EXPERIENCING THE JUNGLES OF INDIA

Last month, Jean Larrivée made a trip to India on yet another search to secure reliable sources of high-grade wood. Jean has documented this journey starting in the town of Cochi, India and traveling through tropical jungles via muddy roads, monsoon rains and flooded rivers.

From Jean's personal photo collection you'll see it was quite an adventure, all to find the materials for your future guitar!

- narrated by Jean Larrivée

It was a long journey to India. The flight from Los Angeles was 11 1/2 hours to Frankfurt, Germany and another 9 hours to Bombay (Mumbai). When I arrived to Bombay, this was the only room available at 3:00 a.m! The following day, from Bombay, it was another hour and a half flight to my destination: the town of Cochi.

This is the town of Cochi. It is a bad first impression as there is garbage everywhere, however, this is due to the public workers' strike.

During the monsoon season, most of the roads are flooded and travel can be very difficult. This is a picture of one of the roads that I took into the jungle.

While we were driving, we pulled over when we spotted a local fish monger on the side of the road. I got the fresh catch of the day and it was prepared for that evening's dinner!

This is one the first mills I visited in Cochi. You can see blocks of Rosewood getting ready to be cut into sets.

Pictured are some Rosewood logs and billets prepared for processing into the backs, sides and fingerboards this manufacturer produces.

  Here, a mill worker is getting some ebony ready for me to grade.

One of the main purposes of my trip was to educate the suppliers which I visited in our requirements of quality straightness of grain, color and cut.

This is helpful to them when they bring their wood to market.

These are the normal conditions the town experiences during the monsoon season. This is another one of the roads we traveled on our way to the jungle from Cochi. Everything is flooded and muddy!

Wow, to be so close to an elephant is very eery! Elephants are used to transport logs out of the jungle. Tractors are not used in order to conserve the environment. Elephants are very useful in such surroundings.

Making our way through the edge of the jungle, we saw this mango tree on the side of the road. This is one of the largest mango trees I have ever seen! The roads (as you may be able to see in the background) are very narrow, asphalt being almost non-existant.

We also stopped along the roadside to enoy a cup of tea and some traditional Indian sweets.

This is a photograph taken at Teak Jungle. The workers (seen riding on top of the wood pile on the truck) tend the forest by selectively cutting the smaller trees allowing the larger trees room to grow.

Many of the roads resemble rivers during the monsoon season! From Cochi, we took about 10 hours to drive through the jungle. As you can see, you must drive very carefully along these wet roads.

This was a small village we came upon during our drive into the jungle. A woman is seen going about her daily chores. Although the conditions are very primitive and the people are very poor, most seemed to be happy and very friendly to me.

This is at another wood mill. I'm sitting in their log yard where they hold the wood waiting to be processed.

Here you see a Pincoda log I have selected about to be cut. Pincoda is a local Indian wood.

First slice into the Pincoda log. After initial sizing, it will be transported to another mill to be cut into backs and sides.

This skilled mill worker is trimming the ends of backs ensuring that they are the proper lengths. This is one of the prime saw mills in India.

I spent a lot of time inspecting peghead overlays and rejecting those with flaws and/or mineral content.

Again, one of the main focuses of my trip was to educate my suppliers as to our quality requirements for these materials.

These are some Rosewood logs ready to be cut into back and sides for the manufacterer. This is what Rosewood backs and sides look like in log-form.

Photographed is a batch of Rosewood blocks being loaded onto the truck. The blocks will be transported to another mill where they will be cut into backs and sides.

This is a pile of leftover rosewood that cannot be used for guitars. Instead, it will mose likely be used for various small wooden parts, such as knife handles. As you can see, the monsoons are absolutely amazing. I guarantee you will be soaked head-to-toe, even with an umbrella!

These are the road conditions around town during the monsoon season. It makes driving very difficult in most places.

Fruits and vegetables are in extreme abundance! These produce stands can be found nearly everywhere in Cochi.

My view from the plane, departing Bombay to go home. You can see many of the shanty towns in Bombay from up here. There are millions of these shanties all over India.

End of Tour.

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