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I did some resawing for a friend last week & in return, received a bunch of Brazilian Rosewood she had lying around her shop.
There are a few decent B&S sets & several extra sides sets. Much of the side wood is good looking & will make great bindings, head plates etc.
I'm wondering if the less attractive (downright plain!) pieces could be used for bridge plates.
It seems that Indian rosewood & hard maple are the usual choices. Is there a good reason to stick with these varieties?
It seems to me that any tough, low damping hardwood would be suitable for this job. Am I out to lunch here?
Thanks in advance, Dan

Daniel,

I've used Brazilian Rosewood as bridgeplates for a nummber of instruments with both pinned and pinless bridges. I love it.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

I'm with Dave and I use BRW for my bridge plates most of the time now. Before that I used Honduran Rosewood which I also like a great deal.

You did not say but hopefully these pieces are flast saw or even better riff sawn. Quarter sawn RW does not wear well and is prone to splitting when used as bridge plate

Thanks Guys;
Michael... Most of the (ugly) stuff is rift to flat sawn, so it sounds like we're in business. Cool!
How much do you figure the plate contributes to (or detracts from) the overall sound of the guitar?

I'm sure you will be fine. Another option is Paduak. I know Goodall uses these for his bridge plates. Make a great sounding guitar and hard enough for string balls.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

I like to buy bowl turning blanks from Woodcraft to use as bridgeplates. They are 6" x 6" x 2". I just bought an EIR block for $16 and got almost 30 bridgeplates out of it. Good stuff.
- Justin

Between .43% and 1.9%

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I know I've heard some people say they could hear the difference between a rosewood plated guitar versus a maple plated guitar. I definitely ain't one of 'em. However, I've used ebony, brazilian rw and maple (one guitar I used the "timeless timber" maple). I can't tell there's any difference since I haven't ripped one out and tried the other but I'm a big fan of ebony. I realize its getting harder to get but it resists wear much better than the others so far. With maple I go 3mm thick, rosewood 2.5-2.8mm and with ebony have went as thin as 2.4mm. That takes alot of mass out compared to maple. Still brazilian ain't to shabby and will wear better than the maple in my experience.

Congrats on the "score"

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"We might not be big but we sure are slow"