This poster presents an attempt to deal with the diversity of timber species used - or usable - in musical instruments making. If the different parts and types of instruments are considered, very different material properties are involved, from acoustical to physical. The influence of the different levels of wood structural organization on the above properties are briefly recalled for a "standard" wood. Then the diversity of behaviours is illustrated - from the circa 1000 species, mainly tropical, characterized in the CIRAD database; and some species exhibiting peculiar behaviour are selected. From this selection, two dense-wood tropical species have been characterized for their mechanical/acoustical and physical properties (damping, Young's modulus, shrinkage). They are compared with woods appreciated in instrument making. The effect of extracting secondary wood components on the measured properties has been investigated, together with first observations on the chemical nature, and structural distribution, of these extracted components. Both damping and shrinkage were markedly increased after extraction for one of the species, the cell walls of which appear impregnated by tannins and flavonoïds - while no significant modification was observed for the other species presenting other coumpounds, located in the cell lumens. This dimensional and acoustical stabilization effect of some wood extractives is currently further investigated (type of coumpounds, cell location, relations between damping and moisture content of wood...), for species potentially interesting for instrument making. Information is being collected in order to realise a wide inventory of timber species used in the different types of instruments. The aim is to set up a specific database "wood species - uses in instrument making - empirical observations - measured material properties".