Environmentally-friendly, sustainable guitar gear: green guitaring?

[markb]

The trouble with synthetics like phenolic resin, HPL, carbon fibre, etc is that oil is far from a sustainable resource. Wood isn't really that bad as long as forests are managed responsibly. House building (at least in the US and NZ) consumed far more wood than musical instrument manufacture. Much of it irreplacable. Paper and card based composites could be a possibility if you can get enough density. Metal parts can largely be made from recycled scrap. So we're not that badly off. Until you get to valve manufacture that is Mind you, semiconductors aren't that green either.

[Eric***]

So we're not that badly off. Until you get to valve manufacture that is .

Could you expand on that a bit?

[tunghaichuan***]

Could you expand on that a bit?

Valves (or vacuum tubes as we call them here in the USA) are full of nasty chemicals that are harsh to the environment and hard to recycle. There are only one or two very specialized tube factories left in the US, and they put out a fraction of what factories produced back in the 50s and 60s. I believe one produces transmitting triodes for radio stations and the other makes tubes for audiophiles. Most guitar amp tubes are made in countries with relaxed, or non-existent environmental regulations, i.e., Mainland China and Russia.

OTOH, guitar amps when built to be serviced can last decades. There are still amps from the 40s still in operation. The tubes are the weak link.

To reply to the topic at hand, back in the 90s I had one of those Ibanez Talman guitars made of "resoncast" which was basically sawdust bound with resin binder. It had a wood neck but the body was all composite. It sounded great, and wasn't any heavier than a all-wood guitar despite resoncast being a close relative of particleboard/MDF. Nobody bought them, and they soon started offering an all-wood version. I remember playing one of the all wood ones and it was very bright and piercing, nothing like my guitar. Ibanez soon stopped making them altogether.

[Eric***]

Valves (or vacuum tubes as we call them here in the USA) are full of nasty chemicals that are harsh to the environment and hard to recycle. There are only one or two very specialized tube factories left in the US, and they put out a fraction of what factories produced back in the 50s and 60s. I believe one produces transmitting triodes for radio stations and the other makes tubes for audiophiles. Most guitar amp tubes are made in countries with relaxed, or non-existent environmental regulations, i.e., Mainland China and Russia.

OTOH, guitar amps when built to be serviced can last decades. There are still amps from the 40s still in operation. The tubes are the weak link.

To reply to the topic at hand, back in the 90s I had one of those Ibanez Talman guitars made of "resoncast" which was basically sawdust bound with resin binder. It had a wood neck but the body was all composite. It sounded great, and wasn't any heavier than a all-wood guitar despite resoncast being a close relative of particleboard/MDF. Nobody bought them, and they soon started offering an all-wood version. I remember playing one of the all wood ones and it was very bright and piercing, nothing like my guitar. Ibanez soon stopped making them altogether.

Much appreciated, tung. You win the information all-star award for today.

[tunghaichuan***]

Much appreciated, tung. You win the information all-star award for today.

I am a fountain of trivia; just about everything I know is trivial.

[NWBasser]

The trouble with synthetics like phenolic resin, HPL, carbon fibre, etc is that oil is far from a sustainable resource. Wood isn't really that bad as long as forests are managed responsibly. House building (at least in the US and NZ) consumed far more wood than musical instrument manufacture. Much of it irreplacable. Paper and card based composites could be a possibility if you can get enough density. Metal parts can largely be made from recycled scrap. So we're not that badly off. Until you get to valve manufacture that is Mind you, semiconductors aren't that green either.

Ah Mark, I was all fired up to say something and then you beat me to the punch on the unsustainability of synthetic (generally petroleum-based) materials.

I recall a case history of a semiconductor manufacturer in San Jose that thoroughly contaminated a groundwater aquifer with chlorinated solvents.

Another aspect of this is how much energy and from what sources were used in the manufacturing. Chinese products are from plants that typically use coal-fired power for their electricity. Not to mention the petroleum used to ship the stuff across the Pacific.