Official Luthiers Forum!

What are your thoughts on this tonewood? I like the way it looks, very simple
and pretty, it would look good with a dark top like WRC or redwood. Does it
bend and finish well? Is it close to a rosewood in terms of reflectivity,
hardness and tone?

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Laurent I have had Pao Rosa sets from time to time. In fact I have some to cut up soon. It is a very very good tonewood. A lot like honduran rw in that it is very hard and dense, bends well and finishes very good. I think it is an under utilized wood.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
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1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

i have to agree with Bob on this one.
it bends just fine.
it is indeed very very heavy...aint got numbers to give but its heavier than any rosewood ar any other back sides wood i have worked with for that matter.
glues well and finished well, though a rreal pain to work with if you're a hand-tools person.
i built a classical with it, and feel it contributed a lot to the instruments projection.
it rings beautifuly even before it becomes a musical instrument.

Which Pau Rosa are we talking about? African or South American as the name is used for a bunch of unrelated trees. Taxonomic name if possible please.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

i assume from the original question and the reply that BobC gave, that we are talking about the south american specie.


whats that othr type youre speaking of?
bois de rose?

Yes, the SA species. I didn't realize that it's also called bois de rose. Thanks
for the input guys.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Pau Rosa is not called Bois d'Rose. Pau Rosa is genus swartzia. Bois d'Rose
is a dalbergia (maritima).

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

i wasnt suggesting that those too are the same kind.
i was just asking Colin if bois de rose is the "other" pau rosa he was refering too since the meaning is pretty much the same(translating pau rosa from portugese or bois d'rose from french or whatever it is).
as far as i know the pau rosa we are talkign about is indeed a swartzia(fistuloides).

The pau rosa that Vachterm posted a photo of is the Swartzia fistuloides from Africa. That is the one that LMI used to offer. As has been said by others, it is an excellent tonewood. The comparison that has been made to African blackwood is pretty valid, except that it is easier to bend and, of course, the color is way different. The color is very similar to Brazilian tulip (a Dalbergia) and it is often called African tulip. I think I have about 100 board feet or so of perfectly quartersawn stuff in my wood stash. It also makes good fingerboards and bridges.

Grant

I inquired about pau rosa at the local Woodcraft store last week, and the guy there shook his head and looked at me as if I were from Mars. Would they know it as Afrian Tulip? I might have a small blank of it to use for bridges, but want to be sure that`s what it is. The blank I havr looks alot like the outer edges of Udi`s pic. Very straight grain and even color.

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,