Brazilian Cedar

Family: Meliaceae - Order: Sapindales - Class: Magnoliopsida
Scientific name: Cedrela odorata
Trade name: Spanish Cedar, Cedar, Cedro, Cigarbox Cedar.

Also known as Brazilian Cedar, Spanish cedar or Cuban cedar, Acajou rouge, Cedro amargo, Cedro-cheiroso.
Origin: Brazil, Central and South América

Instrumental uses:
Guitar necks and internal guitar parts.

Tonal properties:

Very responsive and tonally balanced, similar to mahoganies. Very stiff and is also very resistant against twisting and warping, a reference for classical guitar necks. Very easy to work and finishes very well.

Is a medium-lightweight exotic wood with an average dried weight of 29 lbs/ft³ (470 kg/m³)

There are 3 more relevant species from the 6 Cedrela kinds, with very similar wood, almost always confused, and called Cedar but distributed in different areas.

It is important to clarify that there are overlapping species, in the transition areas, they are: - Cedrela angustifolia/Cedrela lilloi (Cedro de Tucumán, Cedro bayo) distributed around Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Equador

-  Cedrela fissilis (Argentine Rose Cedar, Acaiacá, Cedro-amarelo), amber gold in color with pinkish highlights. Gummy feel and strong cedar scent. Distributed from the South of Costa Rica to Argentina.

- Cedrela montana. Distributed in Colombia and Equador

- Cedrela salvadorensis. Distributed in Central América

- Cedrela tonduzii. Distributed in Central América
- Cedrela odorata. Distributed from South Mexico to Argentina.

The characteristics of the Cedrela odorata are:

Tree with 20-25 m of height, and diameter of 60 cm, with fast growth, with a rectilinear stem of about 10 m. It has smaller leaves, with 5-9 pairs of leathery leaflets, firm, with more protruding veins and being short-petiolate. The flowers are whitish with yellow hairs. The fruits are in the form of a woody ellipsoid capsule with winged seeds, small and flat.The color is deep reddish-brown and is deeply grooved.

Grows in the forests of firm land and swampy or flooded soil during annual floods. The Brazilian red cedar (Cedrela odorata) of the Amazon, is highly valued and esteemed and is a very resistant wood.

This aromatic wood is in high demand not only because of medicinal proposes with anti-diabetic properties and antioxidants but also as insect repellent. Is used as well in joinery, crates and boxes, plywood, window frames, carpentry, cigar box, general purpose planks.

CITES status is protected on CITES Appendix III. On The IUCN Red List is reported as vulnerable.