I don't believe that my '03 R7 BRW Goldtop went up in value after that ridiculous 50th anniversary goldtop model was introduced.
I just read somewhere that the BRW trees harvested for Gibson guitars in the 50s were hundreds of years old. If that's the case, we'll have to wait a while for farm-grown trees.
Even if younger, it can't be any worse than stumpwood Braz on many of the '03's.
Do you mean 500 2009 R9s? 500 is only the number of high gloss R9s coming out in 2009. They're making more VOS later on in the year.From a production numbers perspective, they are very close (500 vs ~600?).
I've seen some of those. The grain is actually doing circles! What a disgrace.
There's always been folklore myth about how old the trees were to build the 50's Les Pauls.
That might not be case. Even if it was, it still might be possible to harvest younger trees,
since its only for the fingerboards. Even if younger, it can't be any worse than stumpwood Braz on many of the '03's.
EDIT: I was able to find this, regarding the time needed for an adult tree :
(its about mahogany, but should apply to rosewood too)
>>> http://www.agribusinessweek.com/forest-trees-mahogany-long-wait-but-big-returns/ <<<
according to this, it takes 30 years Total,
and we have had 20 years already of a CITES Braz Ban, to grow reserves.
Now that the R9 09 specs are out and it doesn't include Brazilian should the 03 R9 Brazilian prices go up? Remember supply and demand.
Seems that there are a few people that are disappointed that 09 R9's didn't include Braz.