An Environment in Tone-Woods by Ray Beattie

An Environment in Tone-woods
2009
An Environment in Tone-woods by Ray Beattie

From source, to supplier, to certification, to maker, this Masters project provides a look into threatened species used in acoustic guitar making, the ecological use and experimentation with local and sustainable timbers, and what steps can be implemented to further understand and combat current threats to tone-wood species and the environment.
Foreword
Over recent decades many species of timber used throughout the timber sector which have also have been used extensively on musical instruments now become more threatened. Examples of these have been: Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), on the appendix I of CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) list since 19921; American Mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), CITES listed appendix II since 19982; Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia), on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List since 19983: and more recently, Pernambuco (Caesalpinia echinata), used in violin bow making, CITES listed appendix II since June 20074. With over 70 tree species used in instrument making currently under 5 threat and with a number of tone-woods ever more difficult to source, challenges towards sourcing compatible substitutes for traditionally prized timbers for future instrument makers look to be on the increase. Eight years ago I began learning a trade in the profession as a guitar luthier, and more recently I have come to respect and understand more of the structural properties in the timbers we use. The more I have learned about making, the more I have wanted to know about the materials we use and why. Having dealt with the learning processes under the watchful eye of experienced luthiers in both university and college I have gained an understanding of the
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CITES 28th meeting of the standing committee, Switzerland, June 1992: <http://www.cites.org/eng/com/SC/28/E28-SumRep.pdf > 03/04/2006. 2 CITES, First Meeting of the Mahogany Working Group, 2001: < http://www.cites.org/eng/prog/MWG/MWG1/E-MWG1-Doc-08-06-CR.pdf> 23/11/2007. 3 IUCN Red list, Rosewoods: <http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/search.php?freetext=ROSEWOOD&modifier=phrase&criteria= wholedb&taxa_species=1&redlistCategory%5B%5D=all&country%5B%5D=all&cty_default=1&aq uatic%5B%5D=all&aqu_default=1&regions%5B%5D=all&reg_default=1&habitats%5B%5D=all&th reats%5B%5D=all&redlistAssessyear%5B%5D=all&growths%5B%5D=all> 29/10/2007. 4 Music wood: < http://www.musicwood.org/news/playbillarts.htm> 22/10/2007. 5 Global Trees, Projects: <http://www.globaltrees.org/proj.asp?id=23> 03/01/2008.
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concerns facing makers in selecting materials. The materials we choose are much more special in their quality of strengths compared to those used in construction and furniture building. Timber species for instruments are specially chosen for their dynamics in tonal quality, as well as their mechanical strengths and aesthetic qualities. Over the centuries most of our desired hard-wood materials used for the backs and sides of guitars have come from tropical trees that have being maturing for many decades if not hundreds of years. Highly valued, not only for their rich array of timbres, they are also highly sought after for their ornate and often exquisite characteristics. From a lifetime of sudden changes in humidity, to accidental knocks, bumps and bashes, these specially selected tropical timbers also must remain resilient to the many stresses an instrument has to undertake in its lifetime. Also, our soundboards have to come from special spruces which grow in certain northern climates that mature at a slow and even pace. This allows the tree to produce a soundboard material that while light in weight, also produce tight and relatively evenly spaced grain-line. These spruces are then able to take string tension along the grain-line, while remaining flexible across their grain-line. This enables any given soundboard to vibrate freely to amplify the sound required. With both spruce, and tropical hardwoods, much of an instrument makers woods also have to have little or no knots, and so trees have to be specially selected. In light of all these requirements such high demands from makers/producers may be substantial enough towards contributing to much more pressure on the depletion of forest species than one may first conceive.
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Project
The immediate benefits to the environment through the use of native species can be clearly recognised through savings on transport and energy costs, while advantages towards using recently introduced certified sustainable woods remains not so clear. In readdressing the availability of local woods, as well as researching those that come from certified sustainable sources this Masters project is a study into the availability, advantages and disadvantages of both sources, compared to the use of traditional timbers. Focusing particularly on the acoustic guitar, which uses a wide range of timbers from tropical, boreal, and temperate regions across the globe, this project consisted of three practical case studies. These studies were undertaken to provide analysis into the differences in rarely used and newly classified sustainable timbers in comparison to traditionally used timbers, and what benefits and disadvantages arose in sourcing and utilising those timbers. The case studies were as follows: 1) Making a steel string acoustic guitar selecting materials that have been certified as a sustainable source and/or reclaimed sources 2) Making a second guitar sourcing tone-woods native to the UK 3) A serious of Chladni tests revealing two possibilities of native UK species for acoustic guitar soundboards. Tests were carried out on two UK native species, European yew (Taxus baccata), and Italian/Black Poplar (Populus x canadensis var. serotina). Both these species were then compared to the traditional use of European spruce and Western Red cedar soundboards, providing a visual comparison towards how each would react as an acoustic soundboard. (Initially these tests came about due to the difficulties found in sourcing a suitable top for the UK wood sourced guitar project) The production of both sustainable and UK wood sourced guitars provided us with not only a visual and sound reference of how the woods performed in relation to traditionally used timbers, but also with the actual problematic steps in advantages and disadvantages in the current availability and use of both material sources.
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Initial Questions Raised

Key questions identified throughout the project were as follows: What materials are there available in guitar making, and what qualities are necessary for the maker? What examples are there of tone-woods currently threatened, and what, if any actions are being taken towards combating those threats? As guitar makers and many others involved in the wood industry are channelled towards an inevitable acceptance and experimentation of new species of timber, what substitutes for solid timber guitars are currently on the market, and what advantages/disadvantages are there in using those substitutes? What are the possible options in use of native UK species, and how do they rate in comparison to traditionally used timbers for the guitar? What possibilities are there in using materials from forests certified sustainable? What other ecological considerations and strategies might the UK maker/supplier adapt? How feasible is it for the common luthier to sustain a more responsible practