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Need a supplier for Boire rosewood.

B

bassictraining

Jan 6, 2009
181
3
Shawnee, Kansas
#1
About to start my first build as a matter of necessity (read I cab't afford to have what I want built by someone else) so with a complete lack of knowledge and tools I hope to learn by immersion.

Having trouble locating the wood that I am interested in using. What I want is some of the wood used to build the older Warwick dolphin pro 1's. Boire rosewood. Been striking out all over the place and I thought perhaps it was just a matter of other people using a different name for it. But Since I am looking fir this wood based on tone I don't want something that is just in the same family I need the same wood.

Been looking for a while and my brain is fried. Any help would be appreciated as I obviously am not well educated in wood species.
 
#2
You're right in that it's called something else. Boire is one of the names for Detarium Senegalense. I've only ever seen it called "boire rosewood" when used in instrument descriptions, and in that case it is likely more of a case of marketing in order to identify the wood as "relative" or "similar" to rosewood in colour and grain. Regarding the 'tone' of the wood, I'll only touch that with a note of caution that density and grain orientation vary a great deal from tree to tree even within species - even within species that are all grown together in a single stand or forest. Add onto that the variety of milling techniques and drying processes, and it's a bit silly in my view to expect that two boards from the same species will perform in identical or even similar ways - for construction or for resonance - and this isn't even accounting for all the considerations needing to be made regarding wood's contribution to the overall tone of a comparatively non-resonating instrument like an electric solid body versus an acoustic...
 
#3
Oh... Thank you very much for your response. I thought it might be something like that. I will search detarium senegalense. As a side question... What I am gping for here is sorta that stefan lessard tone from under the table. I used to own a dolphin and was able to get that tone very nicely.

In my build though I want to combine it with alder to get a bit more versatility. That and the pickups would be placed differently and different electronics.

Soooo... The question is, are there other types of wood that sound similar to boire. Perhaps brazilian or indian rosewood?
 
#4
Isn't a Dolphin a neck thru bass? If so, I wouldn't worry too much about body wood for tone. In my opinion, this ought to be your tone priority list.

1. Amp
2. Onboard electronics (pickups/preamp)
3. Strings
4. Neck wood(s)
5. Body wood(s)

Maybe some more experienced builders will chime in. If I might offer a word of advice, the first build is not about the final product. It's about the experience. The best way to build a nice instrument is to build ten lousy ones first. If you want the tone of a Dolphin, buy one of those. That's the cheapest(!) and easiest route.

Good luck!
 
#8
Well, dried cow poop, even if it was acrylized, would still likely lack the structural integrity needed to build a bass. Joking aside, wood of course does affect the tone, it just arguably has less of a prominent role than it would when used in an acoustic instrument, which produceds sound directly as a result of it's physical resonance. In your case, if you are after a specific tone, then I still think you're on the right track to duplicate what you know already works. In other words, use the woods you think you ought to use, but also, make darn sure you use the same construction methods, electronics, strings, and pickup placement. There are so many variables there that the only thing you can really control for is fidelity to your original model...
 
#9
Hey now, nobody here said wood doesn't affect tone. I ranked neck wood as four, and body wood as five. They just seem less important because I was only speaking from a builder's perspective. Here's the real list:

1. Having a sound guy that knows what he's doing.
2. Skill. "Tone is in the fingers." (And the ears.)
3. Playing songs that don't suck.
4. The quality of the other players in your band.
5. Amp
6. Effects
7. Onboard electronics (pickups/preamp)
8. EQ
9. Ambient acoustics
10. Strings
11. Neck wood(s)
12. Body wood(s)
13. Bridge material and design
14. Audience inspiration
15. Nut material
16. Cables
17. Temperature
18. Humidity
19. Air quality

See? Wood is very important. Though you guys are making me want to build a guitar out of cow poop now, just to see if it can be done.
 
#11
:-) I know everyone has their own opinion on how much or wether or not wood affects tone and I respect that. Part of what I am doing here is an experiment to find out just how much the wood does affect things to my own ears. I also want to try a single cut with a 33" scale and pope electronics....

The dolphin tone is just one tone I want to get from tge bass. I want it to be flexable.

On another note... There are ten different names for boire and if anyone can point me in the right direction it would he lovely.
 
#12
You're really making your first bass out of good, expensive woods? You have absolutely no experience building, none of the proper tools, and a very large likelihood of screwing something up. Do you really want to do that with special ordered rosewood? My advice would be to do a practice run and make a bass out of cheap lumber just to make sure youknow what you're doing. Just my $.02 of course.
 
#13
I can't find it anywhere. Here's some veneer:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Honestly, if I were you, I'd go with African Mahogany. It's not that expensive, and in my small search, I did hear Boire listed as a Mahogany substitute. If you want to get fancy, you could also try something like Teak. Stay away from Rosewood. I don't think it's very similar to this stuff, it's expensive, increasingly rare, and you risk having federal agents raid your garage.
 
#15
Even alder isn't necessary, this is completely practice. Find the cheapest lumber you can and experiment, try everything you are gonna want to do on this coming up build and even paint it if you want! You dont need to get any hardware, pups, etc. Just get used to working with the wood and shaping and routing and stuff.
 
#17
Thanks for the kind advice every one. It is appreciated. I did finally locate boire at rare earth hardwoods. The bass turned out much better than I could have hoped.

I don't know if this happens often or not that a first attempt at luthiery turns out to be a very playable and great sounding instrument, but I would definitely like to encourage anyone who is thinking of trying it to go for it. I just finished my third bass and I am thrilled with the latest creation.

The ability to customize and try things that you would not find at a local guitar store is amazing. It has changed the way that I play. Love the new bass. Gonna stop building for a while and focus on playing...oh that and a new baby due soon. :)
 
#19
That's great! I was skeptical when you said you wanted to build because someone told you you couldn't afford a luthier. Tools parts and wood would come pretty close I would estimate. My first guitar played like a dream. Having direction helps.

And yeah lets see it.
 

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