Official Luthiers Forum!

When Martin switched to EIR from Brazilian it was as much about availability as it was about the price. They wanted to process their own logs and the Brazilian government didn't allow exporting raw timber.
At one time Jose Romanillos said he preferred EIR to Brazilian.
As BRW has become harder to get it seems the quality difference between the two has become amplified.

I'll second what Clay said -- IMO, Indian RW is not inferior to Brazilian RW and, honestly, not all that different sounding either. Brazilian RW and some of the other RW's like Madagascar, Honduran, Bois de Rose -- these species definitely seem to be slightly more musical than Indian RW in the raw form. However, once you slap on the bracing, attach it to the sides and then put the much more important tone contributor (the top) on, these minute differences really aren't that significant. This isn't to say they aren't noticeable tho' -- Brazilian RW sounds a bit more "smokey" and "dark" if all things are kept consistent. It is no doubt an incredible tonewood but there are other incredible and affordable tonewoods out there as well.

For my customers, I strongly consider both the top and the back woods. If a customer loves a Sitka/Brazilian RW of mine -- then I can get really close by using German Spruce or Engelmann with Indian RW. The added complexity that Euro and Engelmann give in comparison to Sitka help push the tone to in the direction I want by offsetting the difference between IRW and BRW. In other words, by carefully choosing tonewoods and have a very consistent build style, you create very similar tonalities with different tonewoods. It is for this reason, that Brazilian RW could cease to be available and I wouldn't be crushed by its loss because that Brazilian RW sound can still be achieved with other combinations -- at least, close enough that the differences would be negligible.

I certainly agree that the Brazilian/Sitka and Indian/European combinations are quite similar (important to be aware of when looking at Martins from the 70s).

Important to note as well is that even during the period when Brazilian rosewood was commonly available, many of the best classical makers used both it and Indian interchangably and there are even guitars around with the species mixed.

Another extremely important factor for me as a builder is the greater stability of Indian rosewood. I can sleep better at night knowing that my guitars out there are far less likely to crack.
Brazilian sure is beautiful, but kind of like that girl you really wanted to marry but knew deep down that she would probably make your life miserable.

It depends.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

BRW is generally denser and stiffer than IRW, and has lower damping as well. There is, of course, a lot of overlap.

I like to use cedar or redwood for tops when I'm using a higher damping B&S wood. I like to think it sort of averages out, although that's probably as much me fooling myself as anything.

Yes. The name 'rosewood' came about because fresh-cut BR smells like roses....it is not in the rose family. Most of the other rosewoods (Dalbergia species) have a smell, but it is not that smell.
As far as furniture woods go, the same is true with mahogany. In Europe, both mahogany and BR are 'exotic' woods that add value to the object, be it furniture or guitars.
The other factor not lost on luthiers (or cabinetmakers) is that BR is relatively easy to work and to finish.

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John