Brazilian Rosewood Tree
Important enough to use wood from an endangered species? Specifically, Brazilian Rosewood?
But let’s take this even a step further. How important is tone in general to you? Important enough to buy gear from manufacturers who use non-sustainable materials or do not practice environmentally-safe methods of construction and waste disposal?
I ran across an interesting thread on The Gear Page last night that really got me thinking. In that article, guitar builder Terry McInturff wrote that he lost a sale because he refuses to use Brazilian Rosewood – actually the article bothered me to the point that I decided to join in the call to action to not use Brazilian Rosewood (Click here to read the article – opens a new window).
But after a lot of troubled thought last night, I decided to make an environmental support statement of my own that not only includes Brazilian rosewood, but extends to other issues as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a tree hugger, but I believe that as the highest-order intelligence inhabitants of this planet, we all have a responsibility to act as stewards of the Earth to protect and preserve its resources for the enjoyment and enrichment of the people of this world, now and in the future.
What troubled me last night is the fact that as a tone freak, my beloved instrument is often constructed of exotic woods, and often painted using dangerous and environmentally unsafe materials and disposal methods. There’s nothing I can do about guitars have already been built, but there is something I can do about the ones that haven’t, and lots I can do personally to not support deforestation of exotic woods and environmentally unsafe construction methods.
Why am I making this appeal here? Because I believe that we guitarists have a huge collective voice that will be heard if we take a stand together. Please don’t read this wrong: I’m not saying we should be militant and go out and commit some violent act to prove a point. That’s just plain stupidity and acting on rage. No one wins with that kind of behavior. Instead, I’m going to make what I’ll call my “Green” statement:
Brendan’s “Green” Guitar Statement
- I will only purchase guitars that are made with non-endangered species of wood.
- I will only purchase guitar gear from manufacturers who practice environmentally safe methods of construction and waste disposal.
- I will take the time to research companies’ practices before making a decision.
- I will encourage my fellow guitarists in making a “Green” stand.
This is a statement of passive resistance, and a refusal to be part of things that will have a deletrious effect on the Earth. I’m sure there will be those who will call me names, and who really don’t give a shit about any of this. I can’t control that, but neither will I judge them back. Everyone has a choice. I get that. I’m just taking public stand that I will do my best to contribute to the health and not the harm of our planet. If it makes me unpopular, so be it. But if I don’t have my principles, then what do I have?
I also realize that this eliminates a fairly wide range of gear builders, especially the big brands, who have fairly large facilities overseas where environmental controls are much more lax than in the States. It also means that I will probably have to pay a higher price for gear that abides by the stand I’m taking. Again, so be it. What’s the price to my children in the future if I don’t act responsibily about our Earth now?
Guitar Gear 
Laughable anti-capitalist b*ll*cks.
Valuing bio-diversity in trees for its own sake is frankly the preserve of affluent and perhaps decadent western intellectuals. No one else will give a flying f-ck.
The more exotic trees stand much more chance of being preserved if they are valued as commodities and thus farmed and harvested as crops. Otherwise they will end up cleared, extinct and some more profitable crop will use the resources – land water labour etc – they would otherwise consume.
By refusing to buy and use these woods the chances you reduce their actual value and thus the likelihood they will be actually valued. Perhaps you personally are adding to the chances of these trees being lost by you economic naivety. Find a way to work with economic reality and not against it.
I agree that conservation through resource management is a great way to preserve exotics. But the plain fact of the matter is that many endangered species such as Brazilian rosewood are still being harvested and sold illegally. I’m taking a stand and will not contribute to that.
I didn’t say at all that I’m eschewing all exotic woods. I explicitly stated that I will not purchase guitars made of woods that are endangered species, or did you not read that? For instance, I still love rosewood, and would be okay with Indian rosewood, which is a highly regulated commodity.
Please get your facts straight before you go off on a rant like this.
I’m assuming that you used the phrase “highest-order intelligence inhabitants” in passing only, as a stepping stone to the basis of your thoughtful and well written article. My dog is considerably wiser than many people I’ve come across, and while I love him dearly, I know in my heart that he’s not even close to being the smartest dog out there. Not that dogs are the brightest creatures walking (what’s left of) the planet. Humans have thumbs opposing the digits of their hands, that is not a source of contention; highest-order intelligence…. I’m gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you on that one.
Dogs are wise indeed, and while they don’t have spoken language, their eyes and faces express so much! Thanks for stopping by!
[…] Deluca, citing luthier Terry McInturff’s thread at TheGearPage.net, recently boycotted the use of endangered tonewoods (like Brazilian Rosewood) in new instruments. It amazes me that anyone could reasonably disagree […]