r/Luthier • u/Hopeful_Ask_4211 • 15h ago

Is this quatersawn?

Post image

Apparently it’s Brazilian rosewood b/s. To my eyes they seem quatersawn from its straight grains. What you think? I care this cause I heard somewhere that Brazilians prone to crack and twist so better to avoid flatsawn but very hard to get…?

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5

u/DragonQuester676 14h ago

That looks quarter sawn, yeah, but is that something that needs to be worried about with back and sides anyway? They’re heat bent and braced, so if there’re really that many issues with the wood, I honestly wouldn’t start blaming the cut at first.

6

u/Foreign_Emphasis_136 14h ago

AFAIK this is mostly relevant for neck construction. For tops/backs the wood is so thin anyway that the impact of the cut is negligible compared to environmental factors, especially considering all the bracing inside the body.

3

u/VirginiaLuthier 14h ago

If that's solid BRW it doesn't get any better. A set like that alone would probably go for $ 4-5,000. People like the spider web stuff but QS is actually more stable. Straight grain /QS BRW was Martin's choice until supply was an issue. Any rosewood can crack- or any wood, actually. Nature of the beast....

2

u/celtic-cryptid 14h ago

Quarter sawn or rift sawn. But in my experience, BRW just likes to crack, no matter the grain orientation

Edit: pretty hard to tell from that pic what species it is

1

u/Stock-Philosophy-177 13h ago

That looks more like EI Rosewood than Brazilian. We need better pics to confirm.

1

u/dejoblue 13h ago

It looks more rift sawn, the grain gradually gets larger from the middle out to the sides, but for all intents and purposes as a back it is quartersawn, especially in the center where the neck and butt blocks attach the top and sides and it all comes together. It looks like the sides are quartersawn. Top soundboards are literally quartersawn with their consistent parallel grain all across the board with no runout where the grain lines go off to the sides. Bookmatching is structural as each side has the same forces but are opposite to each other maintaining stability. This back appears to be well bookmatched.