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I had never heard of this wood before. "olive Rosewood" as it's known in Cambodia.
A client of mine brought a bunch of it to me. He brought it out of Cambodia when he was a refugee from the war. Believe it or not, it was the floor of a pig's sty where he lived.It took awhile to get it all cleaned up and resawn but here it is.
Those pigs had no idea what they were pooping on.

did you get my email?

nice wood, oink oink.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Paul, that is stunning wood.  It is almost a shame to have to cut it to the guitar shape.  Can you use the off-cuts for the upper bout as a head plate? 

Can't wait to see the progress pics.

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Pig poop is well known in some cultures to have mystical powers when either smoked or ingested.  People who engage in these activities are often heard to say "mon - that is some great poop....... pass the Oreo cookies please."

Beautiful wood Paul and that guitar shape is pretty sexy too!

Holy yikes, that is incredible. I need to stop by and see that one of these days.
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Are you sure it's not Dalbergia Bariensis?   That is Cambodian rosewood.   I could not find a single reference to Dalbergia Oliva on the Internet... It looks like slab/rift cut Bariensis...

Whatever it is, it sure is pretty... It looks a lot like some slab Brazilian I have. Very nice.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I was told "Oliva". I too did some searching and found nothing. I'll ask him if he knows of the Bariensis to see if maybe that is it. Thanks!

holy cow...absolutely, stunningly beautiful.
I want some.
I have one set on hand of what LMI used to sell, which they called "S.E.Asian rosewood". Colors are identical, though my set is quartered.

(I like yours better.....)

What do your sets smell like when scratched?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird]

What do your sets smell like when scratched?

Steve[/QUOTE]
Well, I haven't scratched it but I was sanding it for the better part of a day.
It smells like nothing I've ever worked with. You can definately tell it's a rosewood but "spicier" than the others. I'd put it closest to MadRose in terms of smell.

yeah . it smells 'spicier' .. maybe being immersed in pooh for a few years ahd something to do with that .. .. what did they feed them sow in cambodia anyhow ???

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

Boy that is nice stuff. If you ever decide to sell any, give me a hollar.

John

Hold on while I pick my jaw up from the floor. Wow! 

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Jim Womack

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. "
Will Rogers

Rick, here's what I found. This comes from a BC company called Dynamic Hardwoods.
Cambodian Rosewood: Dalbergia Bariensis
Known as Neang Noun (pronounced "nang noon") in Cambodia, dalbergia bariensis is the most prized of the fine rosewoods of Southeast Asia, and one of several species traditionally collectively known as Siam Rosewood. A second species lumped under the generic name of Siam Rosewood is dalbergia cochinchinensis; we carry both, but dalbergia bariensis is our primary wood, intended for musical instruments. (Actually, there are at least two other species that are also known as Siam Rosewood and are occasionally available: d. olivera, and d. cultrata.)

Ok, ok. I'll buy set #3. How much do you want?! You don't have to twist my arm, I'll just take it. Name your price.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Sorry, my friend, ain't for sale. Client is building all three guitars with this.

Oh well... hey, I tried!
But I think you know I wasn't really serious....
That was more to really let you know how special that stuff is. I still have a set of the SE Asian RW from LMI that I wouldn't part with for anything, unless a customer wanted a guitar with it, and then it was be serious upcharge wood. It's fantastic stuff. Almost as good as HRW and BRW and MadRW.
Besides, I have more wood than I could ever build with in my lifetime...

Pleasant building with it!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I have several sets from Dynamic Hardwoods of both Bariensis and Cochinchinesis and yours looks more like the latter. The Cochinchinesis color ranges from purple, salmon, orange, brown and olive coloring in the sets. Bariensis tends to be more consistent in color, at least with the sets that I have.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

You guys almost got it

Try Dalbergia oliveri!! I'm thinking it might be CITES listed so check it out if it matters

Doesn't look like any Tulipwood I've ever seen... sure is pretty though whatever it is. Same general part of the globe, so it could be at least related. Hard to say, with all the different rosewoods in that region. Lucky them...at least as far as that is concerned.
The U.S. just wasn't blessed with cool woods I guess...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Hey guys,
There are lots and lots of dalbergias many of them prevously undescribed.
Also it is very common for there to be dead ringers within a species that look very simalar to each other (think about cocobolo where you have dalbergia retusa and and dalbergia granadilo sold as the same wood And yes that is where granadilo got its name even though its a platymiscuim it can look like cocobolo)
I have some columbian rosewood a true dalbergia that i know came out of columbia but is a dead ringer for for the cambodian rosewood but i know its not the same.
here is a pic



This stuff has a ringing glassy tone comparable to honduras i love it.

paul I dont think your wood is dalbergia oliveri or ching chang as they call it in china as that is a bit of a EIR lookalike much darker.
The chances are this is an undescribed dalbergia like my columbian.
It looks like it comes in small logs which is probably why it never became a comercial species.
I think we will see alot more rosewoods coming on to the market as the supply of the classic choices drys up.

Whatever it is its very nice,
Good find paul.

Joel.

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Doesn't look like any Tulipwood I've ever seen... The U.S. just wasn't blessed with cool woods I guess...[/QUOTE]

It's those pesky trade names getting in the way again

Tulipwood of the rosewood variety is Dalbergia frutescens from Brazil.