Rosenut?

My stepmother owned a Brazilian rosewood Steinway grand...sort of a mind blowing waste but still...kind of like the rooms filled with solid Hawaiian koa wood furniture I'd seen in Hawaii. Note that Martin has been quietly buying those older Brazilian rosewood guitars like D28s, taking them apart and making fancier guitars out of them to sell for large bucks. I think a guitar can sound amazing regardless of the sides and back woods, and at a recent seminar with Santa Cruz's Richard Hoover (my cocobolo hide glue OM is a Santa Cruz) he said he prefers the sound of mahogany bodied guitars. Take that, big spenders!

I know this thread is a year old, but as a woodworker there are a few things I'd like to clear up. It is true that Brazilian Rosewood is hard and tough, but not to the point of being unworkable with hand tools. If your tools are sharp, it will cut just fine. Macassar Ebony is harder and more dense.
Finishing rosewood can be a challenge due to the high oil content. A seal coat such as dewaxed shellac should be applied prior to lacquer or polyurethane. Other woods I've worked with have the same problem (Padauk, Bubinga, to name a few).
As for B&W speakers, the veneer looks to be walnut with a red tinted oil finish applied. The Prestige finish on 802 D3 and 805 D3 is called Santos Rosewood (other names are Bolivian Rosewood and Pau Ferro) with a gloss lacquer finish. 

Now i'm paranoid that my rosewood veneers that were a $600 upcharge are just stained run of the mill crap. I think i'll buff out a section on the back to sniff for the scent of roses. could be a class action lawsuit here.

Post a picture. It can be next to impossible to distinguish some of the Dalbergia species from each other, but so called run of the mill crap can be spotted.

Great thread:-)
even my lowly Lyle has real Rosewood sides.
i grew up in indentured servitude to a gunsmith and cabinet maker. His mentor Earl Mcrillis of Norwalk OH had one of the largest wood block sample collections in the world. My dad had his as well and often before dinner we had to ID samples . Earl’s collection went to the Smithsonian on his passing as I recall.
market prices certainly drive speaker pricing, just helped a buddy choose veneer for his Vandersteen Quattro. Fun