Official Luthiers Forum!

I haven't used it yet, but I saw a guitar at the NGF with a ziricote fretboard and bridge, made by Sergei deJonge. It was a wonderful guitar, and those ziricote parts looked very tasteful and elegent. My only worry would be cracking...

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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."

I have just finished preparing about 40 - 50 back and side sets of this Pau Ferro. It varies in appearance dramatically. I am preparing a page on my site to give you guys some more info on it and also some first hand information I am gathering on the Brazilian Rosewood issues discussed in the forum. It is a very complicated and confusing issue here in Brazil. Through my wife who is Brasileria, I have been in contact with the Director of Floresta (IBAMA)here in Brazil. Even they can't answer some of my questions I have directed to them. So, the mysteries of Dalbergia Nigra are abundant. However, I can tell you that it is cut daily and is readily available here. However, I am personally doing things the legal way. I have no desire to wind up in prison in Brazil. You think it looks bad in the US. You haven't seen anything until you see one of the prisons here. And thats on the outside. I can't imagine what the inside looks like. I met with one of my sources today and we are going together to Bahia next week to select some logs to be cut to my specs. I will try to upload photos I acquired today of where the Brazilian is being prepared. And yes I have a lot of beautiful legal woods coming to market very soon !

Maybe my sense of visual scale is off, but many of those logs look mighty skinny. Looks like they should have been allowed to grow for a few more decades.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

I find it a little hard to believe that IBAMA ripped up any saplings planted unless they were planted on someones personal property or government land. You can actually buy the saplings for $1.50Real (Brazilian Dollar) about $.60US here just about an hours ride outside Sao Paulo. There is one person here who has started an area with 10,000 saplings for future use. These farms are completely legal and the government encourages it. And the new trees will be granted permission for export from IBAMA because they are not depleting from the preserved resources of older growth. Not sure where this info came from but, again I kind of doubt there is any validity to it.

[QUOTE=Brock Poling]
Pau Ferro is not a true rosewood unless I am terribly off base. It is Machaerium, not Dalbergia... but you are right, it makes nice fingerboards.
[/QUOTE]

Brock,

You are correct. Bolivian rosewood is not a "true" rosewood. But it is still a very nice tonewood. My most recent build has a Bolivian rw back/side set. It bends and works easily, although the sapwood is a bit prone to splintering. Great tap tone, great resultant sound in the finished instrument.



Only downside is a lot of folks are allergic to it. I'm not allergic to much of anything, but even I developed some mild skin rashes after sanding on the guitar for a while.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Yes I do have Pau Ferro back/side sets for sale. Here's an example of one and I have others more straight grained without the sapwood. I can't believe how much it has the appearance of Brazilian Rosewood. Some sets will boggle the mind.

Favor mantenha a gente informado a respeito do preco.
Keep us informed of the Pau Ferro price as soon as you know.   

Robbie

Is there no end to your talents

Robbie is truly amazing...I've seen him chew gum and walk before, but only once! (just kidding)! Sorry Robbie, couldn't resist.

Maybe this could be a potential group buy on the Pau Ferro?
Tracy

Group buying is not out of the question at all. Hope you guys can be a little patient though. I am moving into a new warehouse this weekend and into the first of next week. Everything is a little disorganized at the moment but, should have it all back together by tuesday or wednesday. I plan on having all the sets organized, photographed and online for you to see and have a big OLM sale. I have some GORGEOUS SETS of Pau Ferro. They aren't curly, swirly and burly, just straight forward bookmatched sets.

How about nice colors, a little sap wood and spider webs? Got anything like that goin on?   

Maybe something like this... I want more sets like this one...

Brock Poling38560.881400463

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

Me too! That's really nice Brock...

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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."

I do have a couple sets with a lighter color like yours only these particular ones don't have the sap wood. Very nice set you have there. I have some others that have sapwood and I will be organizing and putting them all online next week. We are moving into a new warehouse this weekend and have to reorganize the shop. Hang in there...it's coming soon.

Howdy, Brazilwood,

Do you have any Pernambuco? Say, large enough for bindings? In poor man's terms, roughly 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 34-36"?? Or something like that.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Brock-

That's a pretty back. 4 piece?

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Jeff...
Are you finished teasing us to death???
It's not fair...I have a bad heart and diabetes..high blood pressure and, and, and!!
WalterK

Sorry Steve..I don't have that at the present time.

Sorry Walter,
I'm not trying to tease you. Just not as organized as I need to be. I'm moving into a new warehouse this weekend and have wood and equipment scattered all over Brazil. But, the warehouse I've rented is currently occupied until Friday. And I don't get the keys until Saturday so, I'm sitting here twittling my thumbs until I can start putting things together there. I have wood at two friends warehouses, in my living room and bedroom. I'm chomping at the bits to get it all in one location. So, I've decided tomorrow I'm going to forget it all, go to one of my wifes friends who gives two hour massages for about $40R...about $16US and release some stress. Sound like a plan ??

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Brock-

That's a pretty back. 4 piece?[/QUOTE]

Yep. 4 piece... I got it from a guy on ebay (Pat) that goes by the handle 1boardfoot. He and his wife are really nice and I have got a few really nice sets from him, but most are small and aimed at parlor size guitars. This is my one... lone exception. It is big enough to make just about anything.

I want more big enough to do standard SJ size guitars... and I am always keeping my eyes open for them.

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

Brock,

I have bought wood from Pat and Adelle before. Stand-up folks, in my opinion. I picked up a couple of amazing sitka top sets from them for way cheaper than they were worth. Shoot, even the wood they used for cushioning material was nice. I kept it and added it to my sitka stash :)

Pat and Adelle are irregular sellers on eBay. I've bookmarked them in my eBay 'favorites' section, and check back from time to time. Most of the times I've checked, though, they aren't offering anything. So, moral of the story is, get their stuff while they got it!

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

I got a very nice parlor set of Pau Ferro from Pat & Adelle that I'll be using for my first guitar, and snagged a full size set on eBay from Brazilwoods here. That set's due here anyday now.

[QUOTE=Michael McBroom]I've bookmarked them in my eBay 'favorites' section, and check back from time to time. Most of the times I've checked, though, they aren't offering anything. So, moral of the story is, get their stuff while they got it!

Best,

Michael
[/QUOTE]


Yes. I do the same thing.... We are probably bidding against each other.   

They do have very nice wood. I always keep my eyes open for it.

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

[QUOTE=RussellR] Robbie

Is there no end to your talents [/QUOTE]

Russell you and Tracy are pretty funny. I am sure that all of us here have interesting stories to tell.

HI Robbie

Please don't think my comment was meant in a bad way, I have seen your DVD and you are quite clearly a very talented Guitar Maker, and Talented with languages as well.

My comment was meant as a compliment.