Tonewoods and sustainability

[Sirion]

(No, not sustain! although that is not an issue to be neglected entirely.) Since I began playing in the early 2000s there has been a lot of talk of endangered wood going into guitars. Mahogany, ebony and rosewood either are or are becoming endangered. If I am getting any new guitars made at this point they are likely to be custom made, and whilst I would like to avoid killing off any species I am also interested in the future of tonewoods in general. Whilst I see that alternatives are being used, including by some big companies, I was wondering if there are any of the commonly used woods (maple? ash? poplar? limba/korina?) whose tonal properties are well enough known but are unlikely to become scarce any time soon? Which woods will we have to go to in the future, if we want a guitar that is not entirely made of out recycled yoghurt boxes?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Most of them are ok....as in the ones you can get that don't appear on CITES lists.

Even Honduran Mahogany is grown in plantation now and used commonly. Thats the way you manage to use those type of woods sustainably.

Rosewood is not scarce. This genus covers a lot of ground botanically and there are plenty of options for wood that is not being ripped out of forests in a bad way.

 

[ledzef]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Brazilian rosewood was the first wood to hit the guitar community. Believe around 1990 the importation of it was banned, since than guitar companies and growers have been working closer together about conservation.

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[stratguy23]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

This is an oversimplified and incomplete answer, but simply buying used guitars only would alleviate sustainability issues. I'm always amazed at the number of new guitars being pumped out into the world. If guitar production simply stopped, humankind would probably have more than enough guitars to go around for a while.

 

[HiFiRebel]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

I have bought two new basses before I was 18 and didn't know better. All of the other guitars/basses/drums have been used. Why kill more trees? Plenty of perfectly dead ones already. For me anyways. Not knocking new guitars. I just prefer to buy used.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Scam.

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[Sirion]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

This is an oversimplified and incomplete answer, but simply buying used guitars only would alleviate sustainability issues. I'm always amazed at the number of new guitars being pumped out into the world. If guitar production simply stopped, humankind would probably have more than enough guitars to go around for a while.

I definitely agree with this as far as it goes. I am sure there are other culprits than the guitar industry as well, and the production companies of course aren't going to close down. But they wil have to adapt – we can already see that happening. It will be interesting to see where things are going.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Recycled Christmas tree guitars all the way.

 

[Archer250]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

This probably won't affect me much since alder and maple are probably going nowhere soon.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

This is an oversimplified and incomplete answer, but simply buying used guitars only would alleviate sustainability issues. I'm always amazed at the number of new guitars being pumped out into the world. If guitar production simply stopped, humankind would probably have more than enough guitars to go around for a while.

I agree with this; as a species we're very wasteful in general, look at how we treat cars, structures etc. (esp. in the US.)

The flip side is that a "plan" implemented to reduce production of new guitars and stop the waste of used ones would lead to a decrease in the skills and means of production for making them, affecting employment on a few different levels. It would also increase the price of existing used guitars and cause a barrier for entry in that respect; this would be (only to a point) alleviated when the cost of a used guitar caused those not actively using them to dig them out from the closet and sell them; but that would be more effective if there was some policing over who at any given moment was actually making "worthwhile" use of their guitar. I don't see any of those as great things for guitar/music in general.

Let's not kid ourselves though; guitars probably aren't the number one use of wood or skilled labor in the world, nor should they be. Maybe we first need to talk about those people who throw out all their furniture every five years, or developers tearing down perfectly good twenty year old structures. In the meantime, I have a few philosophies, which only on occasion contradict: support local craftsmen, repair rather than replace, and minimize waste where I can. I do respect companies such as Taylor, who at least have an "on-paper" commitment to some of those same things.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Ebony is disappearing quickly, mostly because the only ebony anyone wants is the super dark stuff, so anything that is cut but isn't dark is tossed. Spruce is apparently quite easily sustainable and as acoustics use less wood per guitar we should all buy and play more acoustic!

If the wood is used in a $300 guitar, it's probably in pretty good supply. If it's limited to special runs it's probably quite limited.

 

[baritone]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

I've always wanted to see guitar companies w/non-wood parts get more attention: Vacarro, Rain Song, Switch, etc.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Re: ebony. Not any longer now the countries that export ebony have laws in place to prevent log burning for aesthetic E.d. reasons. I have seen a sharp drop in prices of ebony in recent years.

 

[dave74]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

I've noticed many more ebony boards with streaking these days, some of which being by customer choice.
Probably also more ebony-dying going on with the mid-level lines than before due to the increased use of streaked trees.

 

[Sirion]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

I take it that there is no reason to assume that a streaked ebony board would sound worse?

 

[TRex]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Seagull takes pride in using woods like cherry, spruce, maple , and cedar because they are sustainable iirc.

I love my Cedar topped seagull, the Cherry sides actually are pretty and seem to do well.

 

[HiFiRebel]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Taylor made that pallet guitar once. Seagulls are nice acoustics.

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Taylor made that pallet guitar once. Seagulls are nice acoustics.

Bob Taylor has been heavily involved in Sustainable Tone Wood Farming since the 70's!!! Soon it will be the only way to get things like Ebony and Honduran Rosewood responsibly. There's definitely other great tone woods available that aren't going to die out anytime soon though...

Pine is awesome for Telecasters (albeit a little fragile and undurable) & Maple H/H L.P. & S.G. style guitars sound awesome with the right pickups!!! My old Gibby L6-S put out some sweet late 70's L.P. tones!!! I wonder if there's a reason why Oak hasn't been used in solid body guitars more? Texturally it seems quite similar to Mahogany, (tight grain & extremely hard) I'd imagine the two would sound quite similar as well...

Was that Taylor pallet guitar made out of Oak???

 

[Demanic]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

How about irresponsibly?

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[HiFiRebel]

Re: Tonewoods and sustainability

Bob Taylor has been heavily involved in Sustainable Tone Wood Farming since the 70's!!! Soon it will be the only way to get things like Ebony and Honduran Rosewood responsibly. There's definitely other great tone woods available that aren't going to die out anytime soon though...

Pine is awesome for Telecasters (albeit a little fragile and undurable) & Maple H/H L.P. & S.G. style guitars sound awesome with the right pickups!!! My old Gibby L6-S put out some sweet late 70's L.P. tones!!! I wonder if there's a reason why Oak hasn't been used in solid body guitars more? Texturally it seems quite similar to Mahogany, (tight grain & extremely hard) I'd imagine the two would sound quite similar as well...

Was that Taylor pallet guitar made out of Oak???

I thought the pallet guitar was pine? I could be wrong. I know oak is protected in California, but I'm sure you can get it elsewhere.