Indian Rosewood direct from Mumbai - Review

[Allen]

I'd been on the hunt for some nice Indian Rosewood recently, and while I know that some of our Tonewood Suppliers on the forum do carry it, the shipping from India to the USA, then back to Australia has to be factored into the landed cost of each set on my doorstep.

I had done several internet searches and found a fellow that runs an Export Business in India called Parekh Exports. I made an enquiry to Mr. Parekh, and he supplied me with price and grading information.

I also asked all of the moderators if they had heard of or done business with Mr. Parekh, but none of them had, so I was left with a decision of giving him a go, or not. I decided nothing ventured, nothing gained so I place an order for 2 sets of his best Forest grown grade. Which he calls "AA". Mr. Parekh asked if I could make it 5 sets to help offset the cost of the shipping as I was quoted a price in $ AUD per set landed on my door. I agreed as the pricing was quite good, and hopeful that all went well.

I was sent his bank details, and did a direct transfer from my bank to his in India. Mr. Parekh kept in contact with me via email about the progress of my order, and when it was ready to be shipped he asked for a scan of the bank transfer note to be emailed to him. This was only 2 days after I had done the transfer. My bank told me it would take between 10 and 14 working days for it to go through. The very next day Mr. Parekh emailed me to tell me that my wood was now dispatched in the post and said that it should be expected in 14 - 18 days.

10 days later the package of backs arrived, with the sides showing up the following day. I was so keen to see what I had received that I didn't take pictures of the packaging of the backs, but I made sure that I did for the sides. I was really impressed.


Indian Cotton outer wrapping, hand sewn seams with wax seals on each of the seams.


Sturdy cardboard box next.


Bubble wrap and nylon synch strapping inside.

All the wood was rough sawn and numbered, with the end grain sealed with some sort of wax. 4 of the sets are still "green" with one set marked as "Dry 8 years". Mr. Parekh had told me that the sets are direct from the sawmill, but would send one set that was ready to use, and that the others would need to dry before use. He emailed me again after arrival to make sure that I did not attempt to build with any of the green wood, as he didn't want me having a bad experience with his wood.

I ran one set of the "green" wood through the drum sander to see what it looked like. I picked the worst looking set. This is what I got.



It's actually quite difficult to get a realistic picture of the wood. The camera keeps trying to make the picture lighter than it actually is. The wood is a very dark color with purple and blacks. The lighter area on the back set is nothing like that you see in the picture. Both sets look like the one on the right, but there is a lighter area right on the outside edge. Grain runout I presume.

The sets are very generously sized. Backs are 9 1/4 inches wide, and sides are just shy of 6 inches wide. Very bright and glassy tap tone.

I'm very pleased with the outcome of my purchase, and provide this information for the benefit to other forum members.

Mr. Parekh is not one of the forums "Preferred Vendors" as he hasn't had a sufficient track record with us. He has signed up on the forum and I've informed him that we do not allow solicitation of the membership as per our policy, but that I'd be happy to give my honest review of my purchase with him, and if others should wish to do business with him and have good feedback, then perhaps in the future we'd look a adding him to the "Preferred Vendor" list.

I wish him the best of luck, and I will do business with him again.

[Nick]

Well done Allen and thanks for the heads up. Without going into the exact details of the purchase, roughly how did costs compare against shipping through the U.S, i.e much of a saving? small saving? saved some? Quality certainly looks OK.

[Allen]

Landed on my doorstep was about 1/2 the price I've paid for similar quality from the USA.

I'm not begrudging those vendors in the USA selling for the price they do. This stuff was rough sawn, and most sets I've received from the USA have been cleaned up, so there is a labor cost there, and the shipping back to us is a huge component in the cost per set.

India is really just a stones through from us. I liken it to us buying Tassy Blackwood from a vendor in the USA.

[Runn3r]

India is really just a stones through from us. I liken it to us buying Tassy Blackwood from a vendor in the USA.

...i can name one other country that is even closer and a literal stone's throw away ...with 'indian rosewood'

but what you have done here Allen is wht i thought would have been more commonplace than it is ....


...lovely wood ...though i wonder how long it would take for the 'green' pieces to be ready ...a yr perhaps?

[xray]

i dont get it, which country has indian rosewood that is not india. perhaps indonesia?

