Brazilian rosewood is the fingerboard wood on many of the most wanted vintage electrics. It's also on the strictest list of CITES, the treaty that controls international trade in endangered plants and animals, and has been since June 11, 1992. For a US buyer buying a US-made guitar from a US seller, that changes very little. Once a guitar crosses a border, it changes a lot. This page covers which guitars are affected and what the official rules say.
This isn't legal advice. We aren't lawyers, and the rules change. Before you buy or ship a guitar across a border, check with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs CITES permits in the US, or with a lawyer who handles wildlife trade.
Which vintage guitars have it
Brazilian rosewood is Dalbergia nigra, a tree found only in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. Guitar makers prize it for its looks and its ring, and through the 1950s and early 1960s it was the rosewood Fender and Gibson used.
- Fender. Rosewood boards arrived on the Jazzmaster in 1958 and spread across the line around 1959. Wikipedia's Stratocaster history has the thick slab board from 1959 to 1962 and the thinner veneer board from 1962, both Brazilian, with Indian rosewood from 1966. guitarhq lists Indian rosewood replacing Brazilian among the changes after CBS bought Fender. A rosewood-board pre-CBS Strat, Precision Bass or Jazzmaster is the classic case.
- Gibson. guitarhq says Gibson's rosewood fingerboards and other small rosewood parts were Brazilian until 1966, then Indian. es-335.com puts it the same way for the ES-335, Brazilian on 1965 and some 1966 guitars, Indian by 1967 with perhaps a stray Brazilian board. That covers a 1958–1960 Les Paul Standard, early SGs and the dot-neck 335s. The Les Paul Custom and ES-355 used ebony boards, and the 1968 Les Paul Goldtop has Indian rosewood.
- Gretsch. The early 6120 had a Brazilian rosewood board, and guitarhq says ebony replaced it in 1958.
Don't try to tell from a photo. Brazilian rosewood runs from brick red to brown, and the most prized pieces have black spider-web veining, but other rosewoods can be confused with it. The guitar's date and model tell you far more than the color does.
What CITES did in 1992, 2017 and 2019
CITES sorts species into appendices. Appendix I covers species threatened with extinction, and trade in them is allowed only in exceptional circumstances. Appendix II covers species that could become threatened if trade isn't regulated, plus lookalikes of listed species. The dates below come from Species+, the database the Fish and Wildlife Service tells people to use for checking a wood's listing.
- June 11, 1992. Dalbergia nigra went onto Appendix I, with no exemption for finished goods. A whole guitar with a Brazilian board is covered.
- January 2, 2017. Every other Dalbergia species, Indian rosewood included, went onto Appendix II. The only broad exemption was for noncommercial shipments of up to 10 kg, so commercial shipments of rosewood-board guitars needed permits.
- November 26, 2019. The rule was rewritten to exempt finished musical instruments, finished instrument parts and finished accessories. That exemption applies to the Appendix II rosewoods only. Brazilian rosewood stayed on Appendix I and gets no exemption.
So under the treaty, a 1970 Les Paul or Strat with an Indian rosewood board no longer needs a CITES permit as a finished instrument. The Fish and Wildlife Service warns that some countries, such as those in the European Union, may apply stricter rules of their own, so check the destination country's rules before shipping anything rosewood abroad.
Buying inside the US
CITES regulates international trade. A guitar built in the US that has never left the country, sold by a US seller and shipped to a US address, doesn't cross a border, so CITES permits don't come into it. For a US buyer, that's the simple case.
The exception is a guitar that has travelled. US rules say an Appendix I item imported after its listing can only be used for noncommercial purposes unless it came in with an exemption document such as a pre-Convention certificate. They also make it unlawful to possess a CITES item that was imported in breach of the rules. If a Brazilian-board guitar spent years in Japan or Europe and came back, ask how it was imported and for copies of the paperwork.
CITES isn't the only wood law, either. The Lacey Act was extended in 2008 to cover plants and timber, and federal agents raided Gibson in 2009 and 2011 over ebony and Indian rosewood the company had imported.
Buying from abroad or shipping overseas
An Appendix I guitar can cross a border under the treaty's pre-Convention exemption, which covers material acquired before the species was listed. For Brazilian rosewood that date is June 11, 1992, so a 1960s fingerboard qualifies if the history can be shown. The exporting country issues a pre-Convention certificate, the importing country has to accept it, and no separate CITES import permit is needed for a pre-Convention Appendix I item. In the US, you apply to the Fish and Wildlife Service on Form 3-200-32, with records showing the guitar was legally acquired.
For a buyer, that means the seller's country has to issue the export paperwork before the guitar ships. If a seller in another country lists a 1960s Fender or Gibson with a Brazilian board and doesn't mention CITES, ask before you commit. If they haven't handled it, pass. US port inspectors review the CITES paperwork on plant shipments and can inspect them, and importing a listed item without the required documents is unlawful under the same rules. Selling one overseas works the same way in reverse, with you applying for the US document before it ships.
Travelling with one
The CITES exemption for personal belongings doesn't cover Appendix I species, so even carrying your own Brazilian-board guitar across a border needs a document. The Fish and Wildlife Service issues multi-use passports for musicians whose instruments contain protected species. They're typically valid for three years and cover repeated crossings.
What to check in a listing
- Year and board. Check the year and fingerboard in the photos against the dates above. A rosewood board on a Fender or Gibson from before 1966 is probably Brazilian.
- Item location. Look at where the guitar ships from. A US location and a US delivery address keep the treaty out of it.
- Export papers. For a Brazilian-board guitar outside the US, ask the seller for the pre-Convention certificate. It should exist before you pay.
- Import history. Ask whether the guitar has been abroad since 1992. If it has, the import paperwork should come with it.
- Destination rules. If you're shipping abroad, check the destination country's CITES authority first. Some countries are stricter than the treaty.
Ready to look? Browse the guitars we track, or see every Fender in one place. For the other things that can be wrong with an old guitar, read our vintage guitar red flags guide.
