Santos rosewood?
 

Hey folks.

I've a question for you, even though it's not totally guitar-related. My main instrument (by ability if not by proportion of time playing these days) is drumset, and I have a custom kit made up with a Santos rosewood veneer - here's a couple of pics:

http://www.oktapod.com/uploads/santos_closeup2.jpg

http://www.oktapod.com/uploads/santos_closeup1.jpg

...my question is, where exactly does Santos Rosewood come from, and how is it rated as a tonewood (if, say, I chose to have a guitar made with a Santos RW back). I understand that it's a sustainable alternative to traditional South American rosewoods, which is a good thing, and I know that it's an extremely attractive wood, but beyond that I don't know much about it.

I have to add that I didn't buy the custom kit new (although I did buy it from the custom drum maker and got an extra tom made at the same time). I fell in love with its look and still think it's a wonderful finish, but don't know much about it and its desirability as a tonewood.

Ta.

I've never heard of santos rosewood in the guitar world, but that is a beautiful kit. I'm sure some more experienced players and luthiers will chime in soon about this wood species...

Thanks. I think it would look great used on a guitar B&S, but I'm not sure how well it would sound. My kit is finished with an oiled natural finish, but I often wonder how much nicer it'd look French-polished.... :)

Santos Rosewood
 

I have a Loef Dread, hand made in Finland by Olov Löf. It has sides and back made from Santos Rosewood. If I remember correctly, Olov said the wood came from an area in Argentina called Santos. It is a beautiful sounding guitar, but is quite a bit heavier than one would expect. It's the first thing everyone mentions when they lift it. Olov also said something to the effect that this sort of rosewood is very dense.

He gives all of his guitars a personal name. My guitar is named "Alva Santos".

Hope that helps you some. I can only tell what I have been told. I hope my memory is good.

Craig

I don't know if it grows in Argentina too, but it is a Brazilian native tree.

Very dense and hard wood. It is frequently used in here for guitars, for backs, sides, bridge and fingerboard. On custom or industrial-made guitars.

If not correctly seasoned it tends to crack.
It's Brazilian name is "Pau Ferro", wich would translate as "Iron Wood". It is also known as Caviúna, but a lot of other woods are known as Caviúna as well...

This is a Santos Rosewood back/sides guitar from a local luthier I know: http://store.guitanda.com.br/instrum...2010-sppf.html

Sonicaly speaking, it is known to have a dryer sound on classical guitars (never heard an acoustic with it), when used for back/sides, compared to other rosewoods (Brazilian, Indian, etc.).

Hope it helps.

Gustavo.

Not A True Rosewood
 

It is not a true rosewood. It is also known as Pao Ferro, Bolivian Rosewood and Morado.

http://www.amazonexotichardwoods.com...ry_Code=TB-BRW

From an article:

FAMILY NAMES

Machaerium Scleroxylon of the Family Leguminosae

OTHER NAMES

Santos Rosewood Pao Ferro , Santos palisandro

HEIGHT AND WEIGHT

Height averages between 60, and 65 feet. Average weight is 53 ppunfd per cubic foot with a specific gravity specific gravity, ratio of the weight of a given volume of a substance to the weight of an equal volume of some reference substance, or, equivalently, the ratio of the masses of equal volumes of the two substances. of 85.

PROPERTIES

Careful drying is necessary due to the high risk of checking. Wood dust from Santos Rosewood is highly irritating and may cause contact dermatitis Contact Dermatitis Definition

Contact dermatitis is the name for any skin inflammation that occurs when the skin's surface comes in contact with a substance originating outside the body. There are two kinds of contact dermatitis, irritant and allergic. . Inertlocking grain poses problems with working. High oil content of the wood can make gluing difficult. Wood is rated durable. Heartwood is highly resistant to fungus attack. Experts recommend reducing the cutting angle to 20 degrees for a best results.

I'm not familiar with the term Santos Rosewood, but Pau Ferro (which appears to be the same thing) is a fairly common wood used in firearms grips, electric guitar fingerboards, fancy wood carvings and pretty much anywhere cocobolo would be used.

Pau Ferro, like Cocobolo, can cause sever reactions when breathing the dust so the general precaution of having good dust extraction equipment on hand is recommended.

Right all around. Pau Ferro/Morado is not a true rosewood but has a rosewood-like appearance and tap tone. It's dense and non-porous and is supposed to be a great wood to work with because of this. You can get a lot of swirly figure and an overall orange-brown color so guitars made from this can be pretty cool looking. It's edged up in price over the past couple of years.

Thanks, folks, now I have a better idea.

FWIW, I'm shortly treating myself to an office recliner which coincidentally also appears to use Santos 'Rosewood' (although they refer to it as 'Santos Palisander Rosewood')... would be nice to have a matching guitar.... ;)

It's also used on on Blueridge guitars, eg http://www.amazon.com/Blueridge-BR-6...7716051&sr=1-1