Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello,

Wondered if I could ask knowledgeable forum member's for some advice.

I have an acoustic Back and side set of ANDAMAN PADAUK, but the person I got it from can give me 99% that it is Andaman but not 100% definite, I think I bought it at a premium price.
Is there a way that ANDAMAN Padauk timber can be (Identified) from it's variants like African and so on , I did email the person and he did give me the reason why he is so sure it is what it is, I could post upon here the email he sent me if needed, I would like to know How to Identify the Andaman wood myself.
Any help would be much appreciated

Regards
lee

I have the World Woods In Color book but it's at home & I'm at work. It does list them separately but I don't know if it mentions any traits that can be easily checked.

I do recall in one of the James Krenov books that he said Andaman retains more of the orange/red color after it oxidizes where African turns brown.

Kevin Looker

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Hello Kevin

I have also come a cross that statement when searching the net for info, the thing is that the fading/oxidizing in the African variety of Padauk happens over a period of time, so this would mean that we would not know which species/variant of Padauk we made the guitar from, baring this in mind that The Andaman padauk is of much better quality of wood it does not fade out to the not very nice brownie Grey also because it is Andaman we could expect to pay a premium over the African or other variants, adding to this, we either stay away from this type of timber all together or we must take the word of the people selling it.

lee

Have a browse here http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/padauk/padauk%20fact%20sheet.htm read the 'web quotes' at the bottom of the page
and here too, tons of pics and descriptions http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/padauk.htm

_________________
http://www.bobmatthewsguitars.co.uk

So I dug out my World Woods in Color book.

Per the book:

African Padauk is called barwood in the U.K. while Andaman Padauk is just called Padauk.

Andaman has interlocked grain that produces roe or striped figure on quartered surfaces (like Sapele).

African has straight to interlocked grain.

African has excellent strength in bending while Andaman has moderate bending strength.

African machines easily & has only a slight blunting effect on tools while Andaman is more difficult to machine because of it's interlocking grain & has a moderate blunting effect on tools.

Hope this helps.

Kevin Looker

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I've used quite a bit of both over the years and Andaman has a less intense orange color when freshly cut. It also
has, at times, some subtle pinkish undertones and is less garrish overall.

They can both have interlocking grain, have a about the same odor, and although Andaman darkens
and gets muddy looking over time, it's doesn't nearly as much as the other.

Thank you all for replying , it's been really Helpful.
Here's a link to where I got the wood from, go down to the description see what you think.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-ANDAMAN-VERM ... 2eb3dfa4e0


lee