced; the wood remains very stable. I would say that the stability is actually better than the ABW [African blackwood].”

~ John Walker

Mopane parts we endeavour to keep in stock

For mopane woodwinds
Clarinet sets	Bells 85/85 x 45/45 x 130 Lower joint 40 x 40 x 320 or 40 x 40 x 285 Upper joint 40 x 40 x 245 or 40 x 40 x 230 Barrel 51 x 51 x 80 or 43 x 43 x 80 or still 40 x 40 x 80
Bass Clarinets	40 x 40 x 780 ; 40 x 40 x 760 ; 40 x 40 x 720 or 51 x 51 x 700 and 51 x 51 x 550
Alto Clarinets	40 x 40 x 460 or 40 x 40 x 410
Oboes	Bells 65 x 65 x 150 or 60 X 60 x 140 Joints 40 x 40 x 285 or 36 x 36 x 270 or still 32 x 32 x 265
English horns	Bells 70 x 70 x 140 Joint 40 x 40 x 410
Flutes	33 x 33 x 380 or 33 x 33 x 330 or still 33 x 33 x 265 30 x 30 x 510 or 30 x 30 x 410 or still 30 x 30 x 325 and 30 x 30 x 300 28 x 28 x 410 or 28 x 28 x 325 or still 28 x 28 x 270
Piccolos	28 x 28 x 250 + 30 x 30 x 150
Highland bagpipes	(HBPs) 14 mopane blanks of 11 different sizes, representing a total of 6.755 dm³. 1 X 54 x 54 x 305 + 2 X 51 x 51 x 225 + 1 X 43 x 43 x 385 + 1 X 47 x 47 x 310 + 1 X 47 x 47 x 195 + 2 X 47 x 47 x 160 + 1 X 47 x 47 x 125 + 1 X 47 x 47 x 115 + 1 X 40 x 40 x 310 + 2 X 40 x 40 x 245 + 1 X 40 x 40 x 220
For mopane for Uilleann pipes (Irish pipes), English pipes, gaitas (Spanish pipes) and bombarde (French pipes), our page on pipes and folkloric instruments provides exact dimensions.
For stringed mopane instruments
Jumbo	Back: 2 x 560 x 210 x 5 Sides: 2 x 830 x 130 x 4
Classic	Back: 2 x 530 x 190 x 5 Sides: 2 x 760 x 110 x 4
Modern	Back: 4 x 530 x 95 x 5 Sides: 2 x 760 x 110 x 4

About mopane

Botanical name	Colophospermum mopane
Family	Fabaceae
Local name	Mopanie
English name	Mopane
Distribution	Northern Province of South Africa, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The tree	In more humid regions, the mopane tree grows up to 30 meters in height and 90 cm in diameter. In dry regions, it grows to about half this size.
The wood	Mopane heartwood is brown to reddish-brown, with darker streaks. Mopane sapwood is yellow to light brown. The wood is very hard and heavy, and is termite resistant. Mopane wood’s air dry density is 1.3 t/m³ (77 lb/ft³).
Seasoning	With slow drying, mopane doesn’t split or slit easily. The light oily content of the wood might explain this valuable characteristic.
Workability	Mopane is very dense but works well with the appropriate tools. It also glues well.
Use	Mopane has been used for many years for flutes, piccolos and other woodwind instruments. Its high density and good workability make it an attractive alternative to blackwood, especially in very dry or humid countries, where blackwood has a tendency to slit. It is also used for high-quality mopane furniture and inlays in light-coloured wood.

More about mopane wood

Mopane for flutes and other woodwind instruments

Mopane has been known for decades as an ideal wood for flutes.

The tone of mopane is as rich and powerful, and a little bit warmer, than that of African blackwood. Flute makers identify its tone as similar to cocuswood (once a preferred wood for flute making but now almost unobtainable).

Increasingly, mopane is also being recognised as an ideal hardwood for clarinets, oboes, bass-clarinets, bagpipes and other woodwind instruments.

Well-known clarinet makers describe it as having a sweet tonality, typical to the clarinets made by Schreiber, a German leader in musical instruments.

For interest, a link to a mopane flute performance, on a flute made by Windward Flutes (one of our customers): https://bit.ly/MopaneFlute-WayfarinStranger

Our quality process as a supplier of musical-grade mopane wood

ProSono’s strict quality process doesn’t start only at the entrance of our saw mill. Instead, it begins during forestry operations.

Our presence on the spot, with continuous supervision by knowledgeable, trained and motivated personnel, is the only way to achieve consistency of results in African field conditions.

In our factory, operations are planned and monitored for the best results and quality. All parts are checked at the time of storage and again before packing.

Our prices depend on the number of parts and make-up of each order. We always factor in the recovery percentage that can be achieved. As a result, we are the most competitive when small, medium and large blanks are ordered simultaneously.

An alternative to African blackwood

Our research and customer feedback have identified mopane as an ideal alternative to African blackwood for woodwind instruments.

Compared to African blackwood, mopane offers:

wider availability; unlike African blackwood, it is not listed as an *endangered species
excellent musical tone
a warm, attractive aesthetic quality
better workability; it is significantly less prone to cracks and slits.

* African blackwood is listed as endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Its availability is increasingly limited. For instrument makers, concerns also surround movement of the wood (and instruments made of it) across borders.

Four leading clarinet makers and three oboe makers have been buying increasing volumes of mopane sets from ProSono – one of them for over five years.

We believe those who availed themselves of the opportunity to use mopane are ahead of the competition.