Brazilian Rosewood

About instruments, new or old, the discussion seems to eventually come around to the subject of Brazilian rosewood. Why does it cost so much today? Does it sound better than other rosewoods? Why did C.F. Martin first stop using it? Is it really illegal to bring it into the US?

Even casual research reveals the high demand for and wide-ranging use of Brazilian rosewood today. Small collections of cutoff pieces with jagged edges, used for making jewelry, can sell on eBay for $50. Larger chunks may be fashioned into knife handles, while pieces large enough for woodturning command amazing prices. Most woodworkers agree that Brazilian rosewood, officially Dalbergia nigra , is seductive. With a density about 25 percent greater than maple or red oak, its slightly oily hardness polishes so beautifully that a finish seems unnecessary. It’s the attractive grain and color of its wood, combined with hardness and durability, that has made mature Brazilian rosewood trees rare today. In this article, we’ll discuss the history of Brazilian rosewood’s use in guitar making, and some of the recent restrictions that have been placed on its import and use.

and its cousins can be argued, nobody disputes that there’s a difference between a guitar built with back and sides of the rosewood family compared to a similar instrument built with mahogany, maple, or less-frequently used woods such as walnut. Most of the advantages these rosewoods offer seem to stem from their rich overtones, a quality often compared to “natural reverb.” The overtones from a rosewood guitar are often complex, almost clamorous. For a player accustomed to guitars with more emphasis on the fundamental of each note, strumming a rosewood guitar can be like playing in a tiled bathroom on new strings. Recording engineers often complain about the difficulty of getting a clean, uncluttered signal from rosewood guitars, but for players looking to get lost in the sound of their guitars, nothing delivers quite like rosewood. And while other Dalbergia family members are used to build great sounding guitars, Brazilian has long been considered the benchmark for tone.

But the wood’s musical qualities are not the only reason Brazilian rosewood is one of the most restricted and endangered wood species on the planet. Century-old books on furniture and decorative woodwork sing its praises, but warn readers that the wood has been in such high demand that it is hard to find, especially in large dimensions. Sailing ships were hauling Brazilian rosewood logs across the Atlantic to Europe before luthiers there had even settled upon how many strings to put on their guitars or how to tune them.

Indian Rosewood Tree - News


Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

East Indian rosewood shows up on Washburn's Deluxe models, the highest-priced in the company's mid-'20s catalog (ironically, the backs and sides of many of these guitars were laminated), but earlier Washburns were almost always made with solid



Big tree awards plant roots for a greener city
Big tree awards plant roots for a greener city

The most beautiful was judged to be the Burmese rosewood in Stri Sisuriyothai School, while an Indian fig in Siam Commercial Bank's Talad Noi branch in Samphanthawong district was voted most valuable. In selecting the winners for the biggest and



Wildlife among tea garden of Eden
Wildlife among tea garden of Eden

When the British first arrived it was rugged country seething with tigers and other animals and covered with jungle thick with massive trees of teak, rosewood and mahogany. Within 50 years the plantations were established and the planters had built big



Shades of black in Kaziranga
Shades of black in Kaziranga

A rhino in a ferocious stance, carved out of a single piece of rosewood, was presented to me, huge enough for my four year old grandson to sit astride. There were herds of wild elephants and buffaloes too and a lot more to set it apart.



Indian River County agenda

Indian River Shores Council: Town Hall, Council Chambers, 3:30 pm, June 23. Sebastian Natural Resources Board: Champion Tree Measuring. City Hall, 5:30 pm, June 23. Vero Beach Original Town, Osceola, Rosewood Neighborhood Watch: City Hall,




Trees: Indian Rosewood

Indian Rosewwod is a erect deciduous tree. It grows to the height of 25 meter and 2-3 meter in diameter. It has leathery leaves which are up to 15 cm long. The flowers are whitish pink in colour. Its crown is oval in shape. The fruit is brown and pod like in shape. The fruit is dry and hard.


Indian Rosewood Tree - Bookshelf

Discovering trees

Discovering trees

DALBERGIA SPECIES (Leguminoseae) Dalbergia sissoo, Indian Rosewood, Sissoo Sissoo is found ... It is a fairly large, deciduous tree with a light crown, ...

Trees for urban and suburban landscapes

Trees for urban and suburban landscapes

This could help keep the tree togerher in windstorms. Growing quickly in full sun or high shifring shade, Indian Rosewood will thtive on a vatiery ...

International poisonous plants checklist, an evidence-based reference

International poisonous plants checklist, an evidence-based reference

Haustein UF (1982) Violin chin rest eczema due to East- Indian rosewood ( Dalbergia ... rio palisander; rio rosewood; tree rosewood Citations: Estlander T , ...

Veneers and plywood

Veneers and plywood

East Indian rosewood is an example of a process in a growing tree that is difficult to account for. This species of wood deposits a silicate through the ...

CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA

CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA

Mr Bentham, judging by the appearance of the wood and of the leaves of the tree, or of one of those rosewood trees, has assigned it to the genus Dalbergia. ...

Daily Article Directory


Xeriscape Landscaping Plants For The Arizona Desert ...
Indian, Rosewood, Dalbergia, sissoo, tree, Fabaceae, Leguminosae, Bean, Acacia, Family, Tree, Arizona, Wild, Flowers, Flower, Wildflowers, Wildflower, ...

Indian Rosewood, Classification of Indian Rosewood, Medicinal ...
... cultivation of Indian Rosewood, scientific name of Indian Rosewood, medicinal uses of Indian Rosewood, other names used for the Indian Rosewood. Indian ...

Rosewood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Back of guitar made with East Indian rosewood. A Chinese Ming Dynasty compound wardrobe made of 'huanghuali' rosewood, latter half of the 16th century. ...

ENH386/ST227: Dalbergia sissoo: Indian Rosewood
A handsome specimen, shade, framing, or street tree, easily-grown semi-evergreen Indian Rosewood has delicate, light green, oval pointed leaflets ...

Dalbergia sissoo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It is also called sissoo, sisu, sheesham, tahli and sometimes dubiously passed off as Indian rosewood. It is state tree of Punjab state (India) ...