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Hi,
could anyone of you enlightened people please tell what Jacaranda is?
Some say it is Brazilian Rosewood,some say it is Dalbergia Nigra but grown in another country,some say other stuff..does anyone know exactly what it is?
er.......pretty please.

Jacaranda is more of a local/regional term for different woods. Sometimes it's dalbergia nigra, often it's not. The guy who really understands all this is Shawn Carlson. Perhaps he'll drop in and set the record straight. Larry Davis may also know, and probably does.

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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 bought some from BobC at RCTonewoods a while back, and he said it is not a Dalbergia at all.

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Waddy

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Jacaranda is: Jacaranda mimosifolia.
It's not a rosewood (Dalbergia spp.).

In Bazil we call BRW "jacarandá da bahia." There are also several other varities that are not from the Bahia. EIR is jacarandá indiano. Whether jacarandá is a true rosewood, I have no idea.

I would be interested in this answer as well, I have seen the stuff on ebay and it looked very interesting. I have done searches on google and find it both ways but most sites say it is brazilian rose.

This is what Bob listed it as: Machaerium scleroxylon, along with other common names, i.e., Bolivian Rosewood, Pau Ferro, Caviuna, Jacaranda Pardo.

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Waddy

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If jacarandas were BRW, we people of Southern California would be awash in the stuff. Jacarandas are beautiful blue-flowered trees that grow all over the world in similar climates. The wood is sometimes called the poor-mans dahlbergia. Locally, it is light brown in color with slightly darker brown striations, bends well and has nice tone. Cape Town, South Africa is called the Jacaranda City because in the Spring the whole city is blue. It is NOT a dahlbergia.

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Dean

Here's a pretty good description of Jacaranda. It is NOT a dalbergia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacaranda

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Over here in Scandinavia (and I believe in Germany) jacaranda simply means rosewood. It can be any type of rosewood, at least that is how I have seen it used. Same with the name palisander.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

In Portuguese, "Jacaranda" means simply "Rosewood".

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

I bought a set from the guy on ebay ...it was very wet .. started to curl right away .. so I weighed it down ... seems to be drying o.k. the sides i didnt need to weigh down .. it was a couple months ago and the wood still seems wet (damp or cool)to the feel ....Jody

It is all the difference between botanical name, and common name. Botanical name refer to a scientifical classification, and common name can be very strange like name "wertern red cedar" a tree that not a real cedar species. There's a lot of examples.

Hi again,
it seems that I am as confused as ever..there seems to be no clear cut answer.
I too have seen some Jacaranda on ebay..it is like Incdian rosewood in that it is dark in colour (mostly) but it has more figure..it doesn't seem to look like Bolivian 'rosewood' at all.

I think you will find that some of the Jacaranda advertised on ebay
is actually plantation grown Indian Rosewood. For a while it was being advertised as Brazilian.

I bought a set to see what it actually was. It was definitely Indian.

I know for a fact that some of this wood was tested in the States and identified as Dalbergia Latifolia

Caveat emptor.

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

if the guy is selling indian and representing it as jacaranda , or brazilian grown outside of brazil , you should leave some negative feedback to warn luthiers, ,, he is obviously scamming , I am not sure of the wood I got , it looks more reddish brown than any indian i have seen but it is still wet ..if I was certain i would give the guy a bad rap ! . Jody

There is a tree that is grown as an ornamental up here in North Queensland that the locals call Jacaranda, but the wood is very pale straw color with some darker streaking. No discernible coloring to the grain pattern. Definitely not a Rosewood.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

the guy selling Jacaranda on ebay also has some sets for ukelele...with some really crazy figuring and colour GREY...not like any Brazilian ,or Indian rosewood that I have ever seen.He claims it is dalbergia Nigra grown outside Brazil...all the items (sets) are located in Java .check out some of the Uke sets they are pretty crazy looking......I still don't know what Jacaranda is...

Jacaranda is to brw as kleenex is to facial tissue.. its just a name. There is likely a true jacaranda as BobC points out, with a distinct latin name, but again, so is kleenex .. its a single brand, but around here everyone calls a box facial tissue ....a box of kleenex, whether it truly is or not.

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

I use only Puffs Plus! Have you ever seen the dust in a box of Kleenex?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

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Ive seen some of this guys stuff and the crazy figuring is mainly due to the wood being slab sawn. The stuff is plantation grown rosewood mainly from Indonesia

Having been to Bahia, I can vouch for what Robbie and Peter said as it applies to the local rosewood of renown.

But it is one among many Jacarandas.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....