The Atlas
Tonewood Atlas is a live index of what the boutique acoustic world has on its shelves right now, gathered from independent dealers and normalised into one vocabulary. This page is the key to how we read wood — every classification choice, shown.
2,978 listings · 186 dealer codes · 88 species · 21 families, live today
The Wood Key
Dalbergia retusa — the same species sold as cocobolo, so “Nicaraguan rosewood” records where a board was bought rather than a distinct wood; it grows on the Pacific side of the Central American isthmus from Panama to southwestern Mexico, and runs yellow, orange and red into brown with black or purple streaks against very pale sapwood, lightest when freshly cut and darkening afterwards.
Where it sits
backs and sides
2 on the soundbox · 2 builders
How dealers write it
Nicaraguan Rosewood
How it files
Who’s building with it
CITES Appendix IItrade controlled · as of 2026-08-09
Read from Commission Regulation (EU) 2026/1383, cross-checked against the USDA APHIS CITES Timber Species Manual — the document. We do not give legal advice and have not checked any individual instrument’s paperwork: this species carries this status on this date. Ask the dealer about documentation.
