Official Luthiers Forum!

Sometimes I just get bored and that second pot of coffee kicks in and I have too much time and.....well.....

I was just contemplating the future. I like building guitars and will most likely keep mucking around with it for a while. With all the fuss about CITES and such, one has to think about what amateur building will be like years down the road. As I continue to try my hand at replicating pre-war Martin-style dreadnoughts, I can't help but have the thought BRW top & sides in my head quite frequently. I know I'm not at a point right now to where I want to go ut and do one like that, EIRW works just fine for now. But, someday...who knows. So, that being said, I have seen a few places on the net that offer BRW back/side sets....and yes, they seem to run about $1000. My dad has a '62 Gibson classical (can't toss out the model right now) and it's a real beauty. I'm a bit apprehensive about just tossing out a grand in hope of getting the real deal from a source(s) that I know nothing about. So I ask here, if any of you have built with BRW for back and sides, and what sources are known to be of good character? I'm not really sure how to persue this (setting up a small stash for 1-2 future builds). Any thoughts?

thanks...curtis

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"I need to hurry up, the years are going by far too fast"

Did I say something wrong...? Is it the "B" word..?

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"I need to hurry up, the years are going by far too fast"

I bought some from Darren Hipner. But someone recently said he was going out of business.

A few others on ebay. The best way is to just start watching auctions and feedback.

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Pat

Walter Lipton at Euphonon had some old Martin stock a while back.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Welcome to the Brazilian Rosewood Club. The first rule of Brazilian Rosewood Club is: you do not talk about Brazilian Rosewood Club. The second rule of Brazilian Rosewood Club is: you DO NOT talk about Brazilian Rosewood Club! Third rule of Brazilian Rosewood Club: someone yells "sold!", takes your cash, hands you the set, the auction is OVER.

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

I've never caught the BRW bug so no experience buying it here but....

As wood goes these days, buying now and building some inventory is the way to go.

My current stock of what I would call 'staples' such as ebony for finger boards and Honduras mahogany for necks is getting low so I went to my normal supplier here in southern california. He didn't have any and said he wasn't able to get quality suff any longer. I imagine in a few years many of the woods we prefer to use will become even more expensive and harder to source.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

The problem with BRW these days is indeed one of quality. Much of the stuff I see for sale is not what I'd consider good enough for a guitar, and should probably been turned into a coffee table. That includes most of the fancy 'stump' wood that was in such demeand a few years ago. It's very difficult to judge this from a picture on your computer screen.

The main quality markers, IMO, are that the wood is reasonable close to quartered, at least most of the way across, and straight grained, with little run out except for 'stripe' figure. Note that the 'spiderweb' figure you see in many tropical woods, including BRW, is 'color figure' that doesn't actuallly follow the grain. It's a response of the tree to some sort of attack, such as burrowing beetles or a fungus, and amounts to chemical warfare of some sort. The black spider web lines can contain a lot of silica, for example, which presumably made the wood harder to for the bugs to chew: it certainly can do a number on edge tools! Stump wood is usually neither stright grained or lacking run out, and often has high built-in stress that can cause problems.

I would not buy any wood on line unless I could send it back. You're unlikely to get that privilege.

Have you tried personally contacting luthiers who routinely sell BRW guitars. There are several guys getting up in age and they may be talked into selling the odd set.... Especially as the prospect of retirement comes up.

Earlier last year a friend walked into my shop with an arm load of wood. He said "you can have the Madagascar rosewood, I want you to build something for me out of the Brazilian". Since the Braz was pretty marginal and had some cracks we decided that two identical parlors were in order - the same Lutz spruce tops, same bracing, necks, inlay, yadda yadda. They were build simultaneously and are identical to an EIR parlor that I had build for my daughter.





Frankly I can't tell any difference between the three of them.