Brazilian Rosewood v/s other Rosewoods

CocoboloCowboy

CocoboloCowboy

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As Rickey Recardo said PLEASE SPLAIN to me, the differences between Brazilian Rosewood v/s other Rosewoods.
 
Brazilian rosewood

Excellent tone quality lots of musical instruments were made out of Brazilian and also Madagascar rosewood also known as Bois de rose. Both plentiful at one time and now
the available stock cannot be replace. :(

Mario
 
Mcues said:
Excellent tone quality lots of musical instruments were made out of Brazilian and also Madagascar rosewood also known as Bois de rose. Both plentiful at one time and now
the available stock cannot be replace. :(

Mario
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Thanks...:thumbup:
 
There are international laws forbidding the harvesting of Brazilian Rosewood. The only BR you'll find will likely be salvaged from other works.
 
According to Wikipedia, rosewood is a large genus (group) of trees that contains somewhere between 100 and 600 different species. Brazilian rosewood is just one type of rosewood. Other types of rosewood well known to cuemakers are African Blackwood, Cocobolo, Kingwood, and Tulipwood. So, the differences are many: color, density, price, etc.

Are you asking why Brazilian Rosewood is so highly prized versus other similarly colored rosewoods? I'm sure there are plenty of people that will argue that Brazilian Rosewood is so much better to work with than all the other rosewoods. Or it looks better. Or it makes for a better hitting cue. Or whatever.

Unfortunately, another valid possibility is that we humans inherently want what we can't have. Now that Brazilian Rosewood is endangered, *WOW* I gotta have it! Just like Ivory. There are so many plastics that look like ivory that nobody will every know whether those inlays in your cue are ivory or plastic. But given the chance, *WOW* I gotta have real ivory!
 
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jschelin99 said:
Unfortunately, another valid possibility is that we humans inherently want what we can't have. Now that Brazilian Rosewood is endangered, *WOW* I gotta have it! Just like Ivory.
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The flaw in that theory is that the reason Brazilian Rose is now endangered is because
it already was in great demand and there's now very little left.
The reason for it's demand is the same now as it was then. It's the grand-daddy of the tone-woods,
though that can be subjective.

KJ
 
CITES placed BR on trade embargo in the late 60's, 68 I think. CF Martin & Co was a large importer of BR, but in log form for the most part. The Brazilian government realized that more money was to be made if the logs where cut and planed in brazil vs shipping whole logs. Quality control was not as good, prices went up and it was becoming endangered. Go to an acoustic guitar forum and you'll find lots of great tone wood information. I own a 60's Brazilian rosewood Martin, and while it is something amazing, it is not like the Brazilian you get now. Most is stump wood, since the good straight grain stuff might be gone forever. The closest rosewood in tone and density is cocobolo. Madagascar rosewood and amazon rosewood and quite close also.

I rescued mine from a pawn shop about 6 years ago. The one on the left is slightly rift sawn with a little figure in the mahogany. Rescued her from CL a few summers ago.

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In the acoustic guitar world, BR is considered the king of tone woods, and it's lofty price is there to support that idea. It is quite subject to cracking though. With a tap tone test it will register almost glass like with a bell chime on the good stuff. Lots of bass too.
 
It is found only in Brazil, from the eastern forests of Bahia to Rio de Janeiro. It is threatened by habitat loss, since most of its habitat has been converted to farmland. Due to its endangered status, it was CITES-listed on Nov. 6 1992.
Old growth Brazilian rosewood harvested before 1992 continues to be highly prized by makers of both classical and steel string guitars. It has been regarded as the premier wood for backs and sides of guitars and its use can be traced back to late Renaissance and Baroque times when it was used for making lute backs (ribs) and various other parts of other stringed musical instruments and also woodwind instruments such as flutes and recorders. Wood obtained from stumps left after previous harvesting of trunks decades ago is also being offered for sale. This material is often very colourful but not as stable or even grained as the wood available prior to the CITES embargo
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Fwiw from wiki........
 
jschelin99 said:
According to Wikipedia, rosewood is a large genus (group) of trees that contains somewhere between 100 and 600 different species. Brazilian rosewood is just one type of rosewood. Other types of rosewood well known to cuemakers are African Blackwood, Cocobolo, Kingwood, and Tulipwood. So, the differences are many: color, density, price, etc.

Are you asking why Brazilian Rosewood is so highly prized versus other similarly colored rosewoods? I'm sure there are plenty of people that will argue that Brazilian Rosewood is so much better to work with than all the other rosewoods. Or it looks better. Or it makes for a better hitting cue. Or whatever.

Unfortunately, another valid possibility is that we humans inherently want what we can't have. Now that Brazilian Rosewood is endangered, *WOW* I gotta have it! Just like Ivory. There are so many plastics that look like ivory that nobody will every know whether those inlays in your cue are ivory or plastic. But given the chance, *WOW* I gotta have real ivory!
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What do you think of the braz rosewood cues you made?
 
Oh, I love the stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm not raising a moral objection to using Brazilian Rosewood or Ivory. If I can get it legally, I'll use it. I'm just posing a philosophical point about we humans wanting what we can't have. Didn't mean to get too deep. :)

I wonder what bald eagle tastes like? (ha ha)
 
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