A kind of Brazilian rosewood

[Colonial Tonewoods]

I was curious about this wood sold on Ebay and contacted John Hall of Blues Creek Guitars who was kind enough to send me a sample.
I sent the sample to a plant geneticist at the Univeristy of South Carolina who identified the species as dalbergia latifola or Sonokeling rosewood. He also stated the wood was very fast growing. When John sent me the sample I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the sample was Indian but I wanted some conclusive proof.
This "kind of Brazilian rosewood" reminds me of the "Carpathian Red spruce" hype a few years ago; monks taking Red spruce seedlings to the Carpathian mountains.....sure and if you pull this leg it plays "Jingle Bells."
I'd never heard of Carpathian Red but heard about Panama Red. I guess at the end of the day marketing is marketing but I get a case of red ass when someone doesn't do their homework and mislabels a species.
I'll get off my soap box now.
Hope this was helpful.

Stephen

[Hesh1956]

Steve my friend thanks for your efforts and this is good info to have.

With that said - I'll take some Panama Red and a box of Oreo cookies please..... Not to worry about the tap tone, in this case I don't care.....

[Bob Connor]

Great work Steve.

Here's the reply that I got from the seller when I questioned him about that wood.

Bob

Dear Bob Connor,
Sono Prima is the biggest suplier for Yamaha Guitar Company in Japan and worldwide for Indian Rosewood, so I know well about Indian Rosewood. The wood you bought is Jacaranda (another name for dalbergia nigra sp which grows outside Brazil as I described). There are very many figures of dalbegia nigra sp which grows outside Brazil, and the richest ones is in Indonesia. Dutch colonial has planted the seed of d. nigra sp in Indonesia in 18th century, in a very small area which has similar climate to that one in Brazil. Of course, there are some slightly differences between Brazilian Rosewood and mine, especially in their smell, due to the differences in the soil nutrition. Now, d. nigra in Indonesia is under the conservation law of my government, and I bought all of my woods from my government as d. nigra sp. or jacaranda. I have seen with my own eyes both the Indian Rosewood tree and the of jacaranda tree. They are very different trees. Yamaha Guitar Company has bought many woods from me, both Indian Rosewood and Jacaranda; Yamaha Guitar Company can recognize the differences between the two species of the woods: dalbergia latifolia sp and dalbergia nigra sp (the later is the same with the wood you bought). I know that generally people think that d. nigra sp = Brazilian Rosewood. Botanically, it is wrong, for d. nigra sp can grow in other places than Brazil. That's why I warn my buyer not to confuse my wood with Brazilian one. Believe me, I know what I said, and I know well about the two kind of the woods. I hope this explanation of mine will enough for you.

yours,
Henry

[sebastiaan56]

That must make you feel better Bob, I didnt know that Jacarandah has been used for tonewood.

[Kim]

Well done Steve,

It would appear that a formal complaint is in order, by those who have paid Henry for this stuff, to Ebay/Paypal on the grounds of misrepresentation.

Cheers

Kim

[Kim]

That must make you feel better Bob, I didnt know that Jacarandah has been used for tonewood.

Jacaranda is the common name given to d. nigra in Brazil.

Cheers

Kim

[Dominic]

Gilet in Sydney had some and I got a set last year. It was cheap, about $60 for the set I think. The info I got was that it is just plantation grown EIR. Obviously very fast growing with wide spaced grain. Smells just like EIR when cut
Here's a pic

I understand this fascination with BRW, but none of the great guitar makers of old would have had access to many of the timbers we can get today, even just from Australia. There is just a huge range. They may have lucked out and got the best wood first go in Brazil. But then there could be stuff we have not even tried yet that is better. And given the price and dodgy quality of available BRW plus issues with fake CITES paperwork and the trouble it can bring, it makes me wonder why.
Its reminds me of the GAL article on CF martin a few issues ago. When asked why the old martins were so good, the first response is because they are old. And the second is because the really good ones don't get thrown away. So you end up with small pool of really good guitars. Sure the materials are important. But could it be that we get really distracted with trying to find rare wood rather than trying to tweek designs to get the best out of wood that is readily available today and not endangered.
Just a thought.
Dom

[Larry Davis]

Let me throw another wrench at this monkey.

This is Indian Rosewood...Indian but not East Indian Rosewood. Dalbergia sissoo. I bough several sets from a guy in Florida a few years back as hurricane salvage. It's not native to Florida, but has been planted thru out the caribbean region. It's considered a weed tree around the world mostly and I returned the wood after it moved to much. The sellar kept the wood and kept my money also They had quite a large log deck of this stuff. If you Google Indian rosewood Dalbergia sissoo will come up.