Indian Rosewood

Indian Rosewood is one of the most valued and used wood for musical instruments. Except for tops, it’s useful for every part of the guitar.

As it happens with almost all dalbergia, Indian Rosewood has very good acoustic properties, especially in backs. It tends to tone down the sound and make it warmer.

Indian Rosewood backs are a great option due to its straight grain and that’s why they’re easy to work with, with no cracking risks.

Maderas Barber different qualities of this wood, find out how special it is.

BOTANICAL NAME: Dalbergia latifolia.

COMMERCIAL NAMES:Palo Santo de India, Palisandro de India, Palisandro rosa índico.

ORIGIN: India

DESCRIPTION: 870-900kg/m³ density wood with brown, pink or violet tonalities. Its whiteness color is light yellowish white and the heartwood color goes from violet dark pink to purple brown, it gets darker when drying. It has dark violet grains. Grain is also waved and thick.

SUGGESTIONS: Saw and machining are complicated due to its waved grain and the presence of scale deposits.

DRYING: Drying time is slow, nearly without breaking risks, but maybe some cuts. The color of the wood improves with time.

USES: It has many of them, apart from being used for Fingerboards, it’s also used for sounding boxes, bridges, headplates and some pieces of Hurdy-Gurdy.