Brazilian Rosewood Grain
 

Assuming we are comparing Braz Rosewood selected by experienced Luthiers, does straight grained sound any different'' better''' from wavy ( curly) grain ?

daniel

Any 2 pcs of wood will sound slightly different - or at least not exactly the same - and

I've played plenty of both and there are no tonal trends that I can discern. Builders may have a different outlook.

The main advantage of straight-grained quartersawn wood versus wavy grain slab cut wood is structural: quarter sawn wood tends to be stronger and stiffer than slab cut wood. This is even more sought after in Brazilian rosewood (BRW,) because BRW as a species has an unfortunate tendency to crack when thinned down to the thicknesses required for guitar construction.

So slab cut and stumpwood Brazilian is at even more risk for cracking than quartersawn Brazilian.

There are also some guitarists who will swear that quartersawn BRW simply SOUNDS better than slab cut BRW, but I'm not going to go swimming in THOSE particular shark-infested waters. But there isn't much debate over whether quartersawn wood tends to be stronger and stiffer than slab cut wood, because that's recognized by most woodworkers in general and guitar builders in particular.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

I have a straight grained Brazilian Goodall Standard and a wavey grained 'Maiden hair' Brazilian Huss and Dalton.

After several discussions with different luthiers including the above, there should be no discernable difference in the general tonal qualities.

Wavey does not necessarily mean 'slab cut' but more of the stump area in the second cuts that are well quartered when resawn. Understanding the history behind the reharvesting of the Brazilian Rosewood forests dead stumps can be very helpful when making a determination on a back and side set. Many of those pieces sat in the forest naturally aging for over fifty years and quite a few cuts are directly adjacient to straight grained pieces put on guitars back in the 40's, 50's, 60's and beyond. It's all good - - -

Just info I was told by the guys that build guitars from the stuff - - -

Back of my Goodall

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps4l2yqitj.jpg

Back of my Huss and Dalton

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psv3pfdxkd.jpg

My conversations with those same luthiers led me learn that Brazilian Rosewood 'Maiden Hair' should not be put in the same classification as some do as slab cut, especially when it comes to strength or tendencies to split - in fact, according to all of the luthiers I spoke with, it was quite to the contrary. Also, a well cared for Brazilian is no more prone to cracking and splitting than any other well cared for wood set. But, your question was about tonal qualities and not all this other stuff.

My Larrivee D10 Brazilian is 20 years old, and Jean had stashed the wood for many years before that. It is mostly straight grained, with a little figuring.
Larrivee. Sound amazing, you can hear it here: https://soundcloud.com/247hoopsfan/lagrima

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/t...ngEagle002.jpg

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/t...Eagle004-1.jpg

Hi Wade...

Honestly, quartersawn, and slab cut braz both crack equally well. I am best friends with luthier John Greven, I am at his house/shop at least once a week, and I have watched him build and repair a huge number of brazilian guitars over the last 7 years...both types of cut/grain structure...and the straight grain/quartersawn braz cracks just as frequently as the slab/cathedral cut.

Sound wise...straight and slab cut sound the same, given the relative similarities of the density/hardness of the wood. Where you get tonal differences, which are not related to grain structure, are in those density/stiffness/weight differences.

Best Regards
duff

Duff -

I've earnestly never seen a Brazilian with slab cut have a split/crack for sale or in for repair. On the other hand, then number of straight grained issues have been numerous over time.

Perhaps that is because so many guitars were made in times past with straight grain that there is an abundance of potential issues out there in the world. On the other hand, many companies used slab cut (Taylor in the early 2000's for example) on a huge number of guitars that have experienced very little to no issues that I am aware of - I've been to Taylor CS several times over the years and chatted with those that work there on this. Not to say that slab cuts of any wood are less prone, I've just not run across it personally.

Any wood can split - A new Collings D42 Brazilian BRA was sent back to Collings for repair after ownership of just a few months as reported here on the AGF.
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...razilian+crack


One does the best they can to keep a guitar properly humidified - it's a concern on guitars that have changed hands at least once in their lifetime for a buyer as one never really knows what the wood was subject to in the way of environment by a previous owner.

Once the damage is done, the damage is done.

I've played different variations and couldn't say there was a noticeable difference, I do know this is one of the best though.
http://i45.tinypic.com/2640510.jpg

That's absolutely spectacular!

Keep in mind that the 'spider webbing' you see in BRW and some other tropical woods is often not due to changes in the grain direction; it's color figure. The tree responds to the challenges of attacks by insects and fungi with 'chemical warfare' agents. Some of these are poisons while others can just make life difficult for the pest: I once hit on a BRW head plate where the black stripe had enough silica in it to notch my plane iron. Any grub trying to get through that would be slowed up some. At any rate, if you look closely as the cell structure of the wood in those areas you'll see that it can be straight as a die while the spiderweb can go all over the place. In some cases the spider webbing can be a weak line, but, again, not always.

I'm with Todd, played hundreds and hundreds of guitars over the years, and regardless of the tone wood, I don't believe I have ever notices any tonal difference based on grain pattern alone.

I don't know what "saw" mine is but I love it. Sound and sight. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...e0987a61d4.jpg


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