Comparison of Two Rosewoods

sequoia

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As I've related before, I was given a dreadnought guitar kit from LMI about 30 years. I had no idea how to assemble it so it sat in the back of my closet for decades until I started making ukuleles a couple of years ago. I use bits and pieces from the kit all the time and the wood is beautiful. Below is a picture of peghead veneer using the old East Indian rosewood which was probably cut about 35 years ago and rosewood I just bought recently for the fretboard which was probably cut 2 to 3 years ago. Notice any difference? I think one was probably wild cut and the newer stuff farm raised. Kinda like the difference between wild caught catfish and farm raised catfish: One tastes sweet and one tastes like mud.

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Sonokeling is the specie you now have available. This is a generic term for plantation grown Indian rosewood where favourable spacing of the trees allows more rapid growth, hence wider 'grain' and greyer color. I've just cut some wild old growth IR and it couldn't be more different - dense, more 'oily' and a gorgeous deep purple color. Chalk and cheese really...
 
Sonokeling is the specie you now have available. This is a generic term for plantation grown Indian rosewood where favourable spacing of the trees allows more rapid growth, hence wider 'grain' and greyer color. I've just cut some wild old growth IR and it couldn't be more different - dense, more 'oily' and a gorgeous deep purple color. Chalk and cheese really...

Chalk and cheese indeed... The same thing is true of old growth redwood which were light starved so they grew very slowly. Once they cut the old trees the new trees sprang up with wide growth rings. Just doesn't look (or sound) as good.

Below a picture of an East Indian rosewood tree in case anyone is interested. Dalbergia latifolia living along a road in India. Looks like a tree to me.

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Yeah, but the fretboard is gonna be oiled so it will turn so dark nobody will ever notice.... Oh, and it also is not as hard as the good stuff. Adios East Indian Rosewood. It was nice knowing you. Up next Katolox???? Sounds more like a tampon than a fretboard to me.
 
Try Mgurere or leadwood. Bagpipe wood suppliers will have it. Tambootie is also a good alternative to the inaccurately named but on the list, I beieve, Sanots Rosewood....
 
Try Mgurere or leadwood. Bagpipe wood suppliers will have it. Tambootie is also a good alternative to the inaccurately named but on the list, I beieve, Sanots Rosewood....

I actually picked up a block of mgurere from a violin maker who was going to use it for a bridge. Never used it but it seems very hard and would be good for fretboards. Would slay a tool edge in minutes, but hard for sure.

The primary purpose of a fretboard is that it should be hard to take the abuse and wear it is going to be subjected too. My gripe with this new rosewood is that it is soft and doesn't even look that good. So what good is it? Traditional I guess... Below is a picture of my player uke that I built about six months ago. I play this instrument a lot. I needed a change of strings today so I re-oiled the fretboard. But notice what I think is excessive wear on the fretboard. In my opinion a good dense piece of rosewood should not show this sort of wear after only 6 months of playing. It's all that soft summer grain because they grow them too fast.

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