I've never seen this wood so have no idea whether ANY of these pics are correct in color, BUT ... I have now heard from two correspondants, Todd Levy and another gentleman in Canada who has over 5,000 BF of this wood and I have added their comments to this page; they are consistent except that Todd feels that the really strong purple tints are correct and the other gentleman feels that they are a bit too much. The Canadian gentleman also tells me that if this wood is subjected to too much humidity while drying, it can develop a brown stain that cannot subsequently be removed.
Further, Todd tells me that the purple is fresh-cut wood which then turns brown over time. See the guitar pics at the very bottom of the page for full examples of some very fresh purple wood, the same wood aged slightly, and what Todd calls the "depleted" brown color. Todd further says "Like cocobolo and tulipwood, the wood is bright just after belt sanding and fades to a darker purple after light exposure, for the newer growth. The old growth, which is ever so rare, the depletion of the oils is what leaves the orange color and only veins of dark purple remain.
pic submitted by Todd Levy, who says this color is accurate even though it is totally bland compared to every other piece of camatillo pictured on the site. These pieces have been moistened for the pic. Todd tells me that he believe all of the other pics below, including the bright purple ones, to be accurate representations of this wood, which apparently has colors over a very wide brown/purple range.
web pics:
planks with color that is more than a little hard to believe --- my correspondant informed me that the purple is TOO purple but the red ones in the middle are just right (this wood has a wide color range).
closeup pic, provided by Todd Levy, of a particularly colorful and attractive piece
both sides of a plank with sapwood --- my correspondant says the color on this one is right on.
plank
planks, all from the same vendor --- my correspondant says the color on these is right on.
planks --- my correspondant says the color on these is right on.
both sides of a plank and a closeup of one section --- my correspondant says the color on these is right on.
both sides of a plank and a closeup of one section
a plank listed as "figured" but I think it's just high grain figure, not what one normally means by "figured" (which is curly or mottled or something like that).
These are all from the BogusColorVendor, so the colors are suspect
both sides of a plank and a closeup of one section
both sides of a turning piece and a closeup of one section
planks
turning stock
guitar pics provided by Todd Levy, whom I again thank for this and other contributions to the site. Todd reiterated to me when he sent this batch of pics, that this wood has a wide range of colors and both the purples and brown on this page are good representations of the wood. These guitar pics are color correct but note that the last pic is a set of full front and back shots of the same guitar when the wood was very fresh and the previous two closeups of front and back are of the same piece after it had aged and darkened a bit.
