There is a lot of talk in the Stereo Forums about Solid vs. Butcher Block
Let me explain what Solid Means or what it dose not mean.
Solid Wood means that the product is made out of all Wood, No Particle Board, MDF. or Plywood.
It does not mean that the Product is one solid piece of Wood without Glue Joints.
All the bigger Blocks have Glue Joints. There are some small blocks up to 11" wide that are one piece but anything bigger is glued together. All the most popular on the Web have glue joints
AND I MEAN ALL
If you think there are some on the market that are solid please email me.
Glue does not hinder the sound of Music, considering the glue in a block soaks into the wood and is then coated with Lacque-polyurethane or another finish. Musical Insturments are glued together,Guitars are glued together, Violins are glueed together, ect,ect.
A Laminated Block is 10 times as strong as a Single Piece and 10 times less likely to Warp.
All the pieces in a laminated butcher block fight against each other and cannot move.
Therefore they conform to each other and become like one piece of wood and stay very flat.
Air Dried vs. kiln dried
Musical insturments are made out of both Air Dried and Kiln Dried Wood
Kiln dried means - Baked in a oven or dehumidified till the water content of the wood is 7%
Air Dried Means - The wood dries to the amount of moisture in the air, average is 12% to 23%
After wood is kiln Dried and is reintroduced into the atmosphere it also attains the moisture level of the Air that it is in.
If the moisture content of the air is 15% that is what the moisture content of the wood will be
It's like this: In the summer time a wood door will swell up and stick shut but in the winter when your house is real dry the door will open and close very easily.
So whether the block is Air Dried or Kiln Dried does not make one bit of difference
The wood will attain the Humidity of the room it is in.
What makes the difference is THE HUMIDITY OF THE ROOM THE BLOCK IS IN
If you have any comments please feel free to email me Thanks