Environmental safe/ethical woods

[Cederick]

So, what woods are actually "safe" to use? As much as possible, I want my guitars to feel good. With that I don't mean playability but that the actual wood gathering/manufacturing process has been good.

I think we can say that alder, maple, ash, basswood and poplar are all "safe". I guess they are all grown within US, Canada or similar countries, and I can't imagine it doing any harm.

But mahogny, ebony, rosewood, wenge, bubinga etc etc etc. I have personally never been into those exotic looking woods (I'm a solid finish guy) but I used to be thinking it would be cool with a ebony fretboard in contrast to a alpine white body.

But maybe it's a better choice to get an all-maple neck and just dye/paint the fretboard black instead?  :toothy12:

Note that I'm not a lot into the tonewood thing, if a guitar sounds good it doesn't matter if it's made of mahogny or a piece of plywood. I've had good experiences with both, and bad experiences with both. For me tone comes from scale length, action, pickup and amp.  :icon_thumright:

 

[dmraco]

You will get tons of opinions on this topic.  Just do a search on "richlite" used on Gibson guitars.  Massive revolt on what was and still is a good substitute for ebony.  You will always have the traditionalists but I am from the camp of what ever works.  I have seem some killer Bamboo necks and that stuff grows like weeds.

Even played a carbon fiber Rainsong acoustic guitar....amazing
http://www.rainsong.com/

Also take a look at what Carvin/kiesel guitars is doing.  Lots of dyed maple fretboards

 

[GilgaFrank]

I saw an interview with the CEO of Taylor Guitars where he talked about the amount of waste in selecting guitar timbers. Ebony trees were being cut down then discarded simply because they had light streaks in the grain. The tree fellers got no money for the trees and the logs were just left to rot. Taylor took the decision to actually buy this streaked ebony for use in fingerboards, generating income for the people cutting the trees and aiding in the conservation of perfectly good timber that would previously have been rejected simply on the basis of a few light streaks. Obviously the wood was still graded and the darkest pieces would still go to their top of the range instruments.

I still don't like Taylor guitars though!

I'm also thinking about Fender's use of reclaimed redwood, those are some classy looking guitars.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83iy73WurhY[/youtube]

 

[amigarobbo]

You will get tons of opinions on this topic.  Just do a search on "richlite" used on Gibson guitars.  Massive revolt on what was and still is a good substitute for ebony.

"(ebony)  is the preferred fretboard wood for achieving the best intonation possible."  :icon_tongue:

One of the best sound basses I've ever heard was a original Phenolic fret boarded Steinberger, just sayin'.

 

[Cederick]

I saw an interview with the CEO of Taylor Guitars where he talked about the amount of waste in selecting guitar timbers. Ebony trees were being cut down then discarded simply because they had light streaks in the grain. The tree fellers got no money for the trees and the logs were just left to rot. Taylor took the decision to actually buy this streaked ebony for use in fingerboards, generating income for the people cutting the trees and aiding in the conservation of perfectly good timber that would previously have been rejected simply on the basis of a few light streaks. Obviously the wood was still graded and the darkest pieces would still go to their top of the range instruments.

I still don't like Taylor guitars though!

I'm also thinking about Fender's use of reclaimed redwood, those are some classy looking guitars.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83iy73WurhY[/youtube]

That's really cool of them! I know I've seen light streaked ebony fretboards on Warmoths showcase too, and really, isn't that easy to just dye a bit to hide?

You will get tons of opinions on this topic.  Just do a search on "richlite" used on Gibson guitars.  Massive revolt on what was and still is a good substitute for ebony.

"(ebony)  is the preferred fretboard wood for achieving the best intonation possible."  :icon_tongue:

One of the best sound basses I've ever heard was a original Phenolic fret boarded Steinberger, just sayin'.

Haha whoever came up with that idea of ebony intonating better?  :toothy12:
I love disillusional stuff like that.
Big Bends Nut Sauce is excellent for keeping a guitar in tune, but they advertise to make the guitar sustain better and get better tone. Did I notice a difference after applying it? Eh, no  :tard: but the guitar certainly stayed in tune like never before!  :glasses9:

You will get tons of opinions on this topic.  Just do a search on "richlite" used on Gibson guitars.  Massive revolt on what was and still is a good substitute for ebony.  You will always have the traditionalists but I am from the camp of what ever works.  I have seem some killer Bamboo necks and that stuff grows like weeds.

Even played a carbon fiber Rainsong acoustic guitar....amazing
http://www.rainsong.com/

Also take a look at what Carvin/kiesel guitars is doing.  Lots of dyed maple fretboards

Yeah I know this can be a heated topic for some people, and just to make it clear I'm not really trying to make Warmoth stop using woods or be a "social justice warrior" shouting angry shit at people who buys a wenge neck; I'm mostly interested in feeling good myself about my choices. 

Same here, whatever works, just works  ccasion14:

Seriously, once I read that they use Richlite I was like "wow, that's frickin cool" haha not that I would really buy a Gibson anyway, but it certainly got my attention.

