In 2009, a friend came to me with the idea of building woodblocks specifically for composer Iannis Xenakis's multipercussion piece Rebonds. We got our hands on some lovely clear maple stock and decided we’d go for it.
What we came up with are different than normal woodblocks. We took our inspiration from sketches of a set of blocks which belonged to a former teacher, and the German percussion company Kolberg, who makes "Power Blocks", which are often used for the piece. They are deeper and wider than a typical woodblock from Black Swamp, Grover, etc.
We used a router mounted in a router table and a 3/8” bit with a 1/2” straight plunge bit. In retrospect, we definitely should have used a plunge router. Holding the workpiece freehand and plunging it over a spinning router bit was not the best idea, even though we were only going 1/4” of depth or so at each pass. We had a couple kickbacks and broken pieces of wood. But we made it out with all digits and livers/eyes intact! I wouldn’t do it again, though.
In any case, we completed two sets, and they sound pretty unique! Check them out in action, being played by Scott Quade at Truman State University: