Tax refund time is coming up, and I have my eyes on a couple of basses: one here on TB, and one over at Reverb... ...BUT... I was just reading about this whole CITES thing on the 'Basses' forum, and yeah, now, I dunno. One of the basses I am contemplating definitely has a rosewood 'board...Brazilian? Don't know for sure, but do I want to take the chance? *SIGH* As if between the Canada - USA exchange rate, taxes, import, etc., it weren't already challenging enough for us Canucks to buy from south of the border...:***:
What you do want, IMO, is to definitely know for sure. There are a number of wood species that are colloquially called rosewood, but, scientifically, are not; they're from a completely different genus. And regulations like CITES don't go by common names; they go by Latin-y scientific names. If I were in your place, I'd find out for sure what that fret board is actually made of. Good luck with it...