Sources of rosewood

[Alan Bain]

To finish a project long in the making I need some more Rio rosewood. Most of the places I used to source it from say that due to the recent cites rule changes it is too much hassle to do the paperwork and thus they prefer not to sell it. Are there any sources still selling it (specifically Dalbergia Nigra not Indian or other purported equivalents)?

 

[Ttrees]

I find it hard to believe anyone is selling Brazilian rosewood.
It is listed on appendix 1 of the CITES legislation, which means it is banned from export, across borders.
Indian Rosewood is on appendix 2 which means you can (at the moment, till CITES decides what to do next year) hopefully get a lump that's no more than 10KGs across the water.

Did you happen to check the listings for documented Rio in luthiers listings?
About 600 quid for some low grade stumpwood plates (back and sides) enough for one acoustic guitar.
These stockpiles are from the 90's and has the paperwork to prove.

Interested to see if you end up coughing up for some Indian ...
Maybe there's more local sources, but where I'd look is check out Maditiner exotic timber supplies
from Spain.
Maybe EIR will be more available again in time, as these trees I believe are used to shelter tea plantations in India, and I think sources are still there.
I don't know if these folks will wait for CITES laws to change, they will undoubtedly get more mula
for "zoot" (luthier term) as its called in the Americas , instead of selling it to the Chinese for their
traditional furniture like what's linked in this video, this being, I presume the poshest place you could buy furniture from in China?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7gaSpcyAXI
I was thinking the rosewood furntiure was called "homu"but I cant find at the minute where I found this info from.
It might have came from a google search along the lines as the rosewood racket.
Keep us posted
Tom
Good luck
Keep us informed

 

[custard]

To finish a project long in the making I need some more Rio rosewood.

AFAIK there's no "off the shelf" source off Rio Rosewood in the UK. If you're going to find some it will be from an informal source, such as a friendly antique restorer or breaking up some old furniture.

However, one of the main reasons why all Rosewood has now been put under the CITES umbrella is that identification of the most endangered varieties couldn't be made with sufficient confidence to meet legal requirements. In other words suspected offenders were brought to trial, but the case collapsed when expert witnesses couldn't categorically identify the timber concerned as Rio versus some other, non protected Rosewood.

And there's the key, you may well be better off searching for Rosewood that closely matches your project, rather than Rio Rosewood specifically. I've got some boards of Nicaraguan Cocobolo that look more like Rio than some of my Rio boards!

You don't say what your project is, but another alternative may be buying in some Rio veneer, which is still available in the UK (Capital Crispin for example), laying the veneer onto a hardwood ground, and using that instead.

https://www.capitalcrispin.com/item.php?id=sDDImV3Sl4