From what I know of guitars, it seems like people tend to obsess over some components simply because they're rare. Gibson has been accused of using some illegal rosewood (Brazilian?) a couple of times IIRC. I've heard that koa is in pretty short supply, and that it might not be used in guitars all that frequently in the future. I thought I heard about tube manufacturing being restricted at some point too. I'm not sure if that one is actually true though.

Anyway, this makes me wonder what is sustainable when it comes to guitars. Instead of just chasing down the most rare and precious components to give to ourselves, what sort of rig would you construct if you wanted to be as environmentally friendly as possible? I have no right answer here; it's as much for me to learn as it is for me to voice my opinion. For all I know, solid-state amp manufacturing is less green than tube amp manufacturing.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is a tele. They're so dead simple, it seems like you could get a lot of guitars cranked out with limited resources. After that, I'm out of ideas. Martin makes those HPL guitars in anticipation of less solid wood availability, don't they? Are there any other alternative technologies out there that go in that direction? Wasn't Jet City fooling around with drop-in replacements for tubes?

Any thoughts? I just thought it might be worth a little discussion and exploration.