Guitar Makers To Run Out Of Wood In 10 Years

[jezzaboy]

Have a read. Potentially very scary.

[url="http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/guitar_makers_to_run_out_of_wood_in_10_years.html"]http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/genera...n_10_years.html[/url]

Jez

[Bilbo]

Not really. Maybe we will all start playing our instruments and valuing them for what they are instead of buying them, playing them for 10 minutes then selling them on so we can buy another one or comissioning new ones that are a hairs breadth different from the last one we commissioned. There are certainly more instrumenhts than there are good players so I see no problem here.

[bigjohn]

[EdwardHimself]

Well supposedly but what actual evidence do they base this on? My guess it that it's more a publicity stunt by these guitar companies to a) charge more for their guitars and b ) make them look like they're being "environmentally friendly" and all that.

[markstuk]

+1

They could always buy forests and manage them sustainably if it's that important to them....

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='1327479' date='Aug 4 2011, 05:22 PM']Well supposedly but what actual evidence do they base this on? My guess it that it's more a publicity stunt by these guitar companies to a) charge more for their guitars and b ) make them look like they're being "environmentally friendly" and all that.[/quote]

[lojo]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1327439' date='Aug 4 2011, 05:04 PM']Not really. Maybe we will all start playing our instruments and valuing them for what they are instead of buying them, playing them for 10 minutes then selling them on so we can buy another one or comissioning new ones that are a hairs breadth different from the last one we commissioned. There are certainly more instrumenhts than there are good players so I see no problem here.[/quote]


Yep, when they run out of decent stock, they will tell us engineered woods are better and we will believe it

[stingrayPete1977]

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390336219327"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...em=390336219327[/url] make more of these but with Status necks?

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='markstuk' post='1327482' date='Aug 4 2011, 05:23 PM']+1

They could always buy forests and manage them sustainably if it's that important to them....[/quote]

Now I know Bernie from GB guitars has a bad rep for his waiting times but how long do you think it would take from seed to gig?

[Truckstop]

Fine. My guitars and cabs will end up being worth a fortune in 40 years!

Truckstop

[markstuk]

With GB it probably would not add considerably to his delivery times from what I've heard :-)

Personally I would buy a forest with trees already in it though :-)

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1327491' date='Aug 4 2011, 05:28 PM']Now I know Bernie from GB guitars has a bad rep for his waiting times but how long do you think it would take from seed to gig?[/quote]

[Roland Rock]

Bilbo has a good point. On the timber shortage issue, saying that this spells the end of the wood guitar is silly. It's the endangered exotic woods that are running out, not alder, maple, etc. In the exotic timber industry, yes there are irresponsible logging practices, but there are also many sustainable timber projects going on. I'd love to see more Sonokling Rosewood used, as it's from plantations, and is (imo) much prettier than the Indian and Brazillian stuff. Likewise, sapele can be sustainable, and could replace mahogany. Maybe luthiers will steer away from the endangered exotic stuff like cocobolo, and have to get creative with the more native or sustainable woods that are available.

[jezzaboy]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1327439' date='Aug 4 2011, 05:04 PM']Not really. Maybe we will all start playing our instruments and valuing them for what they are instead of buying them, playing them for 10 minutes then selling them on so we can buy another one or comissioning new ones that are a hairs breadth different from the last one we commissioned. There are certainly more instrumenhts than there are good players so I see no problem here.[/quote]


I think that is the 2nd most sensible thing that I have ever read on here.

Jez

[flyfisher]

Of all the natural resources we're plundering and in danger of running out of, I suspect that 'guitar wood' is going to be pretty much right at the bottom of the priority list.

More likely to run out of (= become unaffordable) things like rare earth metals for our fancy amps and speakers first.

[Beer of the Bass]

My brother is a classical guitar maker who is trying to offer sustainable woods wherever possible, so it's something we've chatted about before. While it's harder to find quality examples of the traditional hardwoods like rosewood etc, there are any number of alternative, more sustainable woods which would do the job equally well [i]if customers can be persuaded to accept them[/i]. The area where it is more worrying is with softwoods like spruce for acoustic intruments. Quality spruce and cedar pretty much have to come from old-growth forests in high altitude or northern areas as the slower growth and shorter growing season gives them the required tight grain. Plantation grown softwoods have much wider grain and are not as suitable, apparently. The sustainable solution would be for musicians to maximise the lifespan of instruments by choosing used instruments and repairing rather than replacing them, but this is probably not too palatable to the big guitar companies.

