Whenever you've heard a guitar that impresses just with it's sound, rest assured, it'll most likely came from a guitar made out of Rosewood. Out of all the Rosewoods there are in this World, Cocobolo Rosewood has fiercely grown to become one of the leading choices for custom acoustic guitars. On top of its beauty, with the black streaks and red tone, it delivers an angelic sound when accompanied by a soft wood top such as a Spruce. The density of the wood rejects sound absorption and allows for stronger resonance propulsion.
Cocobolo Rosewood (Dalbergia Retusa) a.k.a. Nambaro is a true rosewood that grows from Mexico all the way to Panama. It is said that the finest quality Cocobolo Rosewood comes from the mountains of Nicaragua. This precious wood displays beautiful red to orange hues when first cut and darkens to a rich dark reddish brown tone. It displays solid black streaks that make clever figures; the sap is strong and gives it a stunning look when included in a custom acoustic guitar. As with many exotic woods, Cocobolo Rosewood will damage and morph under extreme temperatures.
Cocobolo Rosewood back and sides have the tendency to be full of bass and have a mellow tone with stronger sound characteristics than most Rosewoods. It has similar traits of the highest grade Brazilian Rosewood. Luthiers can find sets of Cocobolo Rosewood with higher quality than the Brazilian Rosewood being provided now in the market. On my last purchase, I acquired 10"x10" logs of Cocobolo at $12/sqft. Five years ago, I used to purchase them at $3/sqft.. The supply of Nambaro has dramatically decreased due to SITES restrictions on many Central American countries and it's large demand from consumers. The Middle East, mostly China, is rapidly depleting the supply of Cocobolo Rosewood, using the wood for luxury furniture, flooring, and trim.
Cocobolo Rosewood is a top choice for custom acoustic guitars due to it's quality and unique visual appeal. Most Cocobolo guitars have figure on them, it's rare to find completely quartersawn grain on a Cocobolo guitar. Some luthiers opt out from using Cocobolo Rosewood on custom acoutic guitars due to it's allergenic properties. Guitars are sold at a premium due to it's slight difficulty to work with. When sanding, Cocobolo may cause sneezing and rashes to people that are allergic to it. I find that I only sneeze a lot from it, I've never gotten a rash. It holds an abundant amount of oils so it can be difficult to glue.
There is no doubt that Cocobolo Rosewood will become even more popular, one day earning the name as the "Holy Grail" of guitar wood. This means more expensive Cocobolo guitars in the near future. Whatever the price, it's worth to pay for a custom acoustic guitar made from Cocobolo Rosewood. You can get yourself a quality made Cocobolo Rosewood custom acoustic guitar here at Wood-n-Guitars. Specialize your custom acoustic guitar to the most detailed specifications. Cocobolo Rosewood is not as scarce as Brazilian Rosewood yet, so you should not pay the exaggerated prices they go for now-a-days.
