Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia Nigra)

Brazilian Rosewood is typically regarded as the most precious, beautiful and best sounding rosewood among all the varieties available.
Brazilian Rosewood has been protected against import and export by the CITES [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora] treaty since 1991. The CITES regulation forbid severely to trade Brazilian Rosewood, if not coming from certified and authorized sources. It is only possible to use the wood coming from fallen (or ‘salvaged’) logs, and it’s not allowed to cut those very few trees which survived until now. As a consequence, the availability is very scarce, and the price of the Brazilian Rosewood has become prohibitive. Moreover, only a handful of countries allow a legal import of Brazilian Rosewood, therefore it is almost become unusable, in practical terms. The luthier’s community laments this situation deeply, because thanks for its compact graining, its hardness, and density, the Brazilian Rosewood has been for several decades the first choice for fingerboards for either acoustic and electric guitars. Moreover, when used for acoustic guitar’s back and sides, it donates a deep, resonating bass range and a brilliant treble response, that is very difficult to recreate with replacement woods, not to mention the absolute beauty of its graining and figuring. Its strongly pronounced lower overtones contribute significantly to a rich, complex low end, while the upper overtones add weight and body to the treble range.