Does the wood ever bother you?

Is it necessary??

No. Good instruments can be built from sustainable materials. Yesterday I saw a Martin built largely of sustainable cherry:

http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/choosing/guitars.php?m=OMCGTE%20Cherry&s=E&p=ge

Most of the mystic lore about tonewoods is over-hyped IMO.
Am I the only one who worries about stuff like this?

Not at all. I keep scouting around for better options...
....maybe I'll by second hand. Somehow extending the life of a guitar already out there seems more...responsible than causing the manufacture of a new one.

...and that's the best one I've found: buying used instruments. The environmental impact is part of someone else's karma, not mine. :)

I agree about "wasting" these resources, BUT............

I would suspect that the market for expensive and rare woods for the guitar builders represents a minute part of the world-wide usage. Some rare woods are now on an "endangered" list and the only supplies are those that luthiers and wood merchants have been hoarding. The vast majority of wood for guitars comes from renewable resources.

The worst criminals are those that destroy the rainforests to create farm land for crops and/or animals. They take away the soil and micro-climate that are so vital to the trees. Man's greed and foolishness are why great tracts of Northern Africa that the ancient Egyptians irrigated and farmed are now the biggest beach on Earth

I'd rather nature's good materials go into the manufacture of things deemed good for the world; useful things, like guitars.
walking down the aisle in any store I see so much of earth's resources go into making stupid junk. trinkets. some toys, packaging, doodads, shiny worthless things for the shelf, stuff like that. the amount of energy to produce, ship and stock junk boggles the mind.

numerous makers -- Danelectro, Taylor, Martin and Reverend among those many -- have demonstrated in both concept designs and real products that very good, and even excellent, acoustic and electric guitars can be built completely from low cost and renewable materials. so mass production need not rely on materials of any particular sort to achieve sonic goodness. Reverend's original premise for the use of alternative body materials was improved uniformity of timbre (sound, not wood) across production lots. this was supposedly realized by using composites to create more uniform (less unique) materials than would be possible to realize from a stock of wood slabs. the results were quite good. but players like wood. and it seems Reverend has long abandoned the "high-end" Danelectro niche, and now builds using solid and laminated woods. the market rules.

and while I'm not into the "beauteous woods" thing -- I appreciate overall ID more, I will agree with GB and DB that building fine instruments is probably one of the better uses for exotic woods and other "natural" materials. nevertheless, I don't see any reason to cut down even one old growth tree for this purpose alone -- harvesting timber from existing stores, fallen trees or from (necessary) managed growth cuttings, should provide enough exotics for the "instrument as art" market. sure, prices will rise on guitars and furniture crafted of exotic solid woods, but why not? if a player wants an exotic look in a low to moderately priced instrument, then very thin veneers or so-called 'photo-veneers' over solid non-exotics might be the ticket.

Hmm never thought about it that much although I don't see myself buying any guitars made from exotic woods but in strictly consevationist thinking there is no "good" use of these woods.

I don't think using the wood for guitars is any more nobel or worthwhile than any other use of the wood. If it's endangered it shouldn't be used for anything.

Another thing that I learned during my time in Ecuador is that the laws don't matter much in the places where these things grow. If it can possibly be sold, it will probably be cut down.

There ARE restrictions. Like on endangered species. And trees and animals both get poached. A lot, since the areas they come from are running out of other options, economically speaking.

So when I saw the beautiful mahogany neck on a bass I was looking at...I don't KNOW that it was legally harvested. It's not hard to get certificates indicating the sustainability and legality of poached wood, just as poached animals are usually sold with certificates indicating that they were born in captivity in thus and so zoo...

Anyway, I've got an appointment to look at a second-hand bass made out of lucite. It's a possibility.

Best,
Ande

I read an article about sustainable wood guitar making in Acoustic Guitar Magazine a year or so ago (the original isn't online, but it is re-printed here.)
There is even an organization promoting responsible wood usage for instrument making.

Another article on the subject.

And then there are a couple of companies building carbon fibre or graphite guitars

I'm a big fan of certain models in Martin's X-series guitars. I have a DX-1, which has a solid spruce top and is otherwise completely made of alternate materials. The back and sides are made of HPL, which is paper fibers compressed with a plastic photo-veneer on top. Looks pretty great. The neck is made by laminating scraps of wood and infusing it with a resin so as not to require a finish, per se. The fingerboard and bridge are made of a high-density plastic called Micarta, as are the nut and saddle. It's only made with about 20% real wood, but it sounds amazing, especially since the tops has aged nicely these past few years. So it's a good alternative if you want to be more envrionmentally conscious, maybe more so than the Sustainable Cherry guitars. Some of the X-Series guitars even have HPL tops with special bracing.

I learned all this while on the Martin Guitar Factory tour a little while ago. Great place to visit.

Honestly though, if I had a chance, and the money, to own a guitar made with Brazilian Rosewood, I would do it.

Here's my bass:

Late-'70s Kramer DMZ4001. Aluminum neck with thin wood fillets on back. Ebonol (bowling ball material) fretboard. Maple body (I don't believe maple is endangered). Passive DiMarzio pickup, so no batteries to dispose of. I got it used. Plus it has a distinctive sound -- notes roll out of it like huge shiny aluminum bowling balls.... :twisted:

To me, this is an environmentally responsible instrument, at least where trees are concerned. (That's not why I got it, but still.) There are no good answers, really -- Ebonol takes energy to extrude, aluminum has to be mined, and a perfectly good maple tree died for my bass. Not to get too philosophical, but: Every human action has consequences. And under these conditions, we can choose to do the best we can. Or not.

Every human action has consequences. And under these conditions, we can choose to do the best we can. Or not.
That's probably the thing that matters most.

It's impossible to eliminate one's impact on the planet (without removing yourself from it), but it is possible to make better choices.
And when making choices, accept that there is no perfect choice, only better and worse ones.

Very well said, Crow. And COOL BASS. You wouldn't want to sell that second hand, wouldja?

In seriousness, it's very true. Guitars are like anything else. They provide a benefit, but come at a cost. The cost isn't just the $$ we pay, but it's everything- materials used, time spent, energy put in, pollution put out, disposal.

One thing that appeals to me, as part of my solution, is the idea that instruments are permanent, and not just something to have for a while, then stop playing.

My guitar collection, which peaked at five, was recently knocked back down to one when I moved internationally. Before I left, though, I gave the others to friends and/or aspiring guitarists who I believe will play them, and won't now need a new one, having got my old one.

And I'm up to two again- my old guitar and my new bass. Yesterday, found in a secondhand shop, one BC Rich! The perfect thing for metal. It seems to be maple neck, and some lightish wood for the body. Beat to heck, but that gives it character. And I like the fact that I'm not starting something new, just continuing the music that's already started...not to get too philosophical.

(Photos coming up on another thread.)

Best,
Justin

Does the wood ever bother me? Not nearly as much as when I was younger. :P I have a Switch guitar that is made of composite and has an ebonite fingerboard as well. Not a spec of wood in the thing. One piece, came out of a mold and a fine axe it is!

Ha TR and I was going to say only in the morning!

I've been biting my tongue and sitting on my hands since this thread came out. The day will come when you'll just be glad to have wood.