Official Luthiers Forum!

Any thoughts on braz. cherry?

I use it quite often in my guitars and find it is very nice tonally, relatively easy to work, falls in between mahogany and rosewood as an alternative wood. The instruments I have made with it have sounded great and are very responsive and project nicely. I have a good source for it and plenty of stock, more affordable than mahogany and stronger.
I was just wondering what other builders think, as I get very good feed back on its appearance and tone.

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Nehemiah Covey
www.coveysacoustics.com

I have built custom jewelry cases and a set of speaker cases with it before. I have not used in my lutherie yet I love the color and grain texture. I know it is a common wood for high end flooring.

By the way 2 of your 3 pictures are blank (solid black) at least on my end. I see them if I click on the image

They usually call it Jatoba outside the flooring market. Given that it's in there, I'd guess that it's quite sustainable which is good if you're getting good results! It's really durable stuff, though I've found it quite heavy and prone to cracking. It also has a nice wide colour variance, much like IRW, which can be seen as a benefit to the more creative luthier (or a frustration if you're trying to match sides to something!)

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

a/k/a Jatoba or Hymenaea courbaril. Strong, stiff, lovely chatoyance. Interlocking grain. It's highly resistant to bending. I recommend thinning sides more than usual, and for a cutaway, even thinner and a soak with fabric softener.

Here's a recent one:

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I've only used it in center strips on laminated necks. I'll chime in and say that it is indeed very heavy and dense, and the stock I've been using is very prone to burning while sanding....really gotta be watchful on a thickness or belt sander with it.

Beautiful stuff though!

I had hugh 1/4 sawn planks of Jatoba i bought 30 years ago!!

it was sold as Brazilian Cherry!!!!
Anything Brazilian was a" buy" it piece !

We just resentently cut them onto sets!
it's much darker than the pics everyone has posted.
A mix of Bubinga & Indian look!!
It's loaded with silica!!!!
killed the bandsaw blades !!!!!!

I'll get to make some guitars with it soon!!
Sorry to jump in on this post without using it for guitars yet!!!

mike

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Mike Collins

I had hugh 1/4 sawn planks of Jatoba i bought 30 years ago!!

it was sold as Brazilian Cherry!!!!
Anything Brazilian was a" buy" it piece !

We just resentently cut them onto sets!
it's much darker than the pics everyone has posted.
A mix of Bubinga & Indian look!!
It's loaded with silica!!!!
killed the bandsaw blades !!!!!!

I'll get to make some guitars with it soon!!
Sorry to jump in on this post without using it for guitars yet!!!

mike

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Mike Collins

I love it for guitars
I hate it for stairs

I broke a side bending by hand - went too fast. 2nd try went real well. I found it decent to work with and really like the sound

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John Ressler

John -is the neck Jatoba also??
mike

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Mike Collins

No - it is a mahogany neck. It is such a close match though for this particular back and side set. The colors for Jatoba can vary greatly though - from dark browns to light reds and a variety of colors in between.

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John Ressler

I have a couple nice sets that I look forward to building with one of these days. I also have an extra side to practice with since some have mentioned the difficulty.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

John;
That's a beautiful guitar !!!

The heel carving --------nice!!!!!!!!
man how long did that take??????

You should be proud !

Mike

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Mike Collins

I really like to use braz. cherry, and I have found it really rather easy to work, little to no burning, and it bends easily even for cutaways if I scrape to .85". Thicker than that and i have a tough time getting nice bends without clamping in side jigs. Like I said though I have quite a nice supply of it and offer it as an alternative to EIR.
That is a nice specimen for advocating Braz.Cherry Howard

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Nehemiah Covey
www.coveysacoustics.com

Thanks Mike
The heel carving took about 8 - 10 hours (over the course of several days). It was harder than I anticipated - it is a lot different than doing a relief carving on a flat board.

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John Ressler

In my inexperience I thought the two black looking pictures were of the wood that Hesh used on the guitar in his avatar.

Is the braz cherry hard to bend because of brittleness/cracking? or does it just want to relax back to its original flat shape?

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Hey, nice acanthus leaf, John! I wish I knew how to do that.

I would not say Jatoba is brittle. Definitely not in the "crackwood" family. But it is very stiff, and tends to break suddenly when you reach it's elastic limit. It has more than the usual amount of springback.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.