Guitars, illegal wood import and the Lacey Act

[Customisbetter]

Expensive Modulus basses use phenolic fretboards. What's your point? It's not a cheap or low grade material by any means.

i was stating that the only production guitar i know if that uses phenolic boards are the cheaper washburns.

 

[Antimatter]

I prefer necks made of solid elephant ivory, and bodies from the bones of Californian condors. Panda tooth inlays. As well as Floyd Roses made from spotted owls.

Don't forget the Rhinoceros Horn carved into a bridge

 

[Necris]

Don't forget the Rhinoceros Horn carved into a bridge

With a nice gloss coat of childrens tears.

 

[AVWIII]

and of course there's koa


Summary:
"So, basically, koa only grows on one tiny island, only at an altitude of above 5000ft. It's getting hard to find. Man it looks good! Let's make more guitars out of it!"

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Keep in mind that the greater majority of wood used to make guitars, even if the guitar is made today, is from trees that were cut down years ago.

A lot of luthiers have wood stashes that go back decades, or even centuries for some very rare/old/valuable stock.

Much of that is to do with the drying processes, let alone the actual cutting, planning, sectioning, and selling of the raw lumber itself.

Also, the term "endangered" has become a fairly misleading term. The fact of the matter is, it could take another century or more to deplete some of these wood species to extinction.

 

[guitarplayerone]

Also, the term "endangered" has become a fairly misleading term. The fact of the matter is, it could take another century or more to deplete some of these wood species to extinction.

sorry dude, but you are failing to see that the designation factors into account the ability of the species to be able to repopulate itself and survive minor natural catastrophes. for example, if you deplete a population to an amount which will have a stastistically small amount of individuals which then may be attacked, for example, by some exingent species... lets say a beetle which attacks the roots of the trees... and then is unfortunate enough to have a mild tropical storm hit then they might get into a major genetic bottleneck... and might not survive. and this is becoming more and more of a common situation. its not just a matter of 'oh there's x amount of trees, lets leave x/90 and harvest the rest, they should be able to repopulate without a problem'. there's interspecies genetic diversity....

:inhale:

anyway endangered is not a misnomer, the terminology is there for a reason

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

From what I understand phenolic is an inferior material to graphite because of its sensitivity to heat among other things...

I personally have a Moses Graphite neck on my primary instrument and I absolutely love it - I can't find any reason to not use it, especially since it sounds so woody and warm.

 

[Variant]

Expensive Modulus basses use phenolic fretboards. What's your point? It's not a cheap or low grade material by any means.

My Steiny's board is pheneloc and is sounds and plays great... adds to the stability of the neck as well.

 

[drmosh]

It's very important topic which you have choose for this thread. Illegal wood imported for guitar. Hope that you would get better response on it.

are you complaining about the previous posts, because yours sure as fuck doesn't add anything of value

 

[Durero]

Chain-of-custody certification and sustainable harvest programs are badly needed for all industries which consume wood products.

FSC:Startpage-Forest Stewardship Council

 

[drmosh]

Chain-of-custody certification and sustainable harvest programs are badly needed for all industries which consume wood products.

FSC:Startpage-Forest Stewardship Council

damn straight, I dread to think what kind of woods are being shipped around that are endangered.
However, I do think that guitar building is the least of the worries. I wonder what percentage of exotic wood actually goes towards guitars compared to expensive custom furniture etc.

I am guessing that here in europe things might be a little more controlled, but I will do some reading on the subject and post what I find.

 

[Durero]

However, I do think that guitar building is the least of the worries. I wonder what percentage of exotic wood actually goes towards guitars compared to expensive custom furniture etc.

I think this is a common assumption - guitars are small, furniture is big, therefore furniture making must consume more exotic wood than luthiery. But I haven't seen any actual numbers to back this up. Then I talked to a cabinet-maker friend of mine who told me that luthiers have a reputation for being the worst among woodworkers for using unsustainable woods. This is just an anecdotal story and proves nothing but my point is that the assumption that instrument makers are "less bad" than furniture makers is not necessarily true.

And more importantly, doing something which is wrong but doing it less often than someone else does not make it right. It's still wrong.

 

[xshreditupx]

I prefer necks made of solid elephant ivory, and bodies from the bones of Californian condors. Panda tooth inlays. As well as Floyd Roses made from spotted owls.

hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[drmosh]

I think this is a common assumption - guitars are small, furniture is big, therefore furniture making must consume more exotic wood than luthiery. But I haven't seen any actual numbers to back this up.

You're right, I haven't seen any numbers either. But judging by some of the ridiculous furniture I have seen being built for very rich people I wouldn't want say one or the other is worse.