a short article on 'alternative tonewoods" from acoustic guitar magazine

Keira-WitherKay

Alternative Tonewoods

Even though manufacturing of guitars only accounts for less than 1 percent of the depletion of exotic woods (according to Greenpeace), coming up with alternatives to endangered woods has become an important topic for luthiers and guitarists alike. As it is, trees used for guitars are also used for home construction, furniture building, and paper products, all of which have substantially more impact on supplies.

But many classic species of tonewoods need 70–100 years just to become mature timber and hundreds more to become optimal age for musical instruments. With just 20 percent of the world’s intact native forests remaining (and just five percent in the United States), the oldest trees that produce the best tonewoods are vanishing fast.

The overall depletion of these species—much of which can be avoided by using alternative materials for construction and paper products—may place the cost of many guitars out of reach. And few guitarists or guitar builders want any part in driving old-growth forests to extinction. This convergence of social responsibility, adaptive thinking, and market forces finds the guitar builders of the world working with some very interesting alternatives.

Though North American and European spruce are the reigning kings of topwoods, some builders have already begun to tinker successfully with other sources and trees. Even so, no one species represents a truly sustainable alternative. “Suppliers are starting to look at forests in other parts of the world,” reports Chris Herrod, sales manager at Luthiers Mercantile International (LMI), a leading wood supplier. “Some builders say Ukrainian spruce is a decent substitute for Adirondack, but it’s too soon to know how much of that wood is available. Redwood is a cedar alternative that looks and sounds beautiful, and we can use fallen and sustainably harvested trees. There’s not a huge demand for it yet, though.”

Many alternative woods for backs and sides have already proven themselves in the marketplace. “Take sapele and ovangkol, for example, which are mahogany and rosewood alternatives,” says Taylor Guitar’s Bob Taylor. “They’re both widely used in guitar building now, though 15 years ago you never saw them in a guitar. We make 80 guitars a day with sapele and ovangkol, and people accept them readily.”

By Andy Ellis

singemonkey

There's an idea for a long term investment. Buy a denuded piece of land that once hosted prime tonewood trees. Replant. When your great grand kids are middle aged it's just about the only supply on earth and worth gazillions ?

It's good to hear that the guitar industry isn't a major player in the wiping out of forests and species. A good thing about this industry is that we're prepared to pay - so there's a rational supply/demand thing going on. You want Honduras Mahogany, by gum you pay for it. But I suppose that also creates poaching pressures.

As digital simulation improves too, tonewood guitars might become more of a luxury item than they already are. If, when amplified, your pine acoustic sounds identical to a spruce and Indian rosewood piece, you may feel less pressured to demand good tonewoods. We'll still want 'em. But if we don't need 'em any more, we might just let it go.

AlanRatcliffe

singemonkey wrote: There's an idea for a long term investment. Buy a denuded piece of land that once hosted prime tonewood trees. Replant. When your great grand kids are middle aged it's just about the only supply on earth and worth gazillions ?

In all likelihood, by then you won't be allowed to cut them down. For a real investment, buy felled wood and stockpile it (better use of space anyway).

The much longer, more detailed article that the one in the OP was compiled from is here: http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/AltTonewoods.asp