I will check out Carvins dyed maple boards

 

[GilgaFrank]

"(ebony)  is the preferred fretboard wood for achieving the best intonation possible."  :icon_tongue:

I thought that was a joke until I googled it. But having seen where it came from, I can believe the original poster genuinely believed it.

 

[Cederick]

I checked out the Carvin dyed maple boards and that's certianly interesting, I've never seen that before  :icon_thumright:

However, I'm personally more into getting a maple neck to look like ebony, pure black

 

[swarfrat]

Poplar, Maple, Walnut are all common north american woods, and relatively fast growing.

 

[stratamania]

Check this out.

[youtube]LFWK3IOdkMA[/youtube]

 

[Strat Avenger]

All wood is safe. It grows on trees. As long as you're getting it from a region where it's legal to harvest it, there's nothing to worry about.
Some woods are harmful to breathe when sanding without using a respirator (Korina?). Other than that, don't worry about such nonsense.

 

[Cagey]

All wood is safe. It grows on trees. As long as you're getting it from a region where it's legal to harvest it, there's nothing to worry about.
Some woods are harmful to breathe when sanding without using a respirator (Korina?). Other than that, don't worry about such nonsense.

I agree. Also, keep in mind that market forces tend to balance the use of various materials. The less of them there are, the more they cost, so the less they're used. For instance, it's easy to argue that Pau Ferro is a superior neck wood for both fretboards and neck meat. But, it's not a common wood, nor is it easily replaceable. So, it's expensive and as a result not many users buy into it. Otherwise, Fender would start making all their necks out of it and in fairly short order we wouldn't have any left. But, since its cost is high, the stuff is only used judiciously and is justifiable.

 

[Cederick]

What about hemp?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0rJM24m7Gk

And bamboo?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMDfl2fWqC4

I would love to see Richlite fretboards by Warmoth, as a cheaper and more friendly alternative to ebony
:icon_thumright:

All wood is safe. It grows on trees. As long as you're getting it from a region where it's legal to harvest it, there's nothing to worry about.
Some woods are harmful to breathe when sanding without using a respirator (Korina?). Other than that, don't worry about such nonsense.

Well it's not only that. Just as GilgaFrank mentioned, apparantly lots of (usable!) wood gets thrown away because it's not "pretty enough", and left to rot. Taylor guitars then decided to use for example streaked ebony wood instead of just throwing it away.

I feel really disgusted about somebody actually turning away a cut down tree just for the appearance!

Why not only gather it, and then when it's cut up, just dye the streaks to match the black?  ???

 

[Re-Pete]

You will get tons of opinions on this topic.  Just do a search on "richlite" used on Gibson guitars.  Massive revolt on what was and still is a good substitute for ebony.

"(ebony)  is the preferred fretboard wood for achieving the best intonation possible."  :icon_tongue:

One of the best sound basses I've ever heard was a original Phenolic fret boarded Steinberger, just sayin'.

I have a few guitars with ebony fingerboards. 3 from Warmoth that I assembled myself & an acoustic guitar manufactured by a company. But if you assume I'm an ebony endorser you are wrong.

The 3 Warmoths were specced with the ebony for overall tonal characteristics of what I was aiming for. 2/3 worked very well with what I wanted.
The one that was 'meh' took 10 years to find the right electrical combination to get around the sterility of the body & neck composition of maple & ebony wood parts. It was, simply put, too lively.

The other thing to consider with ebony is that it is HARDwood. Hard on your fingers too. Feels like steel compared to the softer feel of rosewood under your fingertips.

 

[Cederick]

First Act has a bambuu guitar for $300  :headbang1:

Too bad I don't like the design, I would love a more traditional strat design.
https://rockingreen.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/first-act-makes-first-rate-bamboo-guitars/

 

[dmraco]

You will get tons of opinions on this topic.  Just do a search on "richlite" used on Gibson guitars.  Massive revolt on what was and still is a good substitute for ebony.

"(ebony)  is the preferred fretboard wood for achieving the best intonation possible."  :icon_tongue:

One of the best sound basses I've ever heard was a original Phenolic fret boarded Steinberger, just sayin'.

BTW...People keep quoting me saying this about ebony.  This was a Quote direct from gibson that amigarobbo posted.  It is not my opinion.

 

[Day-mun]

Recycled cardboard guitar?

Here's a link to the video:  https://www.facebook.com/nuda171/videos/1021266951227236/

 

[dmraco]

Banboo and a little more strat like
http://www.liceaguitars.com/guitars.htm

 

[rgand]

Those Licea guitars are cool-looking. Thanks for the link.

 

[Guitarsan]

If you're really serious about this, just get a used pallet. Talk about green!


http://www.guitaradventures.com/taylor-pallet-guitar-story

 

[stratamania]

Interesting I have a pallet in my garage that's seasoned nicely. Been meaning to make a Tele body with it one of these days.