As some of you may have heard there is a new international ruling now in effect, January 2017, regarding Rosewood. Now we and our suppliers are just not sure how various agencies are going to enforce this ruling. It’s a tough one for sure.
The reason it was initiated is that a bunch of ne’er do well bugger’s are mowing down forests to get rosewood. No replanting, no thoughts to soil erosion, no cares for the people who rely on the forest to survive. In reading the CITES brief on why this sweeping measure was put in place they stated that rosewood is the number one illegal item trafficked now. It’s in the same style as ivory and rhinoceros horns etc.
So I agree with what they are trying to do. To be clear, all of the rosewood we have used in the past is in accordance with the existing rules. It is part of harvest silviculture.
We are moving to a new wood for the rosewood look. Pau Ferro (Machaerium villosum or schleroxylon), also known as Morado, Santos Rosewood, or Bolivian Rosewood is not a true Rosewood, but it boasts many of the qualities that are highly regarded in a fingerboard wood. It’s stable, abrasion resistant, hard, attractive, exotic and has good compression strength parallel to the grain. It’s not so resinous that it can be difficult to glue like a few of the Rosewoods. From Brazil and Bolivia, supplies are adequate and no shortages are anticipated.
Pau Ferro is the fret board at the bottom of the pic. Nice eh?