Environmentally-friendly, sustainable guitar gear: green guitaring?

[markb]

Hm, nice idea for a thread. I just think all I can really do for sustainability is buy local stuff whenever I can.

Sadly pretty much all electronic etc. stuff is made in China so that is precious little I can for for it...plus, I haven't the money to buy just locally made guitars, although roughly half of them actually are.

I had a Finnish Landola acoustic in the 70s.

[FrankenFretter***]

In my area, there's Normandy Guitars that produce aluminum-bodied basses and guitars. They're not any lighter than wood, let me tell you from firsthand experience, but they are made from a material that can be reused/recycled (although you can't just turn in heat-treated aluminum to the recycling depot).

I think that a lot of people have a hard time accepting alternative materials, due to the dogma surrounding "good tonewoods". I can't honestly say that I'm above that, although I'd like to think that if I liked the sound of a guitar and the way it played, the materials wouldn't matter (unless it's made from veal...yuck!). I like the bamboo idea, that's pretty cool. I'd like to play a bamboo guitar, just to see what it's like.

Good topic for a thread, Eric. Always thinking, you are. [I said that in my Yoda voice]

[bcdon***]

Link to buy owl strings and baby seal straps please!

[Tig***]

I like the bamboo idea, that's pretty cool. I'd like to play a bamboo guitar, just to see what it's like.

Bamboo is pretty cool. I took this photo of a Calfee bamboo bike prototype (plus carbon fiber lug joints) 5 years ago at the first independent bike builder's expo. They now produce these, but you don't want to know how much they cost. The joints are now made of hemp (not a typo!). http://www.calfeedesign.com/products/bamboo/



The new versions:

[Eric***]

I think that a lot of people have a hard time accepting alternative materials, due to the dogma surrounding "good tonewoods". I can't honestly say that I'm above that, although I'd like to think that if I liked the sound of a guitar and the way it played, the materials wouldn't matter (unless it's made from veal...yuck!).

I agree. Guitars are that unfortunate middle ground between complexity, simplicity, subjectivity, and expense (among other things). They're simple enough that people like to analyze them and figure out ways to make them 'better,' but due to the subjectivity of something like tone and all of the variables in making them, there's also a lot of misinformation about what does what, which leads to blind allegiances to certain brands, woods, etc. Factor in cost to all of that, and it seems like quite a challenge for makers of guitars to sell new materials to the general guitar-buying public.

But now that I've at least entertained the thought of buying more responsibly, I figure on some level that opens up the possibility of me actually buying a non-traditional guitar. For me, a big part of it is that it takes so fricking long just to find out what works and what I actually like. I suppose just being happy with what I have and realizing that tone isn't as important as I think it is would also help in getting myself to accept new ideas.

I like the bamboo idea, that's pretty cool. I'd like to play a bamboo guitar, just to see what it's like.

That link said that First Act makes a bamboo guitar, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on their web site. I wonder if maybe they stopped production.

[kiteman]

Veleno makes all aluminum guitars. Expensive as hell though. Mark Farner (Grand Funk) has one and he paid $10,000 for it.

Here's him playing it in CalJam '74. Sounds good to me. I want one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZj1uElADZw

[NWBasser]

Bamboo is pretty cool. I took this photo of a Calfee bamboo bike prototype (plus carbon fiber lug joints) 5 years ago at the first independent bike builder's expo. They now produce these, but you don't want to know how much they cost. The joints are now made of hemp (not a typo!). http://www.calfeedesign.com/products/bamboo/



The new versions:

Wow Doug, those bikes look pretty cool. Not sure I'd really trust bamboo for a mountain bike though.

[markb]

Wow Doug, those bikes look pretty cool. Not sure I'd really trust bamboo for a mountain bike though.

The Chinese use it for scaffolding on very tall buildings. It's incredibly strong in compression. I think Yamaha made a bamboo acoustic years ago.

[jtees4]

I don't worry if my gear is sustainable. If it's available for sale and I want it, I buy it. Let the companies worry, let the government worry, let the politicians worry. I am in the US. When China and India worry as much as us, then I'll get more interested in the topic.

[bcdon***]

I don't worry if my gear is sustainable. If it's available for sale and I want it, I buy it. Let the companies worry, let the government worry, let the politicians worry. I am in the US. When China and India worry as much as us, then I'll get more interested in the topic.

I Totally agree with you jtess4. Welcome to The Fret! Introduce yourself over at the player's section so everyone can say a proper howdy.

