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Three pieces, each is 1 1/2" x 9 1/2" x 5/16"

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Pau Ferro?

Looks like Koa from here.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

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Another vote for Koa

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Jim Womack

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. "
Will Rogers

Cameras, browsers and monitors (as well as my eyes) can play tricks when looking at pictures of wood. It looks like pau fero, morado, bolivian rosewood or one of the many other names for Machaerium scleroxylon. It doesn't look like Koa to me, but it could me my browser, monitor or eyes. Smell is the best way to tell for me.

I'm curious, was it sold to you as Braz? I guess that's possible if it smells right.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

...and if it smells like cinnamon, might be Pau Ferro. I've used a bit of it recently, and it looks very close to the stuff I've had.

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Rob

Well, I'm kind of a newbie and I bought it on ebay, thinking I was getting a brazilian rosewood bridge blank.

I cut it up and gave some of it away. It didn't smell chocolately at all.

so dude says:


The seller offered to refund my money minus shipping. but after recovering pieces, shipping it back, and all, I think I'll just keep these pieces and practice making bridges with em before I try it on something more valuable. They'll still be ok to use on something.

Live and learn.

Should this forum have a section devoted to "be wary of these sellers or websites"? It could be really helpful. Even if my seller believes what he says, he is still in reality selling something as something that it isn't.



ps. bigmikeyc1

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

As others noted it looks like Pao ferro.
This thing about Braz smelling like roses is a bit over the top… It may vaguely ressemble a rose smell when cut wet, but when cut seasoned it doesn't smell at all like roses. At least not those I smelled on planet Earth.
It has a very pleasant fragrant smell, but so does Honduran RW.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I'm totally with you on that. (Gorgeous pic by the way!)

Still, you can't ignore all those factors out there, such the "ooh" you get when it's BRW, or the fact that one just costs more than the other. I'm all for focusing on the end result as well. But deception, whether intentional or not, is still a drag.

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Have you looked at the pores? Pau Ferro has tiny pores, whereas BRW has medium-sized open pores. You can check out the "CITES wood identification guide" and search for 'Machaerium' and 'dalbergia nigra'.

http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/enforce/pdf/wood/Cites_Wood_Guide.pdf

It's not perfect, but it may help you determine with more certainty what kind of wood you got.

best, Christian

I had bought some "Dalberia Nigera" off ebay from a seller. He claimed it was and gave me the same line. . It was not and Ebay refunded my money.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

If it's heavy, it could be Cocobolo. I saw some Sunday night that looked exactly like that. It was Nicaraguan Coco. It does not have the yellow/orange colors that other Coco, I have seen, has. More dark brown and light brown tones. I didn't think it was, but the person who had it brought it back from there 20 years ago. It looked a lot like Amazon Rosewood, to me.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

"Should this forum have a section devoted to "be wary of these sellers or websites"? It could be really helpful. Even if my seller believes what he says, he is still in reality selling something as something that it isn't."

Yes there should be a section and it should be labeled "If you don't know the seller, don't buy it." Let the experience of other Forum users be your guide.

There are many legitimate vendors on eBay (Hi John Hall!) but many more dubious ones. And wood identification isn't easy. Smell and appearance are not sufficient. Scientists measure specific gravity, pore size and density, and many other factors down to the nearly-microscopic to get a good i.d. Even then, without bark, leaves, and seeds, they usually hedge their findings by saying "most likely" or "probably."

Some years ago, I bought some "Brazilian" from a fellow builder who had a bunch of the stuff. When it arrived, I really didn't like it but since he was an acquaintance and more experienced than I, I just shelved the wood and figured that I'd appreciate it more later. In a month or so, the seller called me to say that the wood had been keyed out by a wood scientist and that whatever it was, it wasn't Brazilian. He got the wood back and -- eventually -- I got my money back. Honest mistake, honest seller, and a lesson in the difficulty of selling and buying wood. Don't deal with unknowns and if it seems too good to be true, assume the worst.

Thanks, Rick. Good advice.

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Thanks for posting that link Christian. That document was VERY helpful to me.

I too have a piece of wood that I purchased on eBay back in September 2009 that was supposed to be Dalbergia Nigra, but I've always had my doubts about it. After checking it with my 30x jeweler's loupe and comparing it to that document, I see that it's obviously NOT Dalbergia Nigra. When I sliced it up (last night) into 3 classical bridge sized pieces, it actually looks just like the stuff Martin bought inside. It was obviously stained or dyed on the outside to make it look darker! I'm going to keep going with trying to identify it using the pictures in that document.

FWIW, I have quite a bit of real BRW (bridge and fingerboard blanks, and a couple of b/s sets) that I also compared it to, and all of it looks EXACTLY like it should do per the tropical wood identification document. Interestingly, I had some other "rosewood" bridge blanks that I didn't know really what they were, and can now positively identify them as Dalbergia Latifolia (EIRW).

I emailed the seller asking for a refund of 2/3 of my money. I'll see how it goes.....

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I'd put money on it being Pau Ferro.

Looks like the Pau Ferro I have too. Nothing wrong with it unless you are one of the people who are very allergic to it. it's nice wood. Build with it.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu