Eco-Instruments:
A Statement of Policy and Intent
A lot of us love nature and participate in recycling as well as making choices that are "green" and "organic". Careful management of our resources to ensure sustainability, as well as cleverly reusing materials at hand, are considerations we must be mindful of in order to keep our planet healthy. From shoes to handbags and insulation to hybrid cars, the marketplace is flooded with options that are ecologically conscientious - but as musicians, how many us have sought out or demanded a green guitar?
It's surprising that something as deeply personal as our music and our favorite instrument has been largely overlooked in terms of environmentally sound construction practices. Since finding my first wind fallen walnut boards and getting my first headache from spraying nitrocellulose lacquer, I have been looking for ways to incorporate more organic finishes and ecologically responsible wood sourcing into my luthiery.
As an independent hand builder I don't really consider myself part of the guitar manufacturing industry. This gives me the freedom to source and utilize interesting reclaimed or salvaged timbers to provide you with quality musical tools that are both unique and green. While a large majority of my wood stock already qualifies, I have made it a personal goal to only purchase wood that is reclaimed, salvaged (naturally fallen trees recovered from forests, lakes, and rivers), or from a responsibly managed forest that follows the guidelines laid out by the Forest Stewardship Council.
As any tone wood supplier will tell you, instrument quality wood is hard to come by. So when you add the additional criteria of being eco-friendly it really becomes a challenge. I therefore am often willing to live with color streaks, a small pinhole, or other beauty marks (as I like to refer to them) but I do not compromise on a piece of woods acoustic characteristics.
And then there are finishes… that is a big can of worms. Do different finishes sound different? In my experience they most certainly do, and I much prefer the sound of a softer more flexible finish like varnish. But we'll leave what is the best for another discussion. All of the solvent based finishes sprayed in factories are hazardous to both the air and workers applying them. Companies using these products go to great lengths to diminish and control the hazards of their finishes, but as an independent builder I am faced with a completely different set of economic realities and player expectations than a factory. This has enabled me to explore the use of natural resin varnishes of both the oil and spirit based varieties. These are the types of varnishes used on centuries old violins and other instruments. While they obviously survive the test of time they are less scratch and chemical resistant than most modern finishes and often don't live up to many players' expectations about durability. Unlike modern finishes though, spirit varnishes are easily repairable. I've found waterborne lacquer to be a good compromise between harder more hazardous finishes and the more care intensive varnishes. Feel free to call or email to help determine what would be best for you.
I'll update this page and get you all some more details in the future. In the meantime, please feel free to get in touch if you'd like to strike up a dialogue on any of these subjects.
Please check out The Giving Tree Band's website as a great example of musicians affecting a positive change for the environment while having fun and making some great music.
Also check out these links to the environmental policies of some wood suppliers as well as info about the future of tone wood and some great initiatives by the guitar making industry:
Spruce Tonewood
The story of salvaging Sinker Redwood
My local lumber retailer of choice Paxton Lumber
