Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

When I went to work in the Antarctic Program, they were still using the Hero, a wooden-hulled research vessel that was specially designed to resist being caught and crushed in pack ice...this was achieved by utilizing a wide barrel-like cross section in combination with the wood's ability to flex. Unfortunately, this made her bob like a cork at sea, and her routine crossings of the Drake Passage made for many harrowing anecdotes. Around 1982, we got the contract to have her fitted with a new keel. This entailed cutting down the largest deciduous tree left in North America (it was in West Virginia or Kentucky or somewhere thereabouts) and shipping it to the last sawmill left that was big enough to handle it, which was in Ohio. The resultant keel was then trucked to dry dock and fitted onto the ship. The National Science Foundation proceeded to operate her for two years, and then decommissioned her. She was sold in a 'closed' auction to a former NSFA (Naval Support Force Antarctica) C.O. who had retired and opened an Antarctic Museum on the coast of Oregon. He paid the government exactly $5,000 for the Hero, a fraction of the 'monetary' cost of the keel replacement alone. Yer tax dollars at work, eh?

(Forgive me if I've told that story here before...it always comes to mind whenever the subject of disappearing old-growth trees comes up. I didn't acquire my disgust for the rapacious nature of the military-industrial complex by reading pamphlets...)

John Hall, did Rickenbacker ever use Brazilian rosewood on any guitars?

Don, it's pretty likely that we did, as for many years it was simply the standard wood for that purpose. However, I do question whether the catalogs in the 60's and 70's were correct in stating so; by then it had a meaning similar to "Corinthian leather" and to me, the boards look much more like Hong Kong Rosewood. Brazilian should have been more reddish in tone.

John, I was thinking exactly that; about the reference to it in the old "op art" 60s catalog, which also described the crushed pearl inlay as "Mother of pearl", and I think you've said that the flake/particles in suspension were something else[sea snail?].

"Rics will soon be made out of gum trees."
Mr Hall, have you ever considered any Australian woods such as Jarrah as a substitute for rosewood?

In my opinion Rickenbacker did the right thing when they discontinued the African Vermillion 650s.

Why, Ivan?

I build furniture and kitchen cabinets for a living. A few years ago a customer supplied the material for a kitchen and other rooms of cabinets made from Brasilian Cherry. Some people call it Jatoba. It is very dense and heavy. It's used for hardwood flooring these days in high end homes. The stock that this customer acquired was 1" to 1 1/2" thick. I also remember him building his deck from it. Anyway when everything was done and the smoke cleared I helped myself to a nice chunk of it. It roughly measures 1" X 6" X 40". It would make an interesting board or top for a guitar. It's been in my basement ever since.

It's a fairly common hardwood in Brasil, The accent is on the last syllable when pronouncing it, BTW. We call it "Brasilian Cherry" because its color is similar to our European Cherry. Its grain is more open, but it is much more dense than our cherry and it can be used outdoors, unlike cherry. It's a bit less expensive than true cherry.

I sure screwed up the spelling of "Brasilian" didn't I.

Of course not. Americans use the "Z", but often Brasilians say, "I don't know and country named Brazil", just to make their point about the Portuguese spelling. I sort of got into the habit when I lived there.

Because they cut down rainforests to get it. Maybe they have certificates or whatever, but you can never be too sure if they prove anything. With corruption and bribing anything is possible.

Zs and Ss have to do with American English vs. British English. For example: Am. organization, Br. organisation.

I know of no Brits who colonized Brasil. It was mostly Portuguese.

I was referring to the way words are spelled, U.S. English favoring (favouring) z, Portuguese spelling is another matter. Geographical names are not always in the original spelling when converted to another language.

...as was I, Ivan. Brits, by the way, spell Brazil with a Z as far as I can ascertain.

You're right:
http://www.brazil.org.uk/

strange, most of the Latin American (Spanish-speaking though) countries seem to have the original spelling.