Rosewood on Mexis

thegummy · July 2020

Anyone know if Fender are going to go back to rosewood on their Mexican guitars like the Player etc., now that the CITES thing is out of the way?

Or have Fender just used this as an excuse to give their American models something that people will pay more for?

By all means speculate if you don't know.

Funkfingers · July 2020

Pau Ferro and Laurel bring several advantages.
1) They keep the materials costs proportionate for the Mexican and Asian product ranges.
2) They kept mass production possible when CITES first hit.
3) They reinforce the illusion that a rosewood fingerboard warrants a substantial upcharge (or positioning higher up the price range).

The American Professional Jazzmaster is only offered with a maple fingerboard. I suspect that this will remain the case for some time to come.

Whitecat · July 2020

Funkfingers said:

Pau Ferro and Laurel bring several advantages.
1) They keep the materials costs proportionate for the Mexican and Asian product ranges.
2) They kept mass production possible when CITES first hit.
3) They reinforce the illusion that a rosewood fingerboard warrants a substantial upcharge (or positioning higher up the price range).

The American Professional Jazzmaster is only offered with a maple fingerboard. I suspect that this will remain the case for some time to come.

Pau Ferro tends to be more expensive than rosewood though.

rlw · July 2020

PF is far more PC than rosewood so likely to be a popular option for the manufacturer

WezV · July 2020

rlw said:

Pau ferro is also a rosewood variant

Its not technically a Dalbergia, but it is very closely related

Loobs · July 2020

Normal rosewood looks better, imo. Or at least more fitting for what we all know or love.

thegummy · July 2020

Loobs said:

Normal rosewood looks better, imo. Or at least more fitting for what we all know or love.

Aye I'm surprised to hear they're closely related, they look quite different, that's the only reason I care about rosewood.

rlw · July 2020

WezV said:

rlw said:

Pau ferro is also a rosewood variant

Its not technically a Dalbergia, but it is very closely related

You are quite right too. I corrected that and posted something quite different - but obviosuly I didn't

tomajoha · July 2020

If you look at the rosewood currently being used on the likes of Gibson CS, Fender CS and to some extent PRS - you can see marked reduction in quality in most new production even at the high end (if darkness/lustre is an indicator of quality). The golden years of rosewood maybe behind us due to lack of supply - hastened by the demand for tropical hardwood furniture in the far east amongst other factors. Even ash is being phased out by fender in it's mid and low ranges due to the impact of climate change of North American ash forests and invasive species spread in the US. There may well be pockets of supply that where plantation stock come into rotation but that will likely go to the high end stuff.

thegummy · July 2020

I personally find the American exclusive features thing dishonest pricing.

What I mean by that is that they have features that people want but the price difference is disproportionate. I.e. They don't let you have a rosewood fretboard for a bit extra, you have to buy a model that's several times the price.

Not to mention you have to pay the premium for it being made in America even if you couldn't care less where is was made (which surely only Americans would care).

guitars4you · July 2020

The other issue to take into account is logistics - Why spend time and money + peeing of Greta to ship Indian Rosewood to Mexico, when you can obtain Pau Ferro from a yard or two down the road and effectively it will do the same job

thegummy · July 2020

guitars4you said:

The other issue to take into account is logistics - Why spend time and money + peeing of Greta to ship Indian Rosewood to Mexico, when you can obtain Pau Ferro from a yard or two down the road and effectively it will do the same job

Cause it looks better lol

guitars4you · July 2020

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

The other issue to take into account is logistics - Why spend time and money + peeing of Greta to ship Indian Rosewood to Mexico, when you can obtain Pau Ferro from a yard or two down the road and effectively it will do the same job

Cause it looks better lol

but 2 rosewoods are not the same anyway - Funnily enough I had this same topic come up today in the shop and the comment was 'it is darker' - I immediately showed a row of LP's to a customer and pointed out they are all the same but massively different regarding colour/texture

tomajoha · July 2020

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

The other issue to take into account is logistics - Why spend time and money + peeing of Greta to ship Indian Rosewood to Mexico, when you can obtain Pau Ferro from a yard or two down the road and effectively it will do the same job

