Woodworking For Musical Instruments and Production

For thousands of years, Wood has been the primary material for producing instruments.  Ever since an enterprising ancestor hollowed out a stick to make a primitive flute, or used fire to burn out the inside of a log to stretch animal skin over it to make a drum, humans have sought the comparatively soft, malleable material to create instruments.  

Nowadays, after thousands of years of progress, hardwood and plywood are merely a single option in a sea of material that can create, protect, and beautify musical gear.  Although Hoboken Wood Company does not currently produce guitars, violins, or drums, we can offer a huge range of products to produce both form and function when it comes to musical gear. 

Starting in the early days of recording studios, wood and wood-based composite materials like MDF (medium-density fiberboard) and plywood have made up some of the most important structural components of the modern music industry. 

With the recent revolution in recording technology, home studios have largely replaced with need for solo or independent music producers to enter a recording studio.  

With all of the mass produced options for piano desks, audio racks, and outboard music gear that is fully functional without requiring any custom woodwork, when and why would a customer need anything of the sort?

Here a few of the more common requests we get in order to expand your knowledge and options we can provide for you. 

-Custom sized Audio racks

-Piano/keyboard desks with sliding surface for your instruments.

-Desks and chassis’ for any size mixing boards or control surfaces.

-Integrated rack systems tailored to specific needs and ergonomic use of 

Outboard gear like digital audio interfaces, equalizers, 

-Guitar and Bass Pedalboards 

-Soundproofing walls

-Raising loud instruments or amplifiers off the floor to diminish low frequency transfer and vibrations from adjacent recording spaces, neighbors, or simply to “decouple” sound waves and keep them from transferring from one physical surface to another.  

-Acoustic paneling including “Gobos” or moveable panels, often mounted to wheels, which can be moved around a studio, recording, or live performance environment in order to optimize or otherwise alter the acoustics of physical space. 

-Mallets,  sticks, noise blocks, drums, tambourines, and other custom percussive implements of all kinds, including experimental and prototype instruments from your own imagination or sonic goals 

-Protecting fragile electronics after circuit-bending, alterations, customizations, and modifications to electronics. 

-Traditional or unique solid or hollow body custom instrument bodies and necks (Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, etc inspired designs), and accessories like pedals and switching systems 

-Custom cases and storage for all of the above (think Gator Cases, Pelican Cases, etc that can be specifically tailored rather that altering off-the-shelf products) 

The obvious reason for investing in custom woodwork for you music gear is 

Protection and fortification. Most commonly the goal is to protect your gear from:

-Dust

-Spills

-Falls

-Moisture in the air and atmosphere

-Air Pollution

-Contact damage from errant headstocks of overzealous guitarists or drummers

-Storage for odd sized gear like microphones, guitar pedals, and musical instruments

-Repairs and reinforcement for older gear housed in hardwood or plywood like mixing boards (Neve, API, Universal Audio, Focusrite, Moog, Arturia, Dave Smith, And Sequential Circuits Synthesizers, Roland or boss drum machines, 

-Resale value retention

-Easy rearrangement with creative modular systems and use of wheels (castors)

Drawer slides, and multi-layered 

We suggest taking a look at your current space, or taking out a blank sheet of paper and a pencil and seeing how you would create the perfect environment in order to make things easy on yourself and let the creativity flow as best you can. 

You’d be surprised how a few alterations, a small investment, and some helpful guidance from your friendly neighborhood woodworker (who may also be a musician!) can help you create the perfect space, and can then evolve with the changes you may perceive in your future.