[cebreez]

Wood is the only sustainable material for making guitars, aside from the steel components. The "trick" is to buy ONE that you like and stick with it. Then your individual impact may be a small one. Outside of that if you buy guitar after guitar and amp after amp as we all here at the Fret Net tend to do then you will never be able to call yourself green. Synthetics will never be as green as their wood counterparts.

[cebreez]

I love the bikes. We considered using bamboo for bicycles 30 years ago but the bamboo wasn't easy to come by.

[Tig***]

This just in from Seagull at NAMM:
Seagull Natural Elements Ultra Green Guitars

Seagull guitars is blazing a very eco-friendly trail with the new for 2012 line of acoustic instruments called Natural Elements. These guitars are similar in body shapes and specs as the rest of the Seagull guitars but use woods that would have otherwise been destroyed, sourced from other industries. Then the wood is milled in a plant that uses only hydro-electric power. These aren’t low quality boards either, they are premium tonewoods like spruce, rosewood, silver leaf maple, and wild cherry. Pictured here is a Heart Of Wild Cherry CW Folk SG AC1.5T.

[Eric***]

This just in from Seagull at NAMM:
Seagull Natural Elements Ultra Green Guitars

Seagull guitars is blazing a very eco-friendly trail with the new for 2012 line of acoustic instruments called Natural Elements. These guitars are similar in body shapes and specs as the rest of the Seagull guitars but use woods that would have otherwise been destroyed, sourced from other industries. Then the wood is milled in a plant that uses only hydro-electric power. These aren’t low quality boards either, they are premium tonewoods like spruce, rosewood, silver leaf maple, and wild cherry. Pictured here is a Heart Of Wild Cherry CW Folk SG AC1.5T

That's pretty cool, Tig. Thanks for posting that.

[Hampus]

Well.

Buying a used, old guitar would make the least impact on the environment. Kind of like buying or keeping an old car instead of buying a new one. You can run your old car for years before you're even close to making the CO2 footprint of manufacturing a new one. Same goes for guitars and pretty much anything else. Even if we're talking about wood instead of CO2 here.

Hampus

[deeaa*]

I don't worry if my gear is sustainable. If it's available for sale and I want it, I buy it. Let the companies worry, let the government worry, let the politicians worry. I am in the US. When China and India worry as much as us, then I'll get more interested in the topic.

I understand that completely, but the truth is, it has to start somewhere. The Chinese are not gonna change unless the U.S. And such change first. After all, there are only 5 million Finns to begin with, which os totally insignificant in world population, but we now have very strict laws against pollution etc. Dowright to I fear gas engines on cars will soon be banned etc.

Someone has to start. Now if a few hundred million americans, who generate half of world pollution, would care a bit, soon the Chinese would have to soon. As long as everyone thinks one person or country means squat, its all going south real quick.

I myself don't think a quarter of the hype like co2 danger has any merit to it, its mostly anything but cars etc.that would matter...but nevertheless it is good in general to try to act in sustainable ways.

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk

[Eric***]

I understand that completely, but the truth is, it has to start somewhere. The Chinese are not gonna change unless the U.S. And such change first. After all, there are only 5 million Finns to begin with, which os totally insignificant in world population, but we now have very strict laws against pollution etc. Dowright to I fear gas engines on cars will soon be banned etc.

Someone has to start. Now if a few hundred million americans, who generate half of world pollution, would care a bit, soon the Chinese would have to soon. As long as everyone thinks one person or country means squat, its all going south real quick.

I myself don't think a quarter of the hype like co2 danger has any merit to it, its mostly anything but cars etc.that would matter...but nevertheless it is good in general to try to act in sustainable ways.

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk

Thanks for saying that. I feel the same way, but I was just afraid of starting an argument.

[otaypanky***]

Well.

Buying a used, old guitar would make the least impact on the environment. Kind of like buying or keeping an old car instead of buying a new one. You can run your old car for years before you're even close to making the CO2 footprint of manufacturing a new one. Same goes for guitars and pretty much anything else. Even if we're talking about wood instead of CO2 here.

Hampus

This was one thought I had.
Another material that's very sustainable is palownia wood. I have a Ron Kirn T style with a body made of palownia. I had never heard of palownia before Ron made this one for me and I looked in to it a bit. From what I recall reading it has been used in Asia for instrument making for centuries. It is a straight grained wood that's very light and quite resonant. It can be kiln dried and ready for use within 24 hours. Palownia spreads through roots and can almost become invasive so it's quite easy to grow. It also grows extremely fast. There are now palownia farms in the U.S.A. While it is durable enough to be machined, routed, and can be threaded and hold screws, it's suitable for bodies but not necks. At least not for necks of traditional construction. I would guess that if it were made into a laminate material it might be.
Here's what it looks like