Barking Spiders Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 I'm looking to buy a 5 string very soon, for around £500, and in my research was surprised to find quite a few budget models - e.g. under the Sire, Yamaha and Ibanez brands - have mahogany for the body and / or rosewood fretboards. I've a feeling there was a thread on sustainable woods a while back but I cant find it. Anyway I'm ruling out any model not made from sustainable woods . Some instrument makers are more concerned about using sustainable materials than others. Isn't it about time those still using endangered woods were called out? Some will say 'but the amount of wood used by guitar manufacturers is relatively small' but that's like a defendant on a burglary charge claiming in their defence they only robbed one house and not a whole street's worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tut Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 I'd guess that there's Mahogany and Mahogany. I'd like to think the basses you're talking about are probably made from a more sustainable variation of Mahogany. I'd do a bit more research if I were you before ruling out some decent instruments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundfreedom Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Being poor makes me eco friendly. I can't afford anything that's not made out of plywood. 😂 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_c2 Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 It might be its not Mahogony or Rosewood at all, but its described as such for marketing purposes. If you tick the "leather" option for any new VW now, you'll get a plastic fake leather which definitely isn't the same and isn't as nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 3 minutes ago, paul_c2 said: It might be its not Mahogony or Rosewood at all, but its described as such for marketing purposes. If you tick the "leather" option for any new VW now, you'll get a plastic fake leather which definitely isn't the same and isn't as nice! I’ve noticed an increasing amount of products being described as leather when in fact they are ‘PU’ leather. Why can’t things be accurately labelled? Do VW charge the same for their new ‘leather’ upgrade as before I wonder.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) - Edited March 6, 2022 by Jus Lukin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Isn't mahogany an incredibly fast growing wood, making an abundant supply, which is why it became so popular for furniture many years ago? I would suggest watching the last series of Poldark as that is why my mahogany knowledge comes from, and stay away from any produced by the chap who becomes Poldark's nemesis in that series, he was a bad'un. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave moffat Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 JL is right different, species of the same genus some are endangered others are not. Can't see that the wood in an electric makes a blind bit of difference you'd be as well with a lump of ply with a pretty wrap on it but spend the cash on electrics. Acoustic on the other hand are a whole different game, and the tone wood can make a huge difference. to my ear Acacia is the mutt's. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 The comments are true re: different species of Mahogany. For example, Dingwall use Khaya for their D-Bird/D-Roc bodies. According to Wikipedia: Quote Khaya is a genus of five species of trees in the mahogany family Meliaceae. The timber of Khaya is called African mahogany, and is valued as a substitute to genuine mahogany (of the genus Swietenia). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Cocacola, sorry, cocobolo belongs to rosewoods, namely it is Dalbergia Retusa. It is cultivated to instruments, although the wood is endangered in its natural habitat, somewhere in Amazon. You can get it, but the price is high. Not all woods are the same, Honduran mahogany and certain ebony is endangered, but not all. If you have a factory and start to build instruments from something illegal, the production is quickly turned down. Customs may cut the import/export to zero in no time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicVibes Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Fender introducing a new range of MDF basses... "It's the best sounding Fender yet!" 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 On 14/07/2020 at 08:33, Barking Spiders said: I'm looking to buy a 5 string very soon, for around £500, and in my research was surprised to find quite a few budget models - e.g. under the Sire, Yamaha and Ibanez brands - have mahogany for the body and / or rosewood fretboards. I've a feeling there was a thread on sustainable woods a while back but I cant find it. Anyway I'm ruling out any model not made from sustainable woods . Some instrument makers are more concerned about using sustainable materials than others. Isn't it about time those still using endangered woods were called out? Some will say 'but the amount of wood used by guitar manufacturers is relatively small' but that's like a defendant on a burglary charge claiming in their defence they only robbed one house and not a whole street's worth. If a company is making basses and selling them internationally you can be sure that they are fulfilling all the criteria laid down by the CITES agreements. Therefore these basses are using sustainable woods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 3 hours ago, ClassicVibes said: Fender introducing a new range of MDF basses... "It's the best sounding Fender yet!" I did see (apologies if this has been covered elsewhere on a thread I've missed) that Fender have in fact been pretty active in replacing rosewood with ebony. Obviously this has been prompted by CITES, and they neatly explain that they are using ebony with white streaks in it because it's cheaper a far better ecological choice as most ebony isn't completely black Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Organisations the size of Yamaha, and the companies that make instruments for Ibanez, will hold huge stocks of tonewoods. Some will be bought to season for 10 or 20 years prior to use. So even though there is a ban, it seems reasonable to me for companies to use up existing stocks. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Best buy a non wood Status then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 1 hour ago, fretmeister said: Best buy a non wood Status then. What tone non-wood do they use..? ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, pete.young said: Organisations the size of Yamaha, and the companies that make instruments for Ibanez, will hold huge stocks of tonewoods. Some will be bought to season for 10 or 20 years prior to use. So even though there is a ban, it seems reasonable to me for companies to use up existing stocks. Pretty much exactly what I was going to say. I visited Alembic in 2012 and they had huge stocks that they probably haven't touched yet. Edited July 15, 2020 by jacko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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