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Hello,
I would say the wood pictured is not Dalbergia Nigra / Brazilian Rosewood. For me it looks a lot like Machaerium scleroxylon / Pauo Ferro /Caviuna /Santos Rosewood.

I always thought Channel No.5 has to do with Brazilian Rosewood???? My beloved girlfriend is using it, and for me I find something in common about the smell?

Merry Christmas, Alex

Hello again!
so the chances of it being brazillian rosewood are getting thinner...
well, my BRW road trips are not yet over, maybe i´ll get lucky and find some stuff next time...

what about pau ferro? is that an oily wood? and it´s really the same as santos rosewood? i thought pau ferro was cesalpinia ferrea and santos rosewood was machaerium scleroxylon, machaerium villosum being jacaranda paulista... this tropical wood stuff is heavy-duty...


cheers,
Miguel.

_________________
member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Hi, yes you are right and also not....wikipedia is saying:

"Pau ferro (Caesalpinia ferrea or Machaerium scleroxylum Tul.) is an exotic tree found in Brazil and Bolivia. Its wood is often used for making fingerboards for electric basses and guitars. It has a similar feel and similar tonal attributes to rosewood, but is harder and has a slightly lighter colour. The wood may also be used for flooring, fancy furniture, and handgun grips. It is also known by the names morado, palo santos, caviuna, Brazilian ironwood, and Bolivian rosewood, though it is not actually rosewood.

In guitar making, pau ferro is not only used for fingerboards or bridges but also can be used for the back and sides of the acoustic guitar. The Brazilian guitar maker Giannini uses the wood (laminated) in many of its classical guitars.[1] Although similar in many ways to rosewood, pau ferro has slightly different tonal qualities, with coloration from coffee brown to yellow brown and purple.

The Stevie Ray Vaughan model Signature Fender Stratocaster comes with a pau ferro fingerboard."


As far as i Know ther is a differnece between both, but both are often called Pau ferro, but the fact is that the Machaerium scleroxylum is much more often found on the market. Caesalpinia ferrea is more often called Brazilian Ironwood, it is even more heavy, not so colourful, not so stripey.

The name Pau Ferro, (which just means pau=wood and ferro= iron) is even used for more species, so its a bit confusing, the same with granadillo, grenadillo, grenadill and so on....took me also years to fight through this jungle.

best regards, alex

Dang.

There go my hopes of meeting somebody special who also smells like Brazilian Rosewood...

Hi there! My mother tongue is portuguese, so the portuguese part of the equation is rather OK. the problem is that these woods have different names in brazil and in portugal (and in english, of course). worse, some names are different in different parts of brazil. even worse, some names refer to more than one species (often very unrelated) and the direct translation of the original name directs to a different wood (phew!). just an example:

brazilian rosewood - in brazilian: jacarandá da baia (reads jacarandah da ba-hee-ah), in portuguese: pau santo (literally, holy wood).
pau santo (in brazil) - a group name for several different species, none of them related to the dalbergia genus (ex: Kielmeyera coriacea)
holy wood - another name for lignum vitae
jacaranda (in portugal) - Jacaranda mimosifolia (jacaranda mimoso in brazil), blue jacaranda in english (also unrelated to the dalbergia genus)
pau rosa (literally rose wood) - Aniba rosaeodora, this is the one in Channel n. 5


yikes!

cheers,
Miguel.

_________________
member of the guild of professional dilettantes