BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD BACK AND SIDES MAKES THE BEST, LOUDEST, NICEST SOUNDING GUITARS.

Certainly not true! Don’t get me wrong, I love building with good quality Brazilian rosewood. I love its smell, the way is hand planes, scrapes, sands, the way you can hand bend the guitar sides, the way it looks in a finished guitar, dark, rich, expensive... And last but not least, the way it dresses up the sound with its lovely rumble. A resonance that best enhances a high grade European spruce sound board, in a traditional, 7 fan classical guitar design.

Now the not so good news. Brazilian rosewood does not make a louder guitar. Compared with a top grade Indian rosewood guitar that is other wise identical, Brazilian will usually fall short in a concert hall test. It will not be as loud. It will not project as well as Indian.

The lovely rumble it imparts to the guitar’s sound often makes for a nightmare in the recording studio. It is less stable than Indian and is more prone to cracking. When used with red cedar sound boards, Brazilian rosewood magnifies the least desirable sound qualities, often creating a muddy, hollow sounding guitar.

It is very expensive even in lower grades.

SPRUCE TOP GUITARS KEEP ON IMPROVING FOR YEARS, WHILE CEDAR TOPS MATURE IN SIX MONTH AND DON’T DEVELOP AFTER THAT.

Not true! I have seen a full range of counter examples both in Robert guitars as well as in work by other luthiers.

AVERAGE LIFE SPAN OF A CEDAR SOUND BOARD IS 10-15 YEARS, SPRUCE SOUND BOARDS WILL LAST 35 YEARS OR MORE.

Not true. It is more a matter of design and craftsmanship.

GUITARS WITH MAPLE BACK AND SIDES HAVE A NICE SOUND, BUT THEY ARE QUIET AND DRY SOUNDING.

Really not true. I have played very powerful guitars constructed with Maple back and sides. We must not forget the lessons of Antonio de Torres either, who often chose Maple for his very important commissions.