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I have had a couple of sets of Malaysian blackwood, and the best I remember it was prone to warp and split.
If anyone here has used it for bridges, I would appreciate some info on your experience.

Any wood prone to warp or split is not suitable for a bridge. The bridge is in some ways the largest and most important brace on an acoustic guitar. Splitting is unacceptable hence a preference to rift saw bridge blanks.

I've seen African Blackwood used for bridges but don't think I've seen Malaysian Blackwood used for bridges.

Thanks. I guess I will stick with ebony and rosewood.

African blackwood is a rosewood (Dalbergia genus). Malaysian blackwood is an ebony relative (Diospyros genus). Most ebony species are prone to warping and cracking.


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John

John you should hear Dave swear when he's refretting some ebony boards..... chippy for sure.

PREACH!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I’ve made similar posts in the past about Malaysian Blackwood. If this timber is of interest for guitars, you should know that the oft-quoted taxonomic name “Diospyros ebonasea” is a total fabrication, derived no doubt from the name of the taxonomic family to which ebonies (and a few other smaller genera) belong: “Ebenaceae”.

Diospyros is a genus with hundreds of recognized species, dozens of which are found in Malaysia. The timber trade in Malaysia makes no attempt to identify the timber at the species level, referring to it simply as Kayu malam, translating literally as “night wood”.

What tonewood dealers like to call Malaysian Blackwood can actually be any one of a number of ebony species producing darker wood. I believe a Malaysian guitar maker may have introduced the English and Latin names to the tonewood industry, and the seeds for misunderstanding were thus sown.

So, if you ask about experience with Malaysian Blackwood, you might as well ask about experience with … ebony. The variation among pieces from Malaysia are likely similar to that across the entire genus.


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