Was there ever Brazilian rosewood laminate back and sides guitars?
 

With all this CITES stuff about other rosewoods, I was thinking about my 2 lam b&s EIR guitars and got to wondering if there were ever lam b&s Brazilian rosewood guitars.

AFAIK, the old Selmer-Maccaferri guitars from the 30's and 40's used laminated Brazilian rosewood.

Giannini imported some fairly high end laminated Brazilian RW guitars. They've been discussed elsewhere.

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=214257

You'd be amazed at how many laminated B&S Brazilian Rosewood guitars are out there. Especially from the '70's and prior. Back before CITES and all the restrictions on Brazilian Rosewood, it was just known as Rosewood. The majority of it was Brazilian.

Really? Wow, these days it seems like such a mystical timber. I think I've only seen 1 braz rosewood guitar in real life. Are these laminated Brazilian rosewood guitars at all sought after?

They're not really sought after like you'd think. You gotta remember too that these laminate guitars were mostly off brands and budget guitars so they're not going to be high on anyone's radar. I used to have an Alvarez 5039 that was built in '75 to be released as an American Bicentennial model that was Brazilian. Never could 100% determine if it was solid or laminate. Most likely laminate but it sure sounded and felt solid. Only 800 made, excellent guitar but only worth about $300.

I wonder how much of the CITIES act is for real or did they take a lesson from De Beers??? "Hey, we're up to our neck in diamonds, lets just let a few out at a time to keep people thinking these things are rare and keep the price up" kind of thing.

LOL That would be awesome, but sadly that isn't the case here. There isn't any more being exported at all so no one is benefiting from this one. Incidentally it wasn't the musical instrument industry that wiped out the Brazilian Rosewood, guitars just consumed a small amount of the overall harvest of the wood. The furniture industry is what wiped out the supply.

If you ever get to the US east coast I've got seven Brazilian RW bodied guitars you can play - and a couple I would sell you except for the export hassle.

Ironically, I bought one of them in Australia. :guitar:

There is still Brazilian Rosewood veneer out there (with original pre CITES documentation) that any guitar or furniture manufacturer can procure if they want it. PM me for details.

Here's one Dream Guitars had not too long ago:

http://www.dreamguitars.com/detail/3...itage_8922219/

I am aware of several Yairi guitars with Brazilian B/S. In fact, I was wondering if my K Yairi had Brazilian B/S, but it appears it does not.
More than a few of the quality makers in the 70's used Brazilian wood, both in laminate and solid forms for their guitars. Not nearly as big a deal then, as it is now, with CITES and rarity

In the 1970s, Kazuo Yairi made high quality Rosewood laminate B&S guitars. It was a 2-layer parallel grain laminate that produced as high quality as solid, with greater strength. My Yairi was made with Coral Rosewod, but some (including this one) were made with Brazilian.

I believe that the Alvarez 5039 mentioned by Mick's Goat Whiskey Picks above and in this thread were laminated Brazilian, 2-layer parallel grain, made in Yairi's shop in Kani.

Thanks Mark! The parallel grain laminate makes sense for this guitar. It was too cheap to be solid, but it sure did resonate and kick like a solid guitar. You could feel it hard in your gut when it was played hard. It was a very nice guitar, I just didn't need a 4th dread when I sold it.

Pretty sure Gibson Heritage was solid braz in 67/68 then made the move to braz laminate after that.