I believe that many people currently want to know more about the knowledge of whether the back of the guitar is rosewood. At this moment, Xiaoyu has also collected some knowledge about the rosewood of the guitar and shared it with everyone. I hope it can help you. Solve the problem.

Speaking of red sandalwood, Qin friends must be no strangers. There are also red sandalwood numbers on the rear side panel, fingerboard, and bridge.

The vibration of red sandalwood is in the low frequency, and its density is high enough. Therefore, the guitar made of red sandalwood is not only bright in high frequency, but also deep in low frequency.

On the foreign acoustic guitar forum, there is a frequency response distribution map of various woods, which can better see the sound performance of red sandalwood:

The horizontal axis is low frequency - high frequency, and the vertical axis is the texture of the sound. It can be seen that the red sandalwood occupies the second half of the low frequency, and the sound is crisp and pure, while the red wood with relatively low density is more inclined to the high frequency, and the sound has a warmer woody taste.

There are four kinds of rosewood generally used for the back of the guitar: Indian rosewood, Brazilian rosewood, rosewood, and Madagascar rosewood.

With the embargo of rosewood, a wood called "Santos rosewood" became popular in China. It is different from the red sandalwood mentioned above, which will be introduced to you in detail later.

In the history of guitar making, Brazilian rosewood and Indian rosewood are important.

Brazilian rosewood has long been used as the back of guitars. Its scientific name is Brazilian black rosewood, commonly known as Brazilian rosewood, which is produced in the forests of the Atlantic coast of Brazil. It is a wood of the genus Dalbergia, excavated from the tropical and subtropical jungles of South America earlier and introduced to Europe, thus becoming a widely used guitar backing material for Spanish guitar makers in the 19th century.

Before the war, Martin used Brazilian rosewood on a large scale for the backing of his guitars, making rosewood one of the ideal and sought-after backing woods. Some even exaggerate the "Holy Grail" sound to describe the clarity and beauty of Brazilian rosewood. The Holy Grail refers to the chalice and chalice used in Jesus' Supper.

In the 1960s, Brazilian rosewood was banned from export due to overexploitation. In 1992, logging and trade were completely banned. 7 Guitar makers turned to its alternative - Indian rosewood.

The scientific name of Indian red sandalwood is broadleaf rosewood, also known as East Indian red sandalwood, Bombay red sandalwood, distributed in southern India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

In appearance, Indian rosewood is darker in color and has a straighter grain, while Brazilian rosewood is lighter in color, with curved wood grain and more scars.

In terms of quality, Indian rosewood is more durable and less prone to cracking, while Brazilian rosewood requires extra care and is more delicate.

Regarding the difference in timbre between the two, some people think that the timbre of the back of Bamei is more transparent than Yinmei, and some people think that there is no difference between the two, because the understanding of timbre is very subjective, each has its own merits, and the factors that affect the timbre of the guitar are also very complicated. Here, we are inconclusive about the timbre differences between the two.

In addition to this, there are two other types of rosewood that are widely used: Cocoa Polo Rosewood and Madagascar Rosewood.

Dalbergia rosewood, scientific name Dalbergia japonica, is produced in Mexico and the Pacific coast of Central America. It is one of the hardest and densest trees in the rosewood family.

The scientific name of Madagascar rosewood is Dalbergia rosewood, which only grows on the island of Madagascar in East Africa. Visually, Madagascar rosewood is very close to Brazilian rosewood, but more vibrant.

In the 1990s, American piano manufacturers began experimenting with both woods, hoping to find the perfect substitute for Brazilian rosewood. Unfortunately, due to large-scale deforestation and its own scarcity, these two types of red sandalwood are now on the verge of extinction, and their prices are very high.

Today, red sandalwood is one of the most endangered tree species on the planet, and even the alternatives to Barme are facing a crisis caused by excessive logging. Rosewood smuggling accounts for 35% of global wildlife smuggling.

In 2016, CITES, an organization of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, issued a ban, including red sandalwood on the list of endangered species, and explicitly prohibiting the global transportation of red sandalwood.

