Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey guys,
i have been having a debate with someone about idigbo and limba and wanted to get some veiws from some of the members here.

Here in the uk idigbo (terminal ivorensis) is very very cheap and easy to get but limba (terminala supurba) is very very rare an expensive.

in my experience idigbo is yellower in color and courser grained than limba its also not quite as stable and basicaly a totaly diferent wood from limba.

Now the person that i am having this "debate" with claims that becouse they are from the same genus the woods are one and the same.

granted there are simalarities but my argument is that limba is limba idigbo is idigbo.
selling idigbo as limba is the same as selling indian rosewood as brazilian rosewood or cuban mahogany as honduras mahogany etc.

but this person claims that becouse a few ebay sellers sell the stuff as limba it must be the same wood and that the wood you see on old flying v's is actualy idigbo.
I disagree with this but i would love l somone elses opinion as i have been known to be wrong on more than one occasion on such matters

it may well be the case the name korina was once used as general term for the two woods but i feel the two are woods completely diferent and should be sold as such.
i belive that selling someone idigbo and calling it limba is a little naughty becouse A, it forces down the price of genuine limba and B, its dishonest and confusing for the buyer.

If anyone can shed some light on this i would be gratefull as its a subject that is confusing guitar makers all over the uk at present.

Idigbo in itself makes a good wood for electric guitars but i feel it should be used in its own right and on its own merrits as a seperate wood from white/black limba.

I sell both woods as seperate products but it seems that a number of people think the two woods are the same.
i suppose its a bit like the kayha situation where all the diferent kayha's are sold as "african mahogany" should this be the case with the terminala's?

I could be completly wrong so if someone could shed some light on this i would be gratefull.
maybe larry davis could chime in on this as he is very knowlegable about such subjects with years of experience on such matters but any help would be apreciated.

Joel.

I think you answered your question in the second line: different.

I talked to an absurdly good cabinetmaker once about Brazilian rosewood...he said 'which one? there are lots of 'em!'

There are lots of ebay sellers selling other rosewoods grown in Brazil as 'Brazilian rosewood', but it's because they're scammers rather than because the others are the same wood...

The principle at work when appealing to eBay is simple: a million people can be wrong together, but they're still wrong!

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Hi Joel, as Bob said you answered your own question, now be confident in it. Asking a group opinion to answer a technical question is like asking a group of people to opine a technical question.

You can call limba many trade names depending on country you're in, but it cannot be called Idigbo......different species..and Idigbo cannot be called limba anymore than Australian blackwood can be called or sold as Koa!!!..same Genus Acacia ..right?

Korina is a trade name trademarked by U. S. Plywood in the 1950's for lumber, veneer and logs of Limba...either black or white version. I think it has expired...do a US trademark search on it for sure.

100 million ebay wood sellers can be wrong as Bob said

Thanks,
That puts my mind at ease that at i am not just being finiky.

the best way to get around these issues is to make sure the latin name is included when you are buying/selling a certain wood.
That you know exactly what you are getting.

anyone can source a board of idigbo from there local lumber yard and sell it on 400 percent mark up but they should at least make it clear what they are selling.
in theory its against ebay rules to sell one wood under another trade name its like selling a kodak camara and putting cannon in the title.

Oh well thanks for helping me out on this,

1oel.