Why does this Brazilian Rosewood have bright "Wenge spots" ?

Ukador

Ukador

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Hello there !

I think that I know how brazilian rosewood normally looks like and I know that wenge wood tends to have those bright spots in the wood.

I am now wondering why this piece of brazilian rosewood below has those bright wenge spots too ?

Is this something I should be worried about ?

DSC_0865.jpgDSC_0864.jpgDSC_0863.jpg
 
Looks more like a pumice filler that hasn't been 'cleared' properly. Been there, done it. Hard to recover from but it's possible, very lengthy process though.
Occasionally you'll get mineral inclusions that are similar but this doesn't look like it. I could be wrong though.
Of course it's just an aesthetic issue.
 
The builder says that this is the grain of the wood. He does not use a pore filler except for the sealer.
 
Ukador said:
The builder says that this is the grain of the wood. He does not use a pore filler except for the sealer.
Click to expand...

The pores are filled. It's easy to spot an open grained wood that has not been pore filled. Perhaps the pores are filled with the actual varnish/finish, which is perfectly possible to do but it does take a little longer.
If he hasn't used a separate pore filler then the light coloured streaks must be due to some sort of mineral inclusion. It's just that I haven't come across wood that displays it to that extent. Usually you get the odd pore that has a deposit, not many though. The Back also looks a little figured, which must be fairly rare for Brazilian Rosewood.
 
Braz differs so much from sample to sample. I have had numerous acoustics and classicals (and some electrics with Braz boards) and each was unique in appearance. On one the wood was a light cocoa powder color with very minimal streaking and another was dark and purplish in spots. It just depends on the tree.
 
Apparently these are mineral deposits in the wood. Addressed on this two sites:
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176881
an excerpt from one of the posts talking about what a Taylor rep. told him:
I don't recall the guy's name that I talked to but in a nutshell: Some Rosewood has mineral "deposits?" imbedded in the grain. These will show up under the finish and are actually in the grain of the wood. He said that they could possibly take the guitar and sand and refeinish but the mineral will show back through again. On mine it runs with the grain of the wood as what looks like small white marks in the grain around the body periodically. If I look inside the body of the instrument I can see the mineral marks in the unfinished rosewood. This adds "character" to the instrument (sales pitch?) and does not affect the tone or durability of the instrument according to him.

http://www.foroflamenco.com/printable.asp?m=215006&mpage=1
 
Last edited:
I have seen just this sort of mineral deposits on raw wood, no finish or filler. These mineral deposits are part of the natural wood, and they run through the wood so sanding these off would just reveal more.
 
You can always dig them out before you pore fill if you don't like the look and many people don't, especially if they're paying top dollar for BRW. I dig them out but I haven't been able to avoid a few random specs in the final product. I don't think they add character.
 
Well, Im not turned off - I love this Uke and the look of it. I was just wondering if those "spots" are a problem or not.

rosewoodback.jpg
front.jpg
 
Well wood is a natural material. You have to live with and embrace some of it's quirks. . . . . or switch to the much more predictable and uniform plastic.
 
I think it adds character, and it really is a beautiful instrument.
 
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