In the short term after the official introduction of the ban in 2017, some rosewoods can still go through the formalities to continue import and export sales. However, given the long-term mass production, guitar manufacturers did not

At this time, a new wood began to appear widely in guitar production. Its scientific name is hardwood saber bean wood, and its English name is Pau Ferro. It is the Santos rosewood we mentioned at the beginning, also called Bolivian rosewood.

Note that although it is also called "red sandalwood", this wood is not true red sandalwood. We can compare them with their scientific names:

Brazilian rosewood - Brazilian black rosewood

Red Sandalwood - Broadleaf Dalbergia

Coco Polo Rosewood - Slightly Concave Dalbergia

Madagascar Rosewood - Baroni Dalbergia

Rosewood - Hardwood Saber Bean

We can clearly see that there is an essential difference between Santos red sandalwood and Bamei, Yinmei and other woods: it belongs to sword pea, while the real red sandalwood belongs to Dalbergia, which are completely two types of plants.

Here is also to correct a misunderstanding: some people call the red sandalwood used for guitars red sandalwood, which is wrong. Dalbergia and rosewood are also two completely different plants.

This hardwood saber beanstalk is called "red sandalwood" and started in the furniture industry. Its color ranges from light fuchsia to reddish-brown, with occasional olive and black streaks. It has a finer grain than most rosewoods and is a near-vision substitute for East Indian rosewood.

In addition, it is not a Dalbergia plant, nor is it listed in the protected list, and the price is lower. Therefore, after the embargo of red sandalwood, the furniture industry began to use it as a substitute for red sandalwood, and named it as red sandalwood.

In terms of appearance, it is close to rosewood, so can the acoustic performance of Saber Beachwood be used as a substitute for rosewood on guitars?

Fender described it in his official website article "What is Saber Bean Wood": Paul Filo is one of the good choices. Its hardness and oil content are very similar to rosewood, and we know its tone is excellent . "

Specifically, concanava is denser and harder than Brazilian rosewood and Indian rosewood, but in general, all aspects are very similar to rosewood.

Back in the 1990s, Fanta used it for 5-string basses, and Stevie Ray Vaughn's signature guitar was also used as fretboard material.

Fanta later replaced the rosewood material of most ink guitars with saber beans.

Wood. On acoustic guitars, saber bean wood is widely used as a fretboard material as well as back, side panels and bridges.

Saber bean wood has been used as a guitar material for a long time. It is currently impossible to verify the history. It is generally believed that it appeared as early as the 1990s after the embargo of Brazilian rosewood as one of the substitutes for Bamei. Later, after the complete embargo of rosewood, Began to be used in the production of guitars on a large scale.

Although it is still controversial whether saber bean wood can completely replace rosewood, but in view of the current large-scale mass production needs, only from the perspective of quality and stability, saber bean wood can undoubtedly replace the use of rosewood.

It is precisely because Saber bean wood and rosewood are too close in function and value that it is called "Santos rosewood" and "Bolivian Rosewood", so that many people There was confusion and misunderstanding about this, thinking it was rosewood.

In this small encyclopedia, it is not difficult to find that rosewood plays a very important role in the production of guitars. CITES' ban on rosewood has a huge and far-reaching impact on the guitar industry.

But in fact, the main reason for the endangerment of rosewood is not the manufacture of guitars, but the traditional Chinese so-called "redwood" furniture. The consumption of rosewood in guitar manufacturing is only a minor part, but it has suffered a huge blow. In such a situation, CITES' "one-size-fits-all" rosewood ban is not scientific enough.

Because of this, Fender, Martin, PRS and Taylor have drafted a proposal to exempt rosewood used in the manufacture of musical instruments from the CITES ban. The proposal states that the rosewood embargo statute should stop the illegally harvested furniture industry, but the musical instrument industry has instead become "collateral damage" to the ban.

The proposal will be accepted for approval at the CITES meeting in May this year. If the proposal passes, rosewood will return to guitar manufacturing.