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I have the ich to buy some more wood... Has anyone used camatillo rosewood?

Sanford

Sanford I will have to defer to someone who builds guitars as to it's use in instruments, but I personally love the wood. I bought two small boards some years back to make a small project out of and the color, grain and figure of the wood still amazes me.

I only ask that if you use it, please post lots of pics!

Mike

One of the best ringing tonewoods I have ever used. Pretty nice looking too.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

I like it too, but beware the purple dust! When you sand it, the sawdust is VERY purple, and likes to get all over things. Be careful if you use it for a rosette. As you can see in Peter's picture, it does oxidize to a very nice brown after a bit.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Built one about 3 years ago. Beautiful sounding tonewood. A joy to work with, too. It's as purple as purple can get when fresh and oxidizes to a mellower deep brownish over time. But, I did get a small crack in the back two years later which I would presume was from the 'dry' environment of its' new home. Subsequently heard/read that camatillo is prone to cracking...? Anyways, minor fix and advised the young owner (gave it to her for free) to ensure care especially humdity, bought her a humidifier for the guitar case. No problems since and she loves it!!!

Cannot say if the crack was from 'crack prone' material, or dry environment or both.....has never happened on any other rosewood guitars (9). Was it a hairline crack I could not detect during construction??? Hope not.

Hi I just finished a guitar with camintillo binding .I had a small problem with the purple bleeding into the spruce top then it wouldnt sand out. Every thing turned out o.k. but just be careful when your finishing it will bleed.

Its bloodwood.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Iirc, LMI says in their catalog that they don't know whether it will be stable. The grain looks kinda wild on the sets I've seen.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.