INDIAN ROSEWOOD
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Click on Part ID to add to shopping cart PART No. Description Price Ea. 3+
Steel String/Classic
Back, steel string, best, see update —
Sides, steel string, best, see update —
Back, steel string, good, see update $50.00
Sides, steel string, good, see update $50.00
Back, steel string, standard Call or email (preferred)
Sides, steel string, standard Call or email (preferred)
Back, steel string, 2nd, OM/D sizes Call or email (preferred)
Sides, steel string, 2nd, OM/D sizes Call or email (preferred)
for All Indian rosewood
In India, Stewart Withem, partner of Timber Traders, left; Todd Taggart, right; rosewood log foreground.
Right, sawing Indian rosewood fingerboards.
Right, foliage of Indian rosewood.
Indian Rosewood Update
Since good forest wood—as opposed to coffee estate wood—is getting more and more difficult to get, we have asked our supplier to concentrate on beauty rather than perfectly straight grain and quartersawn-ness. (It's generally easier to come up with the straighter grain material in the coffee estate logs than it is in the forest logs.) Our grading has changed a little from the old days, so that we look first for good color and beauty in the wood, then straight grain.
Only rarely do we find a set that slabs out a bit, so quartersawn-ness is generally not a big grading factor. Color-match is important, though. But what might have been considered a few years ago as anomalies in the wood, we like to think of as beauty marks. We like splashes of color, or grain swirls, or unusual coloration or patterning, and we tend to move these more interesting sets into the higher grades onto our Weekly Special. Please let us know your desires when selecting for you. If you do like the more traditional straight-grained material, please let us know.
Again, note that we put both our best sets and our unusual Indian rosewood sets up on the Weekly Special.
More on: Indian rosewood update.
A back set is 2-pieces, bookmatched, as is a side set. There is not a wide range of color and grain characteristics in Indian rosewood, especially compared to Brazilian rosewood. The photos that accompany the part numbers above are typical examples, although most of our customers, other than factories rarely order the lower grade sets. So the pictures of the guitars do not necessarily represent the grades. (Who pays a photographer to shoot 2nd grade wood?) But the photos do give you an idea of the range in the material.
Left, known as "Super A" grade, these stickered Indian rosewood sets take a number of months for cutters to accumulate. This is a new grade to me; in the past we always ordered A grade, anticipating an A-B mix.
Right, steel string guitar by Mr. Mike Doolin of Portland, Ore.
Generally the lower grades are of rather lackluster color, often coffee estate logs with coarse grain. On the other hand some like this kind of material because it's easy to finish, doesn't clog sandpaper, etc. The more expensive wood is more striking: richer in color, finer grained, well-quartered, usually straighter grained, and has very good matches of backs to sides.
In the case of Indian rosewood, sets are supplied matched and the better grades are sanded. We are assuming that those desiring the lower grades are requesting those grades because of price, and sanding only adds to the cost.
Above guitar by Paul Jacobson of Cleveland, MO.
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