Brazilian Rosewood has many beautiful looks, from Red, Brown, Purples and
Oranges. This is supposedly the "Holy Grail" of Acoustic Flat top back and side woods.
Tonally it is considered by many as the best wood out there, it has a glass-like tap tone. Brazilian
is no longer legally exported from Brazil (protected similar to Ivory and Tortoise
shell) so it is very rare and very expensive.
Contrary to popular belief
this wood does not come from the inland rain forest, but is a coastal wood.
Brazilian is also sometimes prone to cracking if not kept in proper humidity.
 Prices vary from $300.00 to $3500.00 per set, as a rule the price
difference reflects cosmetics and not acoustic properties. Brazilian will often
have worm holes, this is not necessarily a negative quality. Worm hole are
easily filled and can add a dramatic effect to the wood. The best
Brazilian is wood that died and was left to rot somewhat, this gives it much of
the sweet smell and dramatic colors.
CF Martin, Taylor, Collings and some other high profile guitar builders
sell Brazilian Rosewood guitars for as much as $6,000.00 more than the regular
base price of the guitar, On limited editions Gibson has charged over $30,000.00
more. Currently the absolute best price deal I have found on an Acoustic Flat
Top
guitar with Brazilian Rosewood is the Tacoma
"Amazon." (Pretty Awesome) Collings or Taylor would charge three to four
times as much & I liked the Amazon far better.
By the way, I suggest
Macassar Ebony which in my opinion sounds excellent and tends to
also be a little pricey but not as bad as the Brazilian Rosewood.
On electric guitars Paul Reed Smith has used Brazilian Rosewood to make
solid necks from it, I have experimented with this wood and I feel that that is
absolutely overkill. I didn't think that there was any better tone, In fact I
liked the Maple Neck with Brazilian fingerboard combination far better. Of
course this is completely subjective to personal taste. But the Maple/Rosewood
combination had twice the response and liveliness that the solid Rosewood neck
had. (I favor Ebony fingerboards over all Rosewood fingerboards).
I am planning on introducing some
Quicksilver Guitars with Solid Brazilian
Rosewood Tops in 2002.
Ed Roman
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