How to tell Brazillian from East Indian?

[Johnny Canso]

I am curious of what the trained or untrained eye looks for when distinquishing Brazillian rosewood from East Indian rosewood? I know of a guitar that is suppose to be EIR, but it looks very aggressively grained of which, reminds me of some Braz. guitars i've seen.

[Cowgirlie]

I'm certainly no expert on rosewoods, but the Braz I have seen ws tighter grained, and darker sort of dark cherry and almost black undertones, the East Indian I have seen and owned has a larger pattern in the grain, and has more gold/cherry hues

[stuco]

 

Once you've seen enough examples of each you will be able to tell.  Sometimes its hard to tell the difference though.

[stuco]

 

Here's a nice example of a larrivee with Braz. RW:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Larrivee-D60-BRAZILIAN-Bluegrass-Less-Than-100-Made_W0QQitemZ220134437805QQihZ012QQcategoryZ33028QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Here's a Larrivee with Indian RW:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b182/akibb/IMG_4898.jpg

[brandon]

brazilian is not quite as dark to me as east indian.

that D-60BZ has been lurking on ebay for quite awhile now it seems like.

[bhika]

Most of the Brazilian I have seen has a much redder, dark cherry hue to it then EIR.

[Tony Burns]

their are a few examples of each that can fool so-called experts --An example is a Dick Boak Brazilian rosewood Dread i have , the sides are obvious Brazilian - but the backs color is more brown in color - because some of the finishes that were used in the 70's ( early water based ) tended to change the woods color -- the inside of the guitar does show the woods Red color thou -- yes im sure its Brazilian !

[ElJefe]

I own an EIR/Adi Bourgeois with a high drool factor (7.3).  When I see a Braz, it escalates to a DF rating of 8.9 - their are no 10's on this drool factor rating system.   

From this site, go to Dana Bourgeois in print and click on "Tapping Tone Woods".  IMHO, Dana is in the top 3 luthiers who really know guitar woods.

http://www.pantheonguitars.com/

[saffron_boots]

It may seem silly but if it's in hand, smell it. EIR is just woody but BRZ has a distinct and strong fragrance.

[bhika]

THE PRICE!

[Tony Burns]

The really top end Brazilian is quarter sawn - but theirs not alot of that floating around -- most of the stuff i see now a days is slab cut - thou beautiful , sometimes more beautiful  than quarter sawn, its not as good -- but now a days just to get BR you need the help of a nice inheritance--