Opinion of this rosewood board

[Guitar Magic]

This is my 2000's R9 rosewood board. What do you think? It's very dense, not porous at all, has a glass-like smooth surface with long pores. I've had a few Braz Les Pauls (both vintage and contemporary) and it's familiar. Madagascar is usually more porous and not as black, most of the times it's easy to differentiate between Madagascar and Braz but with this one I'm in trouble.

You can click on the links then download the pics in high resolution.

https://imgur.com/OBnXiJf

https://imgur.com/k0CFfS3

 

[jb_abides]

My Brazilian boards have some interesting waves or figuring plus an element of dark chocolate reddish fibers throughout as well. Then again, I have seen dark and straight verified Brazilian akin to yours, so you can't stated with certainty based purely on the visual, touch, taste aspects...

In that era, there was various hubbub concerning mislabeling, wood pile mixing, and such... folks also attest to having other rosewoods with Brazilian qualities in all aspects but species verification. In other words they know what they've got is NOT Brazilian yet credibly could pass for Brazilian.

All that said: There's no way to identify definitively, apart from Gibson's official blessing and the known serial numbers.

Feel really good about having an excellent board -- all else is faith -- which isn't so bad, right?

 

[Guitar Magic]

Yeah, those 2003 BRW boards had that characteristic wavy dark + reddish pattern. This one looks like old school Braz and behaves the same (same surface feel, same touch, same natural oiliness, similar pore structure). It's certainly not Indian RW (from 2002 to 2008 Custom Shop didn't even use Indian at all). I agree that it's probably a Madagascar board but it must be some really cream of the crop stuff. I've had more than a dozen 2000s Historics and their Madagascar boards are always more or less the same: lighter milk chocolate color with a very dark / black streak running through the whole board. This one is like my original 1960 Special and my handmade Single Cut with a certified old-growth BRW imported straight from Brazil decades ago (both are almost completely black and totally homogenous). The only difference I can tell is the pores are maybe a bit shorter on this one but the density is the same.

It's a 2007 R9 by the way, when Gibson stated in their catalogue the use of 'Genuine Honduras mahogany'. After that since 2008 it's just 'mahogany', similarly as before 2007. They had a source from the Belize - Honduras wildlife area in 2007 for a short while. The mahogany on this one has incredibly tight growth rings and a dark reddish-brown color that can be seen in the cavity. The neck is also big. Regardless, the guitar weighs only 8.5 lbs. Very loud acoustically but also tight on the lows which is a rarity.

 

[Guitar Magic]

Here's another picture. I've never seen a rosewood board like this on a Historic before unless it was a Historic Makeover. Not in person and neither on photos in my 15 years of forum surfing.

Look at that up close. So dense, almost no pores visible. Almost like ebony.

 

[1allspub]

Yep, looks like a nice dark piece of played-in rosewood. I find with rosewood that the more playtime it has the less porous it looks. Rosewood ages well.

 

[charliechitlins]

Here's another picture. I've never seen a rosewood board like this on a Historic before unless it was a Historic Makeover. Not in person and neither on photos in my 15 years of forum surfing.

Look at that up close. So dense, almost no pores visible. Almost like ebony.

Interesting piece of lumber.
Some cobby finishing around the binding, though.

 

[bursty]

I have seen multiple examples of all of the above, i.e. Indian, Maddy, and Braz and the same species can offer differing visuals example to example.

I have seen threads where some folks argue that a 'rosewood' sample is Braz and some say it's Maddy.

Also, throw in the orientation of the sawing, i.e. quarter, rift, flat, etc. and this will offer differing pore size.

I have some old skool Indian examples that I like just as much as my Braz and Maddy examples.

If you like your 'rosewood' then that is what counts and no matter the species

 

[charliechitlins]

Yes.
The Braz fetish is absurd.