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I mentioned i bought out a small hobby shop and got more than i paid for in tools.
In addition to those there were also a few Back and side sets.

These are supposedly more than 20 years old and he thought of the 6 sets that one was indian rosewood and the rest were brazilian.
He had told me he had 20 builds under his belt, so i am hoping he knew what he spoke of.

I'm thinking i got more like 3 qnd 3.

I'll have to start another thread on "restoring" these as a few of them had been taken down to around 3.3 mm and they all seem to have warped.

Without further ado, here's the pics and i'd be grateful for thoughts.

This first one he said was Indian rosewood and it looks like it to me. Some twisting on the sides and a little cupping on the back.


The remaining sets are supposed to be Braz.

I think this one could be.


and so could this one.


I'm afraid this one looks more like Indian to me.
Certainly my flash dulled out the colors. What say you?


This next one also looks Indian but it is marked with a "b"
I have never worked yet with either . so what do i know?


And this one i am fairly sure is Braz.
It was packed like something from an Indiana Jones movie. Packed in a solid wooden case and screwed down.
Sides are perfect, back is a bit wonky.


S i am of the mind 1 is definitely Indian, and likely 4 and 5 despite the "B". the rest could be Brazilian.

I don't really smell roses with any of them, but then again when i was working on my first guitar with a Madagascar rosewood fret board everyone was ranting about the smell of roses and i smelt nothing.

I won't be heart broken if you think they might not be.
If you think they might, it'll be years before i am ready to use them and hopefully i can stabilize them in the meantime?

Again, thanks for playing.

Rob

Lightly sand the wood and put your nose to it. Even the old thick veneer I use retains some smell when lightly sanded. To me Brazilian has a flowery fragrance, some smell chocolate - a sweet pleasant smell. Indian - not so much. Some have described it as smelling like an animal barn.

Having just finished a nice glass of black russian, sniffing wood somehow sounded like a wonderful idea, especially since i Know what an animal barn smells like.

#1 and #4 definitely have a barn smell.
with #2, I was surprised to detect a definitive flowery smell. I was not expecting that.
# 6 had a faint sweet smell with no barn odor.
both #3 and #5 are somewhat in between.

Interesting.

2,3,6 probably Brazilian, rest probably Indian.

3 is very nice. I'd join it the other way around.

Indian is easily differentiated from the other rosewoods by its small and numerous pores.

The best bet to positively identify brazilian is to do the tests contained here.

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-artic ... rosewoods/

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

+1 to scratch and sniff= it's nearly impossible to mistake the smell of BRW. I've had some sweet smelling Dalbergia species but none of the stuff I have ever put hands on is as pungent as BRW. If set #1 is BRW you probably got a pretty good deal. My money is on whatever high end BRW he had he was smart enough to sell for top dollar and it's EIR. A well quartered straight grained set of BRW like that would easily get $1K in return so it would be foolish to include a set like that as part of a bundle deal. Who knows though- if you're really lucky maybe he got kicked in the head as a kid or something! Kidding of course.

+1 to turning #3 the other way around (insides to the outsides so the sap wood is in the center), book match it too- one of the backs needs to be flipped front to back to match the sap wood up once it's been flipped sap to center. Looks like it could be a pretty decent set of BRW but hard to tell with pics alone.

- in terms of cupped sides- thin to .050"-0.60" and laminate with epoxy. There's a couple threads on building side laminating jigs if you don't have one already. Not only will it resolve the cupped sides but you'll end up with more rigid sides which should improve responsiveness and resist cracking as well- win/win/win.

Thanks all, sounds like we agree.

As far a #3 with the sapwood, that edge is curved and i don't think any of that will survive joining.

I am on guitars #2 and 3 and both are padauk. I laminated the sides for those and am quite happy with how they turned out. Definately a consideration for these.

I'll check the pores and maybe try the inflorescence test...

IMHO they are all IRW but I've been wrong before. Like Clay said sand them. You can tell very quickly. You don't need much. Just a light sanding.

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You can always add a backstrip between the plates if it gets too narrow after joining. Somagyi does it, I wouldn't hesitate to do it either.

Fingerstyle, all the plates except for number 6 are plenty wide, im just saying the sapwood would be gone.

Bobc... respect your opinion so i will try the inflouresence test. Only one set #2, was distinctivly floral.

Thsnks all...

Right, but the way you have them oriented now it looks like the backs get more flatsawn to the inside where the joint would be as currently positioned . Ideally you want that to be facing the outer edges with the more well quartered edges facing in. Also one of the sides is facing upside down. You'll get a better grain match if you flip one side upside down and face the more quartered edges to the middle. Just my $.02

no 1 looks like shedua or ovangkol , Have lots of it

After another good look I think set NO 6 could be Brazilian Sapwood set has one back upside down. Look at the sapwood. One is on top and the other on the bottom. Not book matched. I still think set 001 is IRW

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
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The Zootman
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Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Of all those sets, I’d only like to build with #3 and #4. 4 looks like irw. 3 could be Braz,but could be another thing. I’d also join 3 the other way around,not because of sap but because there’s less flatsawn area that way and more of those nice ink lines.

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In addition to what's been mentioned here, I would ignore the "B" designation. I believe that's a grade, and has nothing to do with species.