Wood identification of the wooden components of a 19TH century pipe organ

This work is aimed at showing the results of a work of identification of the wood species used for the construction of the mechanical components of a historic pipe organ. The instrument was built in 1895 in Pistoia (Tuscany, Italy) for a church of a small municipality in the north-west of Tuscany, the summer residence of a family of ancient European nobility; it is therefore a large monumental organ, still original. During the restoration operations, and consequently on the disassembly, it was possible to carry out a complete sampling of the wooden components that are normally not directly accessible. The sampling was performed under the supervision of the restorer, through the cut and drawing of very small samples and with minimally invasive criteria. The identification was performed by observing thin sections, manually cut, by means of an optical microscope. The results of the identification carried out on the 25 samples are reported. The identified timbers are not very numerous and the most represented one is poplar (Populus sp.).