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I've bought a set of Madrose for a personal build, down the line. The sides are quartered but the back isn't. I know that quartered is better, but it's not quartered, so that's not my question. I have searched the archives, but need more.
Can you tell me how much trouble I'm in for by using a flat sawn back with this wood?   Would it help to seal the inside with shellac before assembly? Does Madrose bend easy?   Should I make the back thinner/thicker than "normal"? I guess I'm asking about long term stability.
I'm not sure which Madrose it is, but I believe it is Dalbergia Baronii. I build with a 15' radius on the back, and it will either be a dred or an OM. Would it be more/less stable on the smaller body, or will an inch or two make any difference?

I think I saw on Al's site that he built one using flat sawn madrose. Allen C., can you comment, too, please.

Thanks, guys
Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

you should be ok. Flat sawn backs are much better than flat sawn sides. Madrose bends very easy.

I have made several with madrose and I really like this wood.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I don't think you should seal the inside at all, it will make any eventual repair
very difficult. 15' radius should help, a smaller body would be more rigid
and decrease the chances of cracks along the growth lines, I think. Not sure
that increasing the back thickness will do anything, perhaps even encourage
cracks because less flexible. You could use slightly larger/taller back braces
to increase rigidity and support. Any pics of the set?

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

Hi Ron

It is not at all unusual to have a flatsawn back with madrose.

You'll be cool, I keep mine weighed down in storage, but then my supplier sends them in pretty green.

Should all look great Ron, i'm with Laurent, i'd love pics of the set please!

Thanks, guys

No pics yet, Serge and Laurent, as it is in transit.


Another question: Will titebond work with this or will I need to use something else. Not into hide glue, yet. Maybe gorilla glue or epoxy? I prefer titebond if it is satisfactory.

Ron old man38808.390162037

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Not to jump Old Man's thread...But, I'm a big fan of Mad Rose.. I like it more so than BRW. I recently picked up 2 sets, both from different sponsors here on the OLF. Besides, I think Serge wants to see some...
Although laid out w/ a Dread shape, one will be an OM, and the other, a 0000 sized guitar.
This is from bchtonewood:

From AC Woods:


I fell for its' looks awhile back, and when CFM came out w/ a Mad Rose L Juber model...I caved in and got one!

Ron

I've just changed to hide, but have several out there with titebond joins and they are just fine, it is not as oily as Cocobolo, more akin to EIR so titebond will be fine.

Thanks, Russell, for your time and your experience.

Thanks to everyone else, too.
Nice wood, Richard.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

WOW WOW WOW , I have to agree with you on that Rich, that Madrose is just awesome looking, should be a whole lot less expensive than BRW too! How does it compare soundwise, did you have experience building with BRW also?

Hi Serge

Here is another picture of some madrose just to show you the different looks it can have.



On the question of Brazilian v Madrose, they have a very similiar density (Source Colins testing, thanks Colin) and many people say Mad Rose is as close to Brazilian as you can get tonewise, I have never made a brazilian guitar so can't qualify this one from a personal prespective.

Price wise Madrose is cheaper, as it is not in such short supply, but is still more expensive than EIR.
I believe it is not that easy to find in big widths, which is one of the reasons it costs more.

Another Rosewood which is easy to over look, is EIR. I know it is pretty common but it is still a very good tonewood.

No Worries Ron

I should qualify my comments by saying, that by comparison to some of the guys here I am still a begineer and certainly don't hold myself up as an expert, and the guitars I talk of are not years and years old, so if anyone has anything to add then go for it.

Where did you get that set Russell?

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Gee Brock, that was the worst attempt at trying to conceal one's wood lust that I've seen in awhile! Not as smooth as you would normally be....



Yeah, Russell...tell us ALL so we can get some of that!

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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."

Hi Brock and Don

Their is a supplier in Spain Called Madinter

Their website is Madinter

This is one of their Master Grade Sets, Colin and Mattia have some too. Their wood arrives pretty wet so needs to be stored and dried for a while. but the price is good this set was 125 Euros (Not sure what that is in USD)

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Gee Brock, that was the worst attempt at trying to conceal one's wood lust that I've seen in awhile! Not as smooth as you would normally be....



Yeah, Russell...tell us ALL so we can get some of that![/QUOTE]

Yeah, I know... I have it bad for Madrose.   

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Brock did you see my reply cause we both posted at the same time

Tese are a couple of sets from Madinter, 125Euros each. They look much better in the 'flesh'. No shellac or naptha.

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

Be hard to use them over here. The price is good, only $158 but it showed shipping to be $122. Someone must swim the pond with it strapped to their back

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Yes, Russell I did. I have been checking out their site. That shipping seems a little rough though...

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

It's only 19Euro shipping to us in the UK for the complete package (4 or five sets). Now you know how we feel on this side of the pond when buying in the US!

Colin

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

[QUOTE=Serge Poirier] WOW WOW WOW , I have to agree with you on that Rich, that Madrose is just awesome looking, should be a whole lot less expensive than BRW too! How does it compare soundwise, did you have experience building with BRW also?[/QUOTE]

No Serge, I have never had any experience building w/ BRW. In fact I haven't even finished my first. I just know this is what I want to do right now and onward. I am hooked & I'm still in the process of setting up my shop w/ the tools of the trade. I'm hooked and Madrose is my fave.

Soundwise, and I'll use the Juber model as my example, is that is possess's a lot of the tonal characteristics of BRW. Although I find it to be crisper sounding w/ ringing trebles, more on the level of the clarity of Mahogany. Although, It retains the sustain that Rwd is known for. It has a tremendous growl, but it's not a real loud guitar, and I don't have to play it real hard to coerce some real sweet tones out of it. It responds to fingerstyle playing w/a very ;ight touch, more so than its' Ind Rwd brother, of which, I also have, that loves a flatpick! Now, this is a brand new guitar w/ an Adi top, so it's got some way to go before I can begin to reap it's tonal apex.

Yes, that's some real pretty madrose Russell & Colin. I'm jealous! Madinter's got the goods w/ reasonable pricing. I can't believe that it costs $122 for the shipping though.... to get it here? Which brings the total up to $285. Is is cheaper w/ a ID/VAT #, whatever that is? I'm guessing that it's a wholesale #? Were they not the ones that got themselves into Deep Stuff over the exporting of BRW?

RichRichB38809.6789583333

Thanks Russell, Colin and Rich for the great pics and explanations, i'm glad i bought EIR for the next 2 guitars and i will look forward to buying some Madrose for a future build, the figures in that wood is just awesome, very close looking like BRW at times.

I don't think i'll have it shipped from across the pond though.

YOU FOLKS ROCK!

Rich

The VAT thing is only really applicable with the EU it is a tax, for shipments to the States you shouldn't have to pay this, although you might have to pay tax to your goverment as you import it.

Rich I don't know if Madinter were involved in the Brazilian thing.

Brock

Drop them an email they are pretty helpful, and I think they can do better on shipping than that. I have to ship a guitar to the USA shortly and the shipping is much less than that.

I've never seen Brazilian on sale at Madinter's website, and they're a smaller player. Maderas Barber's the '500 lb gorilla' of the spanish suppliers, I think.

I got 6 sets from them recently:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics5/madinter/

The obviously-named files. I'm not sure which ones are my favourites..Mattia Valente38809.5666319444