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I have seen lots of jatoba boards that looked like that. And jatoba is quite dense.

Here's some info about it: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/ ... jatoba.htm

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Its not Koa or Aussie Blackwood....grain texture looks more like Maclura Tinctoria aka Argentine Osage Orange or formerly "Fustic".



http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/argentine-osage-orange/


Cheers

Kim

I'm firmly in the "That ain't koa or black acacia" camp. I'm pretty confident about that. I'm also in the "I have no idea what it is" camp. I'm really confident about that.

Tee hee hee noice one Todd

Man, what a great resource that site is! Kim, this looks like the best candidate yet, esp based on the characteristics mentioned -- high density, end grain appearance, the close grain, etc. The only inconsistency is that it's described as yellow. I don't see much yellow in the stuff I have, rather its distinctively salmon pink/orange.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Colour would depend upon the board at hand, 'all' wood properties can vary within species, especially colour. The other factor of course is oxidation...yellow today...salmon pink tomorrow maybe.

Cheers

Kim

Another vote for not-Koa. Could you weigh it to get the density? That may help narrow the options. (e.g., Koa is ~40pcf, Jatoba ~55pcf.)

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David Malicky

A close up of the end grain is a helpful id. aid. Preferably hand planed.
L.

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

I used to know a guy who identified wood by licking it...

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Maybe you could send a splinter of the wood to the
Lacey/CITES commitee.
Then you could go through 10 years of them deciding what it is,
if it is ilegal, and if you can actually put a tool to it,
and make something out of it,
without it being confiscated.

Send it to one of the wood ID labs. A small scrap is all they need.
They'll put it under an electron microscope, tell you for sure what it is, and charge you nada.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

heh.. I wonder if they are obligated to report when they identify protected species?

I have a set of back and sides that were sold to me as Brazilian, but I'm not completely sure, and would love to get an 'official' identification. I bought it on ebay (knowing full well it might not be what they claimed), and there is obviously no documentation. I have no idea of its origin.

Edit: adding the picture


This picture has a bit of a yellow tint to it. I used my phone camera because it was handy. I should take it outside and get an outdoor picture in natural light, but dang it's cooold outside.. not to mention DARK!

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Jim Hansen

Perhaps you could post a closeup photo.
Smell?

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John

John,

I attached a photo to my previous post...

If this is in fact BRW, it's the only time I've ever had the chance to smell it. The smell is definitely unique, and strong. It doesn't smell anything like the Indian sets I have.

I would like to say it smells like *something*, but I honestly can't say it smells like anything I'm familiar with.

I'm not too worried about it. I have no intention of selling it, or selling whatever guitar I decide to build with it, but it would be nice to be 'sure' if you know what I mean. =)

Thanks,
Jim

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Jim Hansen

No doubt you're right about color variation. As far as oxidation, the colors seen in my images are straight out of the planer, so about as un-oxidized as they can be.

Jim -- Brazilian has the most distinctively sweet smell of any wood I've ever come across. Some say it smells like chocolate, but to me it smells like candy.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

+1 - to me it smells like Bazooka bubble gum. Regardless, that looks like a pretty nice set, Braz or not. Should make a pretty nice guitar. What's the tap tone like? To my ears, the Brazilian has a very clear bell-like tone. More "glassy" than other rosewoods I have.

it's 3/16" thick, so I haven't done much tapping. It is very glass like in it's feel though.

I don't know if I would compare the smell to bubble gum. It's almost like a sweet syrupy smell, and it might be my imagination, but the smell seems more concentrated around the sap wood in the center.

Sadly, the side set that goes with it is fairly narrow, and it's about half sapwood. This limits my choices for body styles. I still haven't decided what to build with it. I've got about ten other sets of various types of wood that I intend to use before I decide what to do with this set.

I just wish I knew for certain what it is =).

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Jim Hansen

Its obviuosly " Tree Wood " Grown from the ground up . I know this because " Shelf " Grown wood tends to be less knotty and a lighter color caused by the artifical lighting used in its growth .

Depending on its country of origin , it COULD be tree wood grown from the top down instead of ground up . However it wouldnt have as sweet a smell . And it would be more brittle since there is less water in that type growth.

So based on all ive read here I have to firmly believe its " Tree Wood " Ground grown and well watered .

Latin " Treeribus Naturaliorem "

I hope this helps

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I believe it to be new growth BR. It definitely looks familiar, since I have cut hundreds of similar sets.

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John