I am going to replace the veneer on a beogram I'm restoring but not being much of a 'wood butcher' myself I am curious if anyone knew what variety of rosewood B&O used in the past.  It was only when I 'googled' rosewood that I found out there are a few varieties available, rosewood being something of a generic name it seems.  Some of the items I already own in rosewood range from red through to more brown in colour and also have noticeable differences in the grain.

Ultimately I guess it's really not that important, just wondering if there was ever a 'standard' colour or variety specified. Rgds, Clive 

Hi Clive,

an interesting question and someone from B&O should know.  Speakers and many other units used to be matched so they must have used a good supplier who could supply in bulk.  If you Google search for 'Palissander veneer' you will find many sellers of veneer.  If you are matching your Beogram to some speakers, you may be able to find a good enough match.  These people may be able to help: 

http://www.briggs.com.au/veneer_details.php?id=73

especially if you have a photo of the rosewood you are trying to match too, maybe they can find it.  I'll have a look in some of my timber identification books at home to see if I can identify my 'rosewood' pieces.  As you say, some are red, some brown and the grain and figure are quite different as the timbers called rosewood range from all over the World.

Good luck,

Dave.

The rosewood / palisander veneer used for the B&O products in the 60’s and 70’s was the very expensive quality veneer from South America and is called Brazilian Rosewood or Rio Rosewood.

/Frede

Called Rio-Palisander in most of the european countries.

Martin

Thanks Guys, I've sent a couple of cartridges to Axel for refurbishment, one of which is going on to the Beogram once it is cosmetically restored.  I know that it will never have any huge monetary value but unlike most modern electronics B&O always seems too good to consign to the tip once it has reached its 'use by' date.

At least that's what I keep telling the long suffering wife  

The Rio Palisander is now CITES controlled so very difficult to obtain.  As this seller shows, it does come in a variety of shades:

http://wood-veneer.com/product.php?veneer=Rosewood%20Brazilian%20Veneer

Bloodwood could be a nice alternative.  I need to rebuild the wood surround for a Beogram 4002 and am thinking of using something exotic but haven't decided what yet.

Dave.

Thanks Dave, nice pictures on the link.  They capture the different colours beautifully and I reckon I've got something in just about each of the four shades and grains from my S55's which are close to red to a pair of S45's I bought last week-end that are just about Brown.  I'll have a look on flea-bay at the week-end and see what I can find. Rgds, Clive

Yes, the original Rosewood Palisander is now restricted, but I have used a beautiful African Rosewood substitute, also called Bubinga, from the African equatorial rainforests. I have reveneered a BeoMaster 1600 with this, as well as a new subwoofer, and it is stunning!

Bear in mind that the B&O color is not the original - it is stained with a dark red dye to give it that beautiful color.

You can see the restoration stages in this thread.

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/p/10086/75098.aspx

Menahem