Built by makers
We started in a repair shop, not a timber yard. Twenty years of building and fixing instruments taught us which boards sing and which only look the part — and that is still how we buy.
Iran · Since 2003
ToneWood
Wood that was already listening
We fell in winter dormancy on a waning moon, season for years in open air, and send nothing out that has not been tapped by hand. Tonewood for guitar, violin, tar and setar makers.
Our Story
Two decades of reading grain, one board at a time
Chosen by ear
Every set is flexed, weighed and tapped before it earns a grade. Figure and colour are the last things we look at; stiffness along the grain is the first.
Cut to last
We work with licensed woodlands and take standing-dead and thinning stock wherever it will serve. A tree that took ninety years to grow deserves better than a rushed sawmill.
What We Do
From standing tree to the board on your bench
Graded tonewood supply
Matched back-and-side sets, soundboards and neck blanks in walnut, mulberry, spruce, maple and apricot — graded for guitar, violin, oud, tar and setar.
Custom milling
Quarter-sawn, resawn and thicknessed to your drawings. Send a cut list and we will dimension to it, or take billets rough and do the work yourself.
Moon-harvest sourcing
Felling scheduled to the waning moon in winter dormancy, when sap is at its lowest. Slower to arrange, calmer wood to work.
Air seasoning & storage
Stickered and air-dried under cover for three to seven years, then conditioned indoors to 6–8% before it ships. We can hold your stock while it settles.
Export & documentation
Phytosanitary certificates, CITES paperwork where it applies, moisture-stable crating and tracked freight to workshops worldwide.
Workshop consultation
Tell us the model, the string tension and the sound you are chasing. We will point you at the species and stiffness that gets you there — and say so when we cannot.
Small orders and one-off sets are welcome. Tell us what you are building and we will send photographs of what is in stock.
How We Grade
Four things we measure before a set leaves the rack
Grain & runout
Straight, even ring spacing and minimal runout across the split face. We reject sets that look beautiful but wander off the quarter.
Stiffness & density
Each set is weighed and deflection-tested along and across the grain, so you know its stiffness-to-weight before you plane a shaving.
Moisture
Metered at the core, not the surface, and held at 6–8% before packing. Sets travel in sealed, desiccant-stable crates.
Tap tone
Every soundboard is held at the node and struck. What we hear — ring, sustain, the pitch it settles on — is written on the set.
Moon Wood
An old alpine practice we still keep, on the winter calendar
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Marking
Standing trees are chosen and marked in the dormant season, when sap has withdrawn to the roots and the wood is at its driest on the stump.
New moon -
Felling
Cutting is timed to the waning days before the new moon. Logs are left in the crown for weeks so the leaves draw out remaining moisture.
Waning days -
Breaking down
Logs are quartered through the pith while still green, then sealed at the ends. Splitting on the ray keeps runout out of the finished set.
Within weeks -
Seasoning
Stickered under cover and left to the weather for three to seven years. Nothing is kiln-forced; the wood sets its own pace.
3–7 years
We make no acoustic claims for lunar timing that we cannot measure. We keep the calendar because the winter-felled, slowly dried stock it produces is measurably calmer to work — and because the growers we buy from have always cut this way.
Specifications
Species, sizes and grades we hold
- Persian walnut: backs, sides and necks — warm, even, the classic tar and setar timber
- Mulberry: the traditional choice for tar and kamancheh soundboards and bowls
- Apricot & plum: dense fruitwoods for pegs, fingerboards and small bowls
- Spruce: quarter-sawn soundboard stock for guitar, violin and oud
- Maple: flamed and quilted, for violin backs, ribs and necks
- Guitar: back and side sets, soundboard halves, neck and heel blanks
- Violin family: one- and two-piece backs, bellies, ribs, neck blocks
- Tar, setar & oud: bowl staves, soundboard stock, arm and neck blanks
- Thickness: rough-sawn with drying allowance, or dimensioned to your spec
- Custom: send a cut list; we quote against what is in the rack
- Master: tight even grain, strong figure, top tap response — limited stock
- Professional: excellent acoustics, minor cosmetic marks off the centre line
- Workshop: sound and stable, for student instruments and prototypes
- Character: bear claw, curl and mineral streak priced on looks, graded on tone
- Photographs first: we send images and measurements of the actual set before you commit
- Documentation: phytosanitary certificates and CITES paperwork where required
- Packing: sealed, desiccant-stabilised crates to hold moisture in transit
- Freight: tracked air and sea freight worldwide; consolidated for larger orders
Tell us what you are building
Send the model, the dimensions and the sound you are after. We will reply with what is in the rack, photographs, measured stiffness and a price — usually within two working days.
info@tonewood.ir