Brazillian Rosewood SRV??

[Dave c]

Hey gang, although this probably shows as my first post, it's not. Long story. Usually lurk in the background, but I have a question for the experts here. I think this is the correct place to post this...?

A friend has a first generation Fender SRV, new in the box. She is not a player and is looking to sell it. After doing some research, she discovered some of the fret boards were made with Brazilian rosewood and are worth significantly more money. She did more research and found that there are serial numbers on either side of hers that are made with Brazilian rosewood. Considering her position in the company at the time, it would make sense she would have the more expensive version. The question is, can a lay person easily look at the two types of wood and be able to tell the difference? Any significant characteristics? She would obviously like to have the Brazilian version, but doesn't want to advertise it incorrectly. I appreciate any assistance!

[tom]

the only ones i saw had pauferro on them, nothing like brazilian. pauferro is browner and has a very closed grain. the brazilian would have more longer open grain lines.

[Dave c]

Maybe she is misinformed on the wood. When you say browner, I'm guessing darker in color? Probably a lot of variations as with most woods? Thanks for the information!

[tom]

i am not saying there could not be brazilian models, i just remember when they first issued that guitar i thought it was pretty weird that they used a completely different kind of wood on the fingerboard that srv had.
pauferro is a lighter milk chocolate color instead of the blacker brown that old brazilian had. the lack of pores in the pauferro would be the giveaway i think.

[GuitArtMan]

Some of the early ones did indeed have Brazilian boards. It seems random as far as serial numbers are concerned. I see people asking ridiculous amounts for early ones with the Brazilian boards, but I've yet to see one sell for much more than the ones with Pau Ferro boards.

I will have to admit my early SRV strat was one I let get away. Picked out from about half a dozen in town at the time. It sounded like a strat unplugged! Plugged in it sounded great - even the Texas Specails sounded good in that guitar. Shoulda never sold it...

[Dave c]

Thought I would update in case anyone was wondering. My cousin contacted Fender and was told they did indeed use Brazilian rosewood for the first five months or less of production. Her SRV falls within this timeframe and photos sent to the rep confirmed it. However, as with anything else, it is only worth what someone else is willing to pay. Thanks to Tom and GuitArtMan for the help.

[1990hollow-t]

Whilst they did make BRW on the early SRV's they did at the same time make them with Pau Ferro and their serial numbers are inter-mingled. Alot of the ones that I have seen where sellers claimed they were BRW looked to my eyes more like the Pau Ferro of my old Hollow T.
Here on a TA is a classic example of what BRW looks like with its darker wavy grain pattern....

http://www.williesguitars.com/index.cfm/tom_anderson/27/inventory/2/image/6

There is lots of info here from Craig Hopkins (scroll half way down);

http://www.stevieray.com/srv-strat.htm

[GuitArtMan]

Whilst they did make BRW on the early SRV's they did at the same time make them with Pau Ferro and their serial numbers are inter-mingled. Alot of the ones that I have seen where sellers claimed they were BRW looked to my eyes more like the Pau Ferro of my old Hollow T.
Here on a TA is a classic example of what BRW looks like with its darker wavy grain pattern....

http://www.williesguitars.com/index.cfm/tom_anderson/27/inventory/2/image/6

There is lots of info here from Craig Hopkins (scroll half way down);

http://www.stevieray.com/srv-strat.htm
I've seen some Pau Ferro that was stained to look like Brazilian RW. The face of the board is a dark, rich chocolate color but the edges and the little bit above the nut were the orangeish/tan of Pau Ferro.