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I've got a line on some purpleheart that looks like it make some nice back and side sets. What have you found about working with this wood? Seems a bit splintery. What color will it oxidize to? Tonal characteristics?? Thanks.

Very hard, very splintery (keep the tweezers handy), bends fine, oxidizes to a reddish brown mahogany like color. Every piece is different in the rate at which it changes color. If you keep it in the case, it will take a long time to change color and in some cases, may keep a lot of it's color.