All the flutes I have made so far follow the centerline of a branch, and all I know is that that (so far) has been ok. Given that these are branches I am using, it would be expected that they were under tension of some kind originally.
These links explain tension wood in boxwood better maybe
https://filipfrydrysiak.com/about-wood/
https://ebts.org/uk/2019/boxwood-as-timber/
https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/6246 ... tion-wood/
https://agritrop.cirad.fr/391164/1/document_391164.pdf
The first link says some wood never settles, and for stable wood you would probably have to make sure the billet was taken from a non stressed part of a tree. It would be expected that makers using box frequently would have a good enough idea of choice of suitable wood that doesn't warp ? I am just thinking that if close enough to centerline, the wood there has become quite consistent, even on tension side.
I was going to mention that study (I think it is that one) at some point, where different metals were used ? The trouble with it though is the difference in density between different metals is very small, especially when we consider they are interacting with air. It is possible the player hears any difference and audience not, and so even that would affect how they play, and so what the audience thinks of the whole recital ?
Only people/creatures are able to say what any combination of frequencies heard sound like, or for example are able to focus on certain ones in a passage. Recording equipment might just be able to separate out the different layers to a sound, but a computer would not have much idea how to interpret them in terms of what a listener might think or make of them. Most digitized sound is no more than a grosso modo aggregate of all the sound ploted to a single pressure point on a graph. Though it is understandable to listen to, it represents only a single perspective, and even stereo or dynamic sound are nowhere near an actual instrument as sound source. In my opinion.
That reminds me, this is a very clear explanation of how standing waves work ...
https://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/demos/ ... waves.html