[woodrat]

Hi Allen, I had a good experience too with Ashok Parehk. I ordered some fingerboards and bridge blanks and headplate veneers from him as a small first order. What arrived was not my order but was meant for a luthier in Belgium of all places. Somebody in his organization had addressed the parcels incorrectly. Ashok was very apologetic and liaised with the Belgian luthier and myself to make sure that we both got what we ordered. I sent it on to Belgium at my own expense trusting that he would make sure that I was reimbursed. He was as good as his word and I was reimbursed as well as receiving my lot of ebony and rosewood. So although I was a bit put out all ended well and I believe that he is after repeat business so he will make sure that his customers are happy. The ebony and rosewood were of good quality although the rough sawing was very rough the stuff was all well over size and I was even able to split some of the headplate piecec to get two from one.
I would recommend him on the strength of this.

Cheers

[Lillian]

Xray, Indian Rosewood grows in Indonesia.

[Kim]

i dont get it, which country has indian rosewood that is not india. perhaps indonesia?

There is heaps of indian rosewood grown outside of India and it has been for a very long time. For instance indian rosewood is 'very' commonly used around coffee bean plantations as a wind break. This is because it grows fast and turns a cash crop itself in a fairly short while. Problem is that because of the very high water and nutrient levels delivered by the run off from the coffee crop, coupled with the race for light caused by the crowded spacing required to form an effective hedge row, the trees grow much too fast and produce wood that is most often very low grade.

Rosewood like this can be easily identified by it's wide grain and light colouration. This plantation wood is known within the industry as sonokeling and as a rule is not really that desirable for instrument building, but that does not seem to stop any number of mills in Indonesian and other places from sawing it up into guitar sets and hocking it on ebay and anywhere else they can.

This explains why "forest grown' wood is so much more desirable. Slower growth rates caused by lower nutrient and water availability coupled with the fact that the trees are spaced via natural selection produces wood that is heavier, darker, and finer grain count. These properties generally determine that, once cut into guitar sets, the wood will ring with a glassy tone that only a true rosewood can and also offer stability to compare with the best wood on earth.

Maybe this is off topic but what i describe above is a clear example of why we should never try to group or categorise 'any' wood based upon it's botanical name. It simply does not work that way because there are far too many variables at play. With the relatively small amount of wood required to build a guitar, we really can afford to be very selective. My advice is to ignore the text books and ignore the kg per m3 listings when looking at what type of wood we might like to use. These are generalisations and have no place in this craft. Pick the wood up in your hands and feel it, tap it, flex it, and then make your assessment based only upon that info, do not allow yourself to be prejudices one way or the other just because of a name.


Cheers

Kim

[Dennis Leahy]

Pick the wood up in your hands and feel it, tap it, flex it

Cheers

Kim

Cheers indeed, my friend, cheers indeed!

Dennis

[Dennis Leahy]

OK, now that I have gotten that immature quip out of my system, I'll post a different, more serious, reply to Kim's.

One comment is that Kim is absolutely correct in saying that each individual board really can be so different from another board of the same species, that each board does need to be assessed individually.

On the point that Kim made about the plantation grown "sonokeling" variant of East Indian Rosewood, and its suitability for use in lutherie, I differ. While I agree that there is usually quite a marked difference between forest grown and plantation grown wood, I would say that the worst EI Rosewood is still capable of being used to produce great instruments. If your recipe for "great" includes a back and side set of high density and long taptone ringing sustain, well then this stuff just won't do, but...

(best illustrated as an example) Over the years, I have seen photos of guitars made from North American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis.) When cut perfectly quartersawn, the wood shows dramatic medullary ray figure. The guitars can be gorgeous. But every time in my life I have held onto a chunk of Sycamore lumber/timber, I have been so unimpressed with the taptone, that I have never purchased a borad for lutherie, nor have I ever purchased a sawn set. It "rings" like cardboard. Well, I finally got a chance to play a guitar made from Sycamore about 2 years ago, and fully expected it to suck, to sound like a guitar made from pretty cardboard. But it did not suck, in fact it sounded pretty darn good. My prejudice melted quite a bit on that one encounter. It made me think back to John Calkin's article The Heretic's Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods, and his conclusion that "...If this soft and floppy American cardboard makes into a fine guitar--and it does--any wood will."

So, the plantation-grown EI Rosewood may not match up well in a contest with its forest-grown cousin, but to play off of John's quote: "If this softer and less dense and deader version of EI Rosewood makes into a fine guitar--and (I expect) it does--any wood will"

Dennis
p.s. Allen: nice score!

[kiwigeo]

Thanks for the report Allen.