Cause it looks better lol

but 2 rosewoods are not the same anyway - Funnily enough I had this same topic come up today in the shop and the comment was 'it is darker' - I immediately showed a row of LP's to a customer and pointed out they are all the same but massively different regarding colour/texture

Very true and let’s not even whisper the whole Fijian vs Honduran vs African mahogany- there be dragons there!

RonnieHotdogs · July 2020

I won't buy a guitar with Pau Ferro - end of, saving me a lot at the moment. It looks like Formica

bbill335 · July 2020

i reckon some laurel can look as good as a given piece of rosewood, but the stock photos of the squier 60s p bass i keep wanting to buy look like a very ugly board indeed

thegummy · July 2020

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

The other issue to take into account is logistics - Why spend time and money + peeing of Greta to ship Indian Rosewood to Mexico, when you can obtain Pau Ferro from a yard or two down the road and effectively it will do the same job

Cause it looks better lol

but 2 rosewoods are not the same anyway - Funnily enough I had this same topic come up today in the shop and the comment was 'it is darker' - I immediately showed a row of LP's to a customer and pointed out they are all the same but massively different regarding colour/texture

Can you tell whether a fretboard is rosewood or pau ferro from looking at it?

guitars4you · July 2020

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

The other issue to take into account is logistics - Why spend time and money + peeing of Greta to ship Indian Rosewood to Mexico, when you can obtain Pau Ferro from a yard or two down the road and effectively it will do the same job

Cause it looks better lol

but 2 rosewoods are not the same anyway - Funnily enough I had this same topic come up today in the shop and the comment was 'it is darker' - I immediately showed a row of LP's to a customer and pointed out they are all the same but massively different regarding colour/texture

Can you tell whether a fretboard is rosewood or pau ferro from looking at it?

No

WezV · July 2020

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

The other issue to take into account is logistics - Why spend time and money + peeing of Greta to ship Indian Rosewood to Mexico, when you can obtain Pau Ferro from a yard or two down the road and effectively it will do the same job

Cause it looks better lol

but 2 rosewoods are not the same anyway - Funnily enough I had this same topic come up today in the shop and the comment was 'it is darker' - I immediately showed a row of LP's to a customer and pointed out they are all the same but massively different regarding colour/texture

Can you tell whether a fretboard is rosewood or pau ferro from looking at it?

No

there will be a range of colours and grain patterns you get in Pau Ferro, and a range of colours and grain you get from Indian Rsoewood. There is a hell of a lot of cross over in the middle

Neil · July 2020

WezV said:

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

thegummy said:

guitars4you said:

The other issue to take into account is logistics - Why spend time and money + peeing of Greta to ship Indian Rosewood to Mexico, when you can obtain Pau Ferro from a yard or two down the road and effectively it will do the same job

Cause it looks better lol

but 2 rosewoods are not the same anyway - Funnily enough I had this same topic come up today in the shop and the comment was 'it is darker' - I immediately showed a row of LP's to a customer and pointed out they are all the same but massively different regarding colour/texture

Can you tell whether a fretboard is rosewood or pau ferro from looking at it?

No

there will be a range of colours and grain patterns you get in Pau Ferro, and a range of colours and grain you get from Indian Rsoewood. There is a hell of a lot of cross over in the middle

The PF I have seen has a reddish tint and I don't care for it personally.

dazzajl · July 2020

I recently found out that a guitar I’d owned was
Pau Ferro and not the Rosewood I’d believed it was. I hadn’t bothered to check and now I feel completely violated. The wood was very dark with a nice tight grain and the guitar sounded and felt wonderful, so how was I supposed to know it was so inferior??

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Rosewood on Mexis

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