• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Still using Rosewood in 2018!

#21
Turnaround said:
Not true. If it is Rosewood, it doesn't matter where it was sourced, it's still restricted. But what is called "Mexican Rosewood" is not Rosewood at all. And perhaps that's what you are seeing being imported into the UK.
Click to expand...

As far as I know it's only Brazilian rosewood which is outright banned. Other species of rosewood are restricted by strict regulations, but you can still ship them internationally. They just require CITES certification in order to be exported/imported. I think the reason a lot of companies are dropping rosewood isn't because they can't ship it, but because it's not worth the trouble

I just received a bass from Germany with Indian rosewood and bubinga (which is also restricted now) a couple weeks ago. I had ordered it in July, and it was a long wait for the CITES certification process to be accomplished. Then there were further delays with exporting it by German customs, and some annoyances importing with Canadian customs. But it finally arrived at the beginning of November.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MobileHolmes
#23
The issues with CITES has me wondering if we'll start seeing new types of wood being used. I was fawning over Chris Larkin's acoustic basses and noticed that he only uses Irish woods, and they look beautiful .

So it seems like there may be a lot of underutilized woods that aren't restricted by CITES (yet) outside of the common tropical woods.
 
  • Like
Reactions: allenhumble and FlatwoundFunk
#24
As I understand it, CITES has everything to do with importing/exporting "rosewood" and nothing at all to do with using it in the manufacturing process.

In other words, if you can obtain it legally, you can use it. You just can't ship it across international borders.
 
#25
Nephilymbass said:
It's pretty confusing to me personally. I actually had a bass that didn't have any rosewood in it at all stopped on the way to Asia because of it. It was a Conklin gt7 and the neck was wenge and purpleheart, body was ash and maple.
View attachment 2822662
eBay was kind enough to let me keep the money and refunded the buyer though. No idea where that bass ended up though.

I've seen several instruments like some of the newer Warwick
Rockbasses with rosewood boards and they are coming from overseas into the states. So I'm not really understanding what going on.
Click to expand...

That bass ended up in the bass collection of some border official.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tbone76, R&B, digmeout and 8 others
#26
I think CITES is the wrong approach, I think. All these woods are still available in the US. They should stop wood getting exported from countries like Brazil. Now the borders seem open to import for instance cocobolo to the US (or it's already there, but you won't be able to prove when it crossed the border), and you are allowed to make an instrument or coffee table of it. But you won't be able to export the final product to Europe.

You'll need a hell of a wood expert at customs as well. It's hard to tell the difference in a final product sometimes.

I had a custom guitar made with a tiiiiiiiiiiny piece of cocobolo, but I guess it looked like dark mahogany. It managed to cross the border.
 
#27
Shanannigan said:
As far as I know it's only Brazilian rosewood which is outright banned. Other species of rosewood are restricted by strict regulations, but you can still ship them internationally. They just require CITES certification in order to be exported/imported. I think the reason a lot of companies are dropping rosewood isn't because they can't ship it, but because it's not worth the trouble

I just received a bass from Germany with Indian rosewood and bubinga (which is also restricted now) a couple weeks ago. I had ordered it in July, and it was a long wait for the CITES certification process to be accomplished. Then there were further delays with exporting it by German customs, and some annoyances importing with Canadian customs. But it finally arrived at the beginning of November.
Click to expand...
That's what I said - it's restricted, not banned. The first instruments I was involved with that had a restricted wood crossing an international boundary cost $150 to get the official certificate that allowed it to be shipped. This is not feasible for most instrument makers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TBAR Shane
#29
Those basses look great. Any idea on pricing?
Shanannigan said:
The issues with CITES has me wondering if we'll start seeing new types of wood being used. I was fawning over Chris Larkin's acoustic basses and noticed that he only uses Irish woods, and they look beautiful .

So it seems like there may be a lot of underutilized woods that aren't restricted by CITES (yet) outside of the common tropical woods.
Click to expand...
 
#30
It will still be used domestically for domestic products by some, only now they can charge a lot.

I did here there was some kind of meeting between. Cites and a number of guitar makers. Cites agreed they may have overstepped. Last I heard though nothing could be done until 2019 at the earliest. Thats the next conference.
 
#31
Wood and Wire said:
Frickin spellchecker!

I thought it was funny in 2010, when I sent someone a text saying "I'm walking the dog", without noticing the iPhone had changed it to "I'm the walking dead" - but now I'm just fed up with the number of times I type the correct word, and the phone sneakily changes it to something nonsensical.

Going to have to employ a proofreader.

That said, unless someone comes up with a way of factory farming Rosewoods, to circumvent CITES, I'm maintaining that all existing Rosewood was grown ethnically!

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...
I'm finding that, as I get older, I don't need spell check to ruin my day....I can dew it all my own.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tbone76, Dexter_Bass, BadWithNames and 2 others
#32
I had a bass built in 2014 by a Brazilian luthier and the fretboard is Brazilian rosewood, I guess I will have to keep it for the rest of my life. Not a problem for me has it is an amazing bass, the only big issue is that if one day I have to play in Europe, I might have to leave it home.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jd56hawk
#35
Turnaround said:
CITES has named ALL varieties of Rosewood, i.e. al Dalbergia. It still can be used in manufacture so long as none of it crosses international borders. So, for instance, if an instrument is made of rosewood that is currently within a certain country, the finished product can be sold in that country, but it cannot be shipped to another country without a special permit.
Click to expand...

Good way to put a real cramp in the international market - especially for used instruments. Especially with smaller sellers and guitar builders since they know damn well these smaller competitors don't have the resources to obtain those permits.

I can't help thinking this is motivated mostly by trade protectionism masquerading as environmental preservation. Especially after I saw some reports showing how clearing land for cattle grazing and farming was destroying far more forests (including teak and rosewood) - and significantly more rapidly - than lumbering ever did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: younkint, Wisebass, ExaltBass and 3 others
#36
two fingers said:
As I understand it, CITES has everything to do with importing/exporting "rosewood" and nothing at all to do with using it in the manufacturing process.

In other words, if you can obtain it legally, you can use it. You just can't ship it across international borders.
Click to expand...

If it's for non-commercial purposes, you can source up to 10lbs of material covered in appendix 2.

So I predict an upswing in sales of "The Dummies Guide to DIY Marimba keys, and fret boards".
 
  • Like
Reactions: two fingers
#38
Hevy T said:
i thought that Cites thing said no more rosewood to be used in exported guitars? Well even Fender is still using it on several models!

What gives?
What am I missing?
Click to expand...

Did you think that maybe Fender has a warehouse full of rosewood and will continue to use their stock until it runs out?

They don't buy a board at a time.

They probably have a years worth to use up at least
 
  • Like
Reactions: munkeyfish
#39
mellowinman said:
I've always preferred Maple. Lucky me.
Click to expand...

Just you wait. By 2032, the vast majority of rock maple will have been recklessly over-harvested, leading to sweeping punitive legislation regulating its use. You'll be lucky to find a maple key fob, let alone an instrument, available for a reasonable price. The hidden tragedy in all this will be the fact that the skateboarding industry is the real culprit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: R&B, Lesfunk, jamro217 and 3 others
#40
Nephilymbass said:
It's pretty confusing to me personally. I actually had a bass that didn't have any rosewood in it at all stopped on the way to Asia because of it. It was a Conklin gt7 and the neck was wenge and purpleheart, body was ash and maple.
Click to expand...


Yep, sounds like Lesfunk is right... CITES is stupid. The countries that produce wood exports are eventually start complaining, then suing in the trade courts.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back