[daz]

when i was a kid in the 1970's they said we'd run out of oil in 30 years and the world population would run out of food not long after.

[BassBus]

Like oil, trees that produce wood such as mahogany and rosewood will become rarer and more expensive. That will eventually lead to a tipping point where people will no longer be willing to pay the prices. I'm not sure Maple will become that rare. I'll go with Bilbo's comments though. That's why I need a bigger house On the other hand we could all buy Status Stealth and Streamlines. You wouldn't go wrong with them.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='daz' post='1327549' date='Aug 4 2011, 06:08 PM']when i was a kid in the 1970's they said [b]we'd[/b] run out of oil in 30 years and the world population would run out of food not long after.[/quote]

We did, So we joined America at pinching everyone elses! Ooh harsh but true

[Muzz]

Oh no! What will happen to everyone's tone?...

[Mr. Foxen]

Surprised it hasn't run out already, not like it grows on trees is it?

[MB1]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1327488' date='Aug 4 2011, 05:27 PM'][url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390336219327"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...em=390336219327[/url] make more of these but with Status necks? [/quote]

MB1.
That Dan Armstrong plexiglass aint cheap? what what what? Jack Bruce once farted on it! ,oh i see?

[Chris2112]

I suppose we're sort of seeing the effects of this already!

Look at Status Graphite for instance. I don't know if it's supply issues oor cost issues, but a lot of Status basses made recently have had what I would call some pretty naff pieces of wood on top. On the other hand, my 1980's Series II has one of the nicest pieces of birdseye maple on I've ever seen. I suppose it's just getting harder to get some pieces of wood or more expensive to get them. I remember hearing Phil Kubicki saying a few years ago that it was getting difficult to get ebony blanks of sufficient size and quality to make Ex Factor basses!

[Eight]

It is a bit worrying; on the other hand I tend to think that people find ways around these kinds of problems. For instance, I love ebanol fingerboards so am reasonably confident that guitar/pickup makers would find ways of making less rare woods and synthetic products sound great.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Eight

[Rich]

No, we know this isn't true -- deforestation doesn't happen, because Hartley Peavey said he couldn't see any smoke from his Gulfstream. And therefore anyone who worries about it is just a "tree hugger". Hartley said so.

[JimBobTTD]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1327439' date='Aug 4 2011, 06:04 PM']Not really. Maybe we will all start playing our instruments and valuing them for what they are instead of buying them, playing them for 10 minutes then selling them on so we can buy another one or comissioning new ones that are a hairs breadth different from the last one we commissioned. There are certainly more instrumenhts than there are good players so I see no problem here.[/quote]

I do. If that delays the inevitable by 50 years, all of today's instruments will be worn out by then and there will be no instruments and no wood. Still, we would get another 50 years. But it won't solve the problem of finite wood sources and a finite lifespan of our instruments. The wood will be cut down anyway, whether they make guitars out of it or not.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' post='1327543' date='Aug 4 2011, 06:06 PM']My brother is a classical guitar maker who is trying to offer sustainable woods wherever possible, so it's something we've chatted about before. While it's harder to find quality examples of the traditional hardwoods like rosewood etc, there are any number of alternative, more sustainable woods which would do the job equally well [i]if customers can be persuaded to accept them[/i]. The area where it is more worrying is with softwoods like spruce for acoustic intruments. Quality spruce and cedar pretty much have to come from old-growth forests in high altitude or northern areas as the slower growth and shorter growing season gives them the required tight grain. Plantation grown softwoods have much wider grain and are not as suitable, apparently. The sustainable solution would be for musicians to maximise the lifespan of instruments by choosing used instruments and repairing rather than replacing them, but this is probably not too palatable to the big guitar companies.[/quote]
+1

I can't add anything to this. I've been hunting for sexy looking NZ native woods over the last few weeks. Not only is the old growth stuff hard to come by now (and it breaks my heart when I see a stunning piece of 100 year old native broadleaf that was used as a house pile and is now borer ridden) but the source of these timbers is totally unreliable and inconsistent. Guitar makers literally have to be opportunists and take what they can get as and when they find it. I'd never be able to offer native woods consistently on a line of basses, there's just not enough of it available at the quality expected.