dansk Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 so i'm just getting into guitar building, kinda started already on my first body, along with a friend of mine.. these past weeks we've been looking for wood and we've come to find that there is a whole lot of awsome wood around here! (i'm in brazil, btw) that first body we've started is solid imbuya - a very dense, beautiful dark wood. although ours is pretty much plain, it can have some pretty wild figuring, such as my own guitar's top.. anyway, enough with the blabbering... last week me and some friend were out in the mountains for a few days, so we decided to check out the local sawmills for interesting stuff. we met some great guys who work there and showed us an awsome (and large) stock of rosewood boards.. most of them were 1 9/16" thick, almost large enough for a one-piece top and as long as three or more bodies.. i'm inclined to think it might be a rare species (duh - brazilian rosewood), since he made a point in stressing that it was all legal and he had the adequate papers for it. it IS illegal to cut down such species down here... anyway, after much yadda yadda, my question is: how good a wood would rosewood be for a solid body? i tend to think i wouldn't be suitable as a one-piece body, but how about a top/back? i actually thought of selling this wood over the internet, but the legal hassle wouldn't be worth it thanks a lot for the help guys rock on - daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joej Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 Side note ... There is some Brazilian shaping some interesting and fine looking bodies from local woods -- and selling them on eBay. You may want to email/connect with them to see what issues/solutions they had in bringing their wood to eBay. Also, look at those bodies -- they have some nice wood combinations (imbuya tops, etc.) The user is 'guitar_exotic_woods' or search for 'brasilian' in guitar/parts/bodies -- joe these past weeks we've been looking for wood and we've come to find that there is a whole lot of awsome wood around here! (i'm in brazil, btw) i tend to think i wouldn't be suitable as a one-piece body, but how about a top/back? i actually thought of selling this wood over the internet, but the legal hassle wouldn't be worth it - daniel ← Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGwaH Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 It can be done. Fender produced Rosewood Telecasters for three years, 1969-1972. It produces a beautiful guitar (natural finish), but it is quite heavy. Apparently it is quite noticeable in terms of weight. After the first year of production, Fender made a laminate rosewood body. It wasn't a solid body, but had some hollowed chambers in between the two peices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 I don't know if I would use Brazilian Rosewood for a solid body. Two reasons mainly 1- I would probably use it for acoustics, 2-It would be a bit heavy IMO. It is so hard to find wood as wide as you describe that was legally cut. Sawn properly for acoustic sets that would be worth a lot of $$$. I think you could find another variety of wood that could give you very similar results on a solid body. I really don't know if it's legal to bring into the U.S. If it's allready here I know you can sell old stock. You should do your homework, and see if it can be done. I have to say first and for most, if you have any feeling that that wood was cut illegally. Do not buy it and support illegal harvesting. Wasting a great piece of tonewood is bad, but commiting a criminal act for a piece of wood would be plain stupid. Peace, Fryguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansk Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 well, first i do not know if it is indeed Brazilian Rosewood, as in the correct species (it's grown in brazil - duh).. i do know for a fact that it is legally cut, i took a good look at the papers and it was all ok.. that makes it legal for sale within brazil, i don't know about exporting. my concern is not about getting it into the US, or any other place for that matter, but out of brazil - that's what i think might be complicated anyway, i think i might just point some other builder to that wood and let them make better use of it than i would... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdog Posted February 17, 2005 Report Share Posted February 17, 2005 If it is indeed true Braz Rosewood, the cost could be prohibitive. There are many different types of rosewood...tulipwood and kingwood and cocobolo are all members of the rosewood family and grow in Brazil(very little cocobolo). The question in my mind is ....why would you want to use a very rare and beautiful wood(not to mention expensive) on your first build? The CITIES ban does not make it illegal to sell Braz RSWD that was imported into the states before the treaty was in effect. It prevents the harvesting and import of this species after the treaty was enacted. You will see much Braz RSWD for sale stating "pre-ban", which is perfectly legal. Do a search for CITIES Treaty of 1992 and I'm sure you will find a ton if info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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