The side sets are certainly very generous with the width.

[Taffy Evans]

Hi Allen, thanks for the heads up. This guy contacted me a year or so ago offering Rosewood, but I was a bit suss about it, seems I was wrong. I remember however he did present things well.

[jackspira]

Hi everyone,
I just got a shipment of wood from Ashok and thought I'd add my recomendation.
I got mainly Ebony fretboards and rosewood bridge blanks, just a few rosewood backs and sides this time.
Its all beautiful material, the Indian ebony is really close grained and silky, like liquorice. All very generous sizes. In fact the bridge blanks are so long I'll easily get two bridges from each and have effectivly got twice as much as I expected.
The back and side sets are excellent. I still have some from a previous shipment a few years ago and these ones are at least as nice if not better, really well cut and straight, and very stiff across the grain. Also none so far have the white flecks in the grain

The total value of this batch was over AU$1000... I think it was a bit over $1150ish, but it still came through the post with no problems and no fees or taxes to pay... long live Aus Post!

Cheers!
Jack

[Allen]

Thanks for the review Jack. Appreciate hearing good things about any vendor.

[Rod True]

Thank you Allen, I just sent an email inquiring about shipping to Canada.

[simonm]

I enquired for Europe. While I can't compared the quality, I can get IR in Europe for less, so there is no incentive for me to try it out.

[Paul B]

I've bought from Ashok as well via a group buy at the olf. Even though I expect the best of the batch was picked over before my sets were attributed to me I was still really happy with the quality. Three sets at $43 each landed at my door (this was a few years ago). Way better than the first back and side set I bought from trend timbers for $160 (oh what newbie I was). I'd be happy to vouch for ashok as a preferred vendor. Not trend tho, f--- em.

Oh, and I've never seen any really nice eir sets coming out of indo, not saying it ain't serviceable, just ain't as pretty as Ashok's stuff.

[luke_lee]

Could anyone help me with the banking details of Parekh Exports.
I palced an order and went to transfer the money, but there was a proble with the account details.

Thanks Luke

[Allen]

It seems it depends on your bank if there is a problem. Heard this from some people. My bank didn't have any problems whatsoever.

Perhaps someone that did have a problem can tell you what the solution was.

[kiwigeo]

Ive had issues transferring money to NZ bank accounts...the problem is usually some fresh out of school bank person not understanding the bank and account coding system of the foreign account.

[Kim]

The best solution would be if the account was payable via Paypal, smaller fees, less hassle, faster transfer and at least the buyer has some back up should the deal sour.

Cheers

Kim

[ozziebluesman]

Yep, I'm with Kim on this one. I had big problems paying Ashok online via my NAB bank. The account was paid but then a lessor amount turned up in my account a week later. Very, very dodgey!!! It took three months for the bank to sort it out and I still didn't get fully conpensated for the shortfall payment. Although the wood, service and price from Ashok was great the means of payment stinks.

Setup a PayPal payment option Ashok and you will find you will receive many more orders.

Cheers

Alan

[auscab]

Hi to all , this is my first post here, what a great site this is,
Rob is my name, Antique furniture and repro furniture is my game,
guitars my hobby, and I am nearing the end of my first build, and have
been posting on the Ubeaut forum .

Luke , I have placed an order with Parekh Exports but not sent the money yet,
I rang my bank and they said to take in a copy of invoice and show them, so I will
be going in Monday morning and getting them to do it.
My bank did tell me that it was not possible to EFT from me to India like I can within Australia

The P E invoice is a little confusing also because there are two accounts.

regards Rob

[ashparekh]

Dear Luthier friends,

I understand that you guys have a problem in making the payment to my bank. I hope I can do paypal but in India paypal is not a good means to take the payment for us. This is because the government of India does not recognize payment received from paypal as an official means of payment and if I take paypal payment I do not get the bank seal on my documents to send material and nor do I get remittance copy from the bank.

This makes very difficult for me to ship the cargo because I need to show proper documents to customs here to safely clear the cargo and hence I do not take paypal. We only take bank T/T transfer or cheques. I hope my friends you understand my problem.

[kiwigeo]

This makes very difficult for me to ship the cargo because I need to show proper documents to customs here to safely clear the cargo and hence I do not take paypal. We only take bank T/T transfer or cheques. I hope my friends you understand my problem.

A bit of an irony in all this. India is a country with a huge IT industry very much entranced in the 21st Century but it seems the banking industry is still plugging along in the 19th Century.