rosewood tray charity shop find

[thetyreman]

does anyone know anything about this? it has tiffany marked on the back, looks hand written but I can't tell, I snapped it up immediately because it's made from one solid piece of quartersawn rosewood, hoping to re-cycle the wood and make a couple of fretboards out of it or maybe some rosewood veneer, it is absolutely beautiful, could it be rio rosewood? when I tap it the thing resonates and sounds really good, any help would be appreciated identifying it.

regards,

Ben.

 

[thetyreman]

oh and I only paid £5.50 for it.

 

[Adam W.]

I think you may want to hold off turning it into veneer for the moment.

 

[rob1693]

If it is Tiffany I wouldn't be cutting it up I'd be investigating further

 

[Ttrees]

I guess that could be proven pre CITIES, if it were from Tiffany
which could amplify the prices massively,
Though one needs to keep up with this, as the rules can change annually.
Either way, it's worth a lot, looks the right brown with no purples,
and straight grain old growth at that.
Some of the back and side sets of the good stuff is the price of a car,
that's no secret nowadays with youtube loofiers, take Somogyi's student Tom for instance
for those who want some kinda ballpark.

I certainly wouldn't be making fretboards from it though,
every piece is possible to do something with, i.e end wedges and rosettes
would fetch a nice price, and make much more use of it.

PS There's some folk on the OLF from the UK, and pop in from time to time, even though it does be quiet for the last few year, it might be worth seeing what they might say regarding getting documents for.

 

[thetyreman]

I guess that could be proven pre CITIES, if it were from Tiffany
which could amplify the prices massively,
Though one needs to keep up with this, as the rules can change annually.
Either way, it's worth a lot, looks the right brown with no purples,
and straight grain old growth at that.
Some of the back and side sets of the good stuff is the price of a car,
that's no secret nowadays with youtube loofiers, take Somogyi's student Tom for instance
for those who want some kinda ballpark.

I certainly wouldn't be making fretboards from it though,
every piece is possible to do something with, i.e end wedges and rosettes
would fetch a nice price, and make much more use of it.

PS There's some folk on the OLF from the UK, and pop in from time to time, even though it does be quiet for the last few year, it might be worth seeing what they might say regarding getting documents for.

hi tom, thanks for your opinion, what's the OLF? I won't cut it up just yet don't worry, I thought about contacting tiffany in new york about it.

 

[Ttrees]

Very surprised you haven't stumbled across it before Ben!
The answer to your question is the official luthiers forum, of course.
Here you go...
https://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=10101
A little bit of the very little I know about it, but it was what got me into woodworking,
as I used to have dreams of making acoustics.
I stumbled across it, either at, or right after what you might call the golden era, which was about 10 years ago now.
One frequent poster who no longer frequents there, by the name of Todd Stock, had quite the
workshop, most notably a Scandinavian workbench with a plethora of hand tools,
which was quite a contrast to a newcomer, especially one with only a Stu Mac catalogue,
and some grainy DVD's, oh and not forgetting "Steve's guitar building" VIDEO'S FOR FREE !!!, on the new fangled youtube.
There's still the archives, for anyone to get the bottom line on something, from the horses mouths,
that is, and an answer for everything you could imagine.
It's mostly geared towards acoustic builds, well that's what was the case when it were a busy place.
I still give the place a scan once a week, might hopefully post there someday,

All the best
Tom

 

[TRITON]

Often wondered if buying one of those old 'deco' style wardrobes and thicknessing off the backing to leave the veneer fronts might be an idea.

Lot of work i know, but there are some rare and pretty exotic stuff available for next to nothing, and buying in veneer form these days you either pay a horrific price, or they just arent available any more

 

[Ttrees]

Often wondered if buying one of those old 'deco' style wardrobes and thicknessing off the backing to leave the veneer fronts might be an idea.

Lot of work i know, but there are some rare and pretty exotic stuff available for next to nothing, and buying in veneer form these days you either pay a horrific price, or they just arent available any more

I've not came across the likes of what you suggest, in charity shops, marketplace sites,
skips or wherever else.
Not for peanuts anyway, though you could say much of the well made stuff is still being given away.
I came across some old pianos dumped in yards, or dropped into skips with some walnut burrs and the likes, which I've kept, but it's so thin, not sure that it would make sense to make anything from.
Might even be too thin for rosettes for instance.
Best I've found in that regards might be some mahogany veneers on a dresser, thick enough to use for something at about 5mm.

Most other things I've found worth talking about, was headboards & footboards from real Cuban/Honduran mahogany.
I did have a vision to find some rosewood table someday, haha!
Managed to get close and found some super dense stuff, used for window frames of all things, from well over a century ago, and I cannot identify.
It's up to the job for all sorts of guitar components for sure, so that'll keep me happy for a while.
Not touched the stuff yet really, best left as is until the time is right,
much like that Brazilian rosewood, except for the market value of the stuff, of course.

Re-making fretboards out of it, for acoustics anyway, I get the impression that it wouldn't be considered sympathetic or tasteful to some to have that zoot on the fretboard only,
well not at least without the rest of the back and sides featuring this,
if one is going on a traditionally done theme of some kind.
There is much to read regarding that on the OLF, like using that timber for decoration, rather than purpose.

Understandably I would take a guess the electric world is a bit less strict in that sense,
and say it being possible to find a Paul Reed Smith guitar from when BRW was plentiful enough to
buy.
All the best
Tom

 

[TRITON]

In my parents garden we had a laburnum tree, and I always had my eye on it for use as oysters especially because it was really old and of such good diameter. (About 9")

Due to my nephews young age, and while I was off somewhere, they had it cut down and removed because the seed pods are really toxic, and parents were worried the nephews would think they were edible pea pods.

So I arrived home to a disaster

 

[likeakite]

Nice find !

 

[thetyreman]

Re-making fretboards out of it, for acoustics anyway, I get the impression that it wouldn't be considered sympathetic or tasteful to some to have that zoot on the fretboard only,
well not at least without the rest of the back and sides featuring this,
if one is going on a traditionally done theme of some kind.
There is much to read regarding that on the OLF, like using that timber for decoration, rather than purpose.

Understandably I would take a guess the electric world is a bit less strict in that sense,
and say it being possible to find a Paul Reed Smith guitar from when BRW was plentiful enough to
buy.
All the best
Tom

I don't get why you wouldn't want to use this? you do realise on the priceless late 50s gibson les pauls they used brazilian rosewood don't you, and also the early 60s strats, it has a very special sound that simply can't be re-created with any other species, like the holy grail of tone woods. I've been looking in charity shops for the best part of 10+ years and never found anything like this before, it's not just the quality of the wood but the length and it's one piece, also when I tap it the ring is extraordinary, not just the sound but the way it sustains for such a long time, bell like.

 

[thetyreman]

If it is Tiffany I wouldn't be cutting it up I'd be investigating further

I'm not so sure it is genuine tiffany, I'd be surprised if it is, I need to talk to some experts, antique dealers, if anyone knows anything get in touch.

 

[Adam W.]

Can you show us a picture of the other side?

 

[thetyreman]

here are some more photos of it in daylight.

 

[Adam W.]

That's a nice platter/dish thingy. It'd be a real shame if you cut it up.

 

[Ttrees]

Most of the guitars from my fave players, like Moore's Greeney for one Les Paul example,
had the pickups modded, and IIRC, the same for Clapton's Blackie strat, and Gallagher's too.
I didn't check above who's boards was BRW, just notable players,
could also throw Jimi in there too, but that would be against the law.


I suppose it would be easy enough to google plenty more, what doesn't instantly come to mind,
and I suppose likewise for your argument also.

I went and googled PRS after my last post, and seen BRW a plenty.
I guess some of the most successful players today might have some of those.....
Seems everyone still uses a Les Paul or a Strat, or copy of it though..
well for the live stuff anyway.

Not that I've studied PRS guitars, watched a few videos before, but I would take a potshot guess
not that much different in design than the Les Paul of the Golden era...
I can't recall something groundbreaking, just a success story from someone doing fine craftsmanship, as was done before it.

I'm not against the magic, and would believe the folks using it in the acoustic world,
Strictly for back and sides though, in terms of subjective sound.
I just see the fretboard as a consumable of sorts,(evident with worn scalloped like boards)
compared to anything else organic, and would certainly think a differing glue like whats used in some factories, could very well matter in blind tests, but don't think you'd be able to tell the same with a similar species,
which had the same attributes, in the janka score, young modulus , and anything else you could think of.

Those are my reasons, or my impressions from reading on the OLF for years.
Not to say you couldn't see that for yourself easily, even though the search function is pants,
when you see folks like Trevor Gore doing the scientific stuff, or the opposite in a sense, i.e throw in the Grit Laskin's to challenge your view of what a fretboard should be made of.

Just saying, what ya goin to do when you run out of the good stuff?
Will you still be a believer, or did you kick yourself in the shin convincing other possible customers
that BRW boards matter, and likewise yourself also, I think not.

All the best
Tom

 

[Richard_C]

What an excellent find. It got me thinking.

It strikes me that there are 3 kinds of value (probably more).

One is intrinsic value to the owner, just the pleasure of having and using something you enjoy regardless of ££ value. For me, a tray like that would have high intrinsic value. I have some studio pottery cups, probably worth £20 but the intrinsic value to me is much higher because of associations and the pleasure of using them.

The next kind is the value of the material, what a jeweller might call the 'melt value' - take a bent damaged broach with pretend stones but an 18ct gold mount, its worth what the gold is worth. That's sort of what you are thinking of here, converted to veneer it is of high value to you because you have the skills to use them.

The third kind of value is the 'street value' in £££ and that's what might be hard to find out. It looks very mid-century Danish to me, so I used that as a starting point. I have a couple of things made by Stelton which have rosewood end trims, but Stelton were primarily a stainless steel maker so I doubt they would have made all-wood trays. (We inherited a Stelton/Arne Jacobsen Cylinda Line coffee set with stainless tray). A bit more research got me to Dansk, who partnered with designers and did produce wooden trays and plates etc. One designer was called Quistgaard. Mostly teak, but some rosewood. I am no expert, but seperate google searches for "Dansk" and "Jens Quistgaard" + "Rosewood" gets you to things that look close. Some items seem to sell for 4 figures on the US market.

As Tiffany is well known and its handwritten not stamped on your tray I doubt it's anything much to do with the company, but who knows? They did make/sell some Danish silverware. There is a very established Tiffany Hotel in Copenhagen, I can imagine it once being fashionable, so maybe it had a connection with the Tiffany Hotel, or maybe a lady called Tiffany owned it

Whatever you choose to do, it would be nice to find out if it was a designer piece.

(I'd happily give you £11 for it, you've doubled your money, what's not to like ... seriously though, seems like you have had a very lucky charity shop find.)

 

[thetyreman]

I can't tell for sure if it's handwritten, it may be a stamp that's made to look handwritten, that's one of the mysteries of it, thanks for your research richard that's given me some leads

 

[thetyreman]

I could always turn it into a skateboard if I can't sell it.