image: The bars of the marimba are traditionally made from Honduran rosewood, a rare and expensive resource.
Credit: Amartya Bhattacharya
PHILADELPHIA, May 14, 2026 — The pleasant, earthy sound of a marimba is a key component in the modern orchestra, but their high prices, ranging from $1,000 to over $25,000, sometimes make them cost-prohibitive for schools and students.
“To me, the marimba’s beauty lies in its place as the most expressive of all the mallet instruments,” said Amartya Bhattacharya, a student at Northeastern University. “Its high ranges have the articulation and pointed sound of the xylophone, while the low ends of the instruments reach beautiful, deep bass tones unrivaled by any other mallet percussion instruments.”
Bhattacharya grew up surrounded by music, and because he loves the marimba, he was motivated to find ways to make the instrument more accessible to all so more could have the same opportunity. The keys of marimbas are primarily made from Honduran rosewood — a rare and expensive type of wood — and Bhattacharya wondered if there was a cost-effective substitute that could do the trick.
Bhattacharya will present his analysis of alternative marimba materials Thursday, May 14, at 10:40 a.m. ET as part of the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, running May 11-15.
He began by identifying materials, both wooden and polymer-based, that could serve as replacements for the marimba bars. Then, for each material Bhattacharya analyzed the density, which corresponds to durability; the loss factor, which determines resonance; and Young’s modulus, which impacts the pitch and feel of the bars — all of which come together to determine the sound of the material.
After testing these parameters, he found that hickory wood was the best alternative from an acoustical standpoint. It also has the added bonus of being significantly less expensive than rosewood.
“The Young’s modulus value of hickory means it will respond similarly to rosewood when struck,” Bhattacharya said. “The Young’s modulus-to-density ratio also means that a hickory and rosewood bar of the same pitch will be close in size, which is important to ensure that practice done on non-rosewood marimbas will transfer to the real thing for big performances.”
There were some materials that met parts of the criteria to be used in the marimba but failed in other parts. For example, spruce wood had a similar Young’s modulus-to-density ratio when compared to rosewood, but its higher damping values meant that the musical technique of rolling — when the marimba bar is repeatedly struck to create a continuous sound — wouldn’t sound very good.
“I wanted my initial analysis of the materials to be quantitative and of their physical properties, but I hope to one day make full-sized marimba bars from the most promising materials,” Bhattacharya said.
He also plans to test more types of wood, like bamboo, and modify the hickory bars using heat and pressure to increase their density.
“The marimba is the pinnacle of pitched percussion, which is why I chose to study it,” Bhattacharya said. “Overall, I hope to find affordable options for marimba bars with enough durability to not need frequent replacement.”
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