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I am building a GC-type guitar from nice set of Madagasgar Rosewood. Sides and back were quite nicely matched with colour, reddish brown, even they obviously weren?t consecutively cut.
But after I bent the sides (heating blanket with stainless steel slats) they turned into dark brown, very much like brazilian rw. I first thought that it was just the surface (they didn?t burn at all) that got some tan, but after some chisel cuts I realise that color goes through the wood.

Have you had experiences like that?

I actually like the new color, but the problem is that the back remains reddish and is clear mismatch with the sides. I guess I could heat the back too and hope it turns brown, too, or color it with stain, but I am curious what exactly happened during the heating/bending.

I have moded the shop recently and I am not sure if the water I get here from the tap contains something like metals (copper from the pipes or something) that could explain all.

What do you think?

Thanks!

Madagascar Rosewood as it oxidizes does tend to darken and the heating/bending process just accelerated the process. Cocobolo and other rosewoods tend to be similar.

With time the back will also darken in the same way. Usually exposing it to light will also help to speed up the process.

i agree with shawn about the probable cause for the darkening of your mrw.

however, you did hit on a very valid point, though perhaps not relevant in this case. tap water can cause discolouration. it can be particularly noticable in light coloured woods such as maple, and indark woods such as wenge or macassar ebony, maylasian blackwood, etc.

much better to avoid the risk and use distilled water.

Something else to watch out for if youre doing a pumice pore filling job on rosewood is leaching out of colour by doing too many pumice sessions. Its one reason Ive switched to using Z-poxy for grain filling.

I use distilled water when bending, and only the mad rw binding I bent darkened up - side by side with other unbent binding that was essentially the same colour, it definitely got darker. The sides really didnt though - maybe it depends on the piece and the resins and such ...I thought it would scrape out, but it didnt change much

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"