Rosewood Mandolins?

[red7flag]

You played the Miller A and sang duets...memorable jam! I was in contact with Stan recently and he said he was taking a break from building for the time being.

I talked with Stan yesterday and he said the same thing. Great guy. Love the look of your mandolin, especially how the koa accentuates the rosewood. At work now, but will listen to your clip when I get home. I think I would like an oval version of what Stan made for your.

[jd.panko]

I talked with Stan yesterday and he said the same thing. Great guy. Love the look of your mandolin, especially how the koa accentuates the rosewood. At work now, but will listen to your clip when I get home. I think I would like an oval version of what Stan made for your.

Now, mine is a Clark. A few years back, though, Stan showed me his stash of Brazilian so if he didn't use it up and he gets back into building.......

[red7flag]

My bad, I talked with both of them and got the conversations confused. Both were up front people. Austin basically said that he would not make another as his building has become fine tuned in another way. I totally understood.

[Spruce]

You played the Miller A and sang duets...memorable jam! I was in contact with Stan recently and he said he was taking a break from building for the time being.

Really? Sorry to hear that...

Speaking of SM and rosewood, John Reischman played a Miller F5 with Brazilian rosewood back and sides right before he got the Loar back in the late 70's...
Great sounding mandolin.
Wonder where that one wound up...

[Jeff Hildreth]

Dexter Johnson of Carmel, Calif. built Gibson style Mandolins with Brazilian timber he imported. I believe this was in the late 80s and early 90s.

Very well made and sounded great, if not a tad bright.

[red7flag]

I find that a number of people talking about a rosewood mandolin refer to it as sharp (although some say in a round way). This is contradictory to my expectations from being around dreadnoughts. The D-28s are expected to be "boomy" and bassy and from my experience are. Somehow this characteristic is missing from its little cousin, even using Adirondack tops rosewood, Brazilian back and sides, and all the ecoutrement of an HD-28.

[Charlie Bernstein]

I dunno. I know maple is popular. (And poplar is poplar!)

I have a rosewood Mid-Missouri and like it a lot. Do mando builders shun rosewood? Guitar luthiers love it!

[red7flag]

Charlie, When you bought your Mid-Mo, did you try other woods with the same model? What in the tone led you to buy the rosewood one? When I listened to jd.panko's video of his rosewood A, there was a somewhat sharp edge to my ears. Curious is that is the maker or the wood?

[reggiejayne]

Posts like this are dangerous. Those images and the video make me want to order a rosewood mandolin!

Here is Clark #33. https://youtu.be/qh6OU6l7Rlc
Not the best rec. quality but you get the idea.

[jim simpson]

This isn't mine, I spotted it on fb marketplace. Looks like Rosewood (Brazilian?): https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...a-35b4209f9357

[j. condino]

Nope. Can't be done. Wholelotta' nuthin'......

[j. condino]

Coming soon....

[peter.coombe]

One reason why rosewood is not used much is because it is very difficult to source rosewood in pieces that are thick enough to make a carved back. So, most rosewood mandolins are flat top mandolins. If you do find rosewood thick enough it is likely to have been around for quite a while. It is illegal to export rosewood from India if it is above a certain thickness, and Brazilian Rosewood has been on CITES Appendix I since 1992. I have made flat top mandolins from Brazilian and Indian rosewood and they were nice sounding mandolins, but I do prefer the sound of some other woods. Both rosewoods have the same characteristics, very nice sounding treble, probably the best I have had, but over all a bit thin sounding. Some other woods don't quite have the rosewood sweet treble, but overall are richer and warmer sounding, and I prefer that sound. So, I don't have plans to make more rosewood mandolins unless someone specifically asks for rosewood. Some classical players are looking for the sweet treble sound. Just my experience, others might have different experiences.

[Bill McCall]

There's a reason I grabbed and kept that perfect VG EIR board when it came into the shop I was working in 44 years ago. Have no idea how it showed up, but it was worth saving. It's 1x6 rough sawn, so it would work with careful resawing or even slip matching. Should have used it when I had access to equipment.

[j. condino]

Every builder will do different things with the same materials; a specific wood or board often means nothing in another's hands. I've built out of dozens of other materials over the last 4 decades. Guess what- they all still sound like my mandolins, but as soon as I tell some people it is made from the last Lorax tree and no, they cannot have it, they get very obsessive about it.... When I lived in Oregon, I had access to amazing local sitka. In North Carolina the same with red spruce. If I lived in Condino, Italy, I'd use northern Italian spruce. I used to obsess about and build with African blackwood because I had great access to it. Then I developed a severe allergy to it and that was history.

I could literally use anything in the world, but my personal favorite for my ears and playing style on A5 & F5 mandolins is local North Carolina red spruce with carved Brazilian rosewood backs & ribs (but not necks), so that is primarily what I'm focusing on. I also have a nice pile of both that are well seasoned and paid for. The way I build with it, the red spruce is very rowdy with a ton of headroom, so the Brazilian backs tend to tame that rowdiness and give it a nice chocolatey bottom. Plus- I have very little competition due to scarcity of the material.

I'm not that fond of Brazilian rosewood for guitars, so all of the nice thick slabs that I have don't need to worry about being cut up into thin guitar parts...although I'll secretly admit that the one Brazilian rosewood Les Paul I built kicked @$$! I'm very tempted to use up every last bit of Brazilian rosewood that I have into one giant tour de force of a giant upright bass...

Everything I have happens to be 50-100 years old. My close friends and peers seem to be passing at a rate faster than I can build, so every time I help their families liquidate the estate & shop, a bit more comes into my possession. I'd rather still have my old friends around laughing, telling stories, and picking a few tunes than some dusty old boards...

[Charlie Bernstein]

Charlie, When you bought your Mid-Mo, did you try other woods with the same model?

My model only comes in rosewood, but it's the same design as most of his models. I bought it online. It's the only Mid-Mizz or Big Muddy I've ever even seen.

What in the tone led you to buy the rosewood one?

Nothing. I bought it sound unheard. It was the price, reputation, and country of origin. And it was pretty, too.

When I listened to jd.panko's video of his rosewood A, there was a somewhat sharp edge to my ears.

Never sounded sharp-edged to me. But I'm no pro, so what do I know? Nuthin!

WCurious is that is the maker or the wood?

Maybe the maker, maybe the wood, maybe the recording. I never trust the sound or color of videos.

[Jim Garber]

I was talking to a friend the other day about rosewood and I was pretty sure that Flatiron pancakes were never made with that wood though I am not sure why. Please correct me if I am wrong about that. If so, I am not sure why they weren’t but I think rosewood would definitely be wonderful for flattop back and sides. I do have an ‘83 Flatiron 2K that sounds great.

[Eric Platt]

I was talking to a friend the other day about rosewood and I was pretty sure that Flatiron pancakes were never made with that wood though I am not sure why. Please correct me if I am wrong about that. If so, I am not sure why they weren’t but I think rosewood would definitely be wonderful for flattop back and sides. I do have an ‘83 Flatiron 2K that sounds great.

Think you are correct, Jim. Only see maple and koa listed in my Flatiron catalogs.

[Dave Hanson]

I play a Paul Shippey, spruce top, rosewood back sides and neck, superb mandolin, hand built in England. Definately a keeper.

Dave H

[mandroid]

Since nobody bit on the Martin bent top, this was to provide the angle that the raised fretboard provides for the F or A5s.?

Nope, It, ridge bent top, was a carry over from the bowl back mandolins that CF Martin also had made.
[used to own one of the Martin tater bugs]