Brazilian Rosewood

Dalbergia Nigra

On Electric Guitars I am no longer a fan of Brazilian Rosewood, The wood is simply too oily ! In simple physics that means the tone has to be damped. The general public will never agree with me on this one but I really don't care. After all the general public thinks that Les Pauls are good guitars. What do they know !!!! It's all part of dumbing The USA down. The general public can usually be counted on to be wrong about most things.
Years ago investors bought freight car loads of Brazilian Rosewood. Now they are making 5000 times profit on their investment because dumb consumers perceive that it must be good because it is very pretty and crazily expensive.

Contrary to popular belief this wood does not come from the inland rain forest, but is a coastal wood. Brazilian Rosewood is also sometimes prone to cracking if not kept in proper humidity. It is actually quite plentiful and being on the endangered list makes the price go higher. The Brazilian government may be one of the most corrupt organizations in the world.
Australia tried the same ploy some years back by trying to do the same scam with Lacewood AKA Silky Oak. Lacewood has turned out to have very poor tone. Even I fell for their ploy when I first heard it was headed for the endangered list. I feel stupid about it now because governments just like big corporations are NEVER TO BE TRUSTED.

Ed Roman

Brazilian Rosewood has many beautiful looks, from Red, Brown, Purples and Oranges. This is supposedly the "Holy Grail" of Acoustic Flat top back and side woods. Tonally it is considered by many as the best wood out there, it has a glass-like tap tone. Brazilian is no longer legally exported from Brazil (protected similar to Ivory and Tortoise shell) so it is very rare and very expensive.

Brazilian Rosewood Prices vary from $300.00 to $4500.00 per set, as a rule the price difference reflects cosmetics and not acoustic properties. Brazilian will often have worm holes, this is not necessarily a negative quality. Worm hole are easily filled and can add a dramatic effect to the wood. The best Brazilian is wood that died and was left to rot somewhat, this gives it much of the sweet smell and dramatic colors.

Taylor, Breedlove, Collings and some other overpriced high profile guitar builders sell Brazilian Rosewood guitars for as much as $6,000.00 more than the regular base price of the guitar, On limited editions Gibson has charged over $30,000.00 more. Currently the absolute best price deal I have found on an Acoustic Flat Top guitar with Brazilian Rosewood is the Tacoma "Amazon." (Pretty Awesome) Collings or Taylor would charge three to six times as much & I liked the Amazon far better.

By the way, I suggest Macassar Ebony which in my opinion sounds excellent and tends to also be a little pricey but not as bad as the Brazilian Rosewood.

On electric guitars Paul Reed Smith has used Brazilian Rosewood to make solid necks from it, I have experimented with this wood and I feel that that is absolutely overkill. I didn't think that there was any better tone, In fact I liked the Maple Neck with Brazilian fingerboard combination far better. Of course this is completely subjective to personal taste. But the Maple/Rosewood combination had twice the response and liveliness that the solid Rosewood neck had. (I favor Ebony fingerboards over all Rosewood fingerboards).

I am planning on introducing some Quicksilver Guitars with Solid Brazilian Rosewood Tops in 2002.

Ed Roman

Brazilian Rosewood Beautiful Examples

Brazilian Rosewood, Ed Roman Guitars, Las Vegas, NV

Brazilian Rosewood Backs on Tacoma V Series Amazon Model.

The Tacoma V Series is quite rare. The V series is only carried by 5 dealers worldwide,

The V Series is the creme de la creme of the line. Only the best pieces of wood are incorporated.

These Guitars are probably the least expensive all Solid Brazilian Rosewood Guitars in the World.

Rosewood; Brazilian

There are roughly a dozen species of true rose woods in the world. (Yes, they smell like roses when cut with a saw.) A partial list would include Tulip wood, King wood, Cocobolo, East Indian Rose wood, and Brazilian Rose wood. With the exception of the latter, these are oily to the point of being dead in the tone department. So what is the point in coveting these materials when there are sonic superiors available? The problem is that in the public mind, rose wood is cool, so it has long been over harvested. Because of this Brazilian Rose wood has been banned from importation to the United States for over twenty five years.

"Beautiful" wood. There are a wide range of colors and grain. [As body material:] Book-matched tops only. Very limited supply. We also have some necks with Brazilian rosewood fingerboards.

We always have a couple of Brazilian Rosewood Blanks Available for fingerboards . Very oily multicolored wood, This wood will not take the smooth finish that the Macassar Ebony we offer.

From Brazil.
Varies in color from shades of brown to red or violet, and is irregularly streaked with black. The grain is typically straight, occasionally wavy. Texture is medium to coarse and of medium luster.
Common uses include cabinetmaking, fine furniture, marquetry, pianos, tool handles, drum sticks, organ pipes, sounding boards, umbrella handles, wainscoting, and xylophones.
Specific Gravity is .85 (very dense).

Dark red, violet and black streaks.