Mahogany Or Rosewood Lachenal?

[tom leahy]

Goodafternoon everyone, My question is: What is better a 20 key mahogany lachenal or a 20 key rosewood lachenal.I understand the wood diference but what about the way its made internally.I hear the mahogany lachenal was a cheaply made student grade but the rosewood models are better playing better bellows and just a better player.I have a chance to get one or the other and want to know the diferance.There seems to be a higher price fetched for the rosewood models.Any help would be great......Want to buy the better one the first time slainte Tom

[Wrigglefingers]

Goodafternoon everyone, My question is: What is better a 20 key mahogany lachenal or a 20 key rosewood lachenal.I understand the wood diference but what about the way its made internally.I hear the mahogany lachenal was a cheaply made student grade but the rosewood models are better playing better bellows and just a better player.I have a chance to get one or the other and want to know the diferance.There seems to be a higher price fetched for the rosewood models.Any help would be great......Want to buy the better one the first time slainte Tom

 

Hello Tom,

 

Seems like you've answered your own question to me. Go for the best you can afford. Plus, the rosewood looks much nicer!

 

Good luck and best wishes

 

Jill

[Greg Jowaisas]

Hi Tom,

 

I've reconditioned over a dozen 20b Lachenals. The rosewood ones are on a whole more carefully made with a bit better materials. Brass endbolts that don't rust unlike the steel ones on the mahogany. The rosewood reed pan will almost fill the bellows frame where the mahogany reed pan will be attenuated. Occasionally the action mechanism is better on the rosewood models but more often not significantly so. The bellows are generally stouter on the rosewood model; less prone to wobble and better for the ins and outs of anglo playing. A "good" rosewood Lachenal is going to be a better playing instrument than most mahagony ones. But...

 

That said, better materials do not always translate into better sound. Several of the mahogony ones I've worked on had really good reeds and played quick and loud. They were as good sounding or better than many of the rosewood ones. And I have had the ocassional rosewood one that seemed "tight" where the sound wasn't forthcoming. Another one really deserved a new bellows to have a chance to be a good instrument.

 

All other things being equal I'd go with the rosewood one if the price differential wasn't more than 100 GBP.

At more than 100 GBP than a decent mahogony I'd make sure I was getting a really good instrument.

 

Good luck,

 

Greg

[JimLucas]

My question is: What is better a 20 key mahogany lachenal or a 20 key rosewood lachenal.

Rosewood is and was a more expensive, more desired wood. Therefor, in general, the instruments in which it was used were built with greater care and better quality all around. However, there could be exceptions, e.g., someone might have specially requested that a better instrument be made using mahogany.

 

So you really need to pay attention to -- and therefor learn about -- the other details of the instruments. Greg has mentioned some of those features. There's also the question of condition. A cheap mahogany instrument in good condition may be a better player than a rosewood one in poorer condition.

[Theo]

There is aslo the question of what may have been done to the instrument in the century or so since it was built. Gooid reeds may have been substituted with poor, or vice versa. Inexpert tuning may have worsened the performance of the reeds etc, etc.

 

The only answer is to play the instrument before you buy. Not always easy I know, but a good dealer will should let you have ian instrument on approval if you wer to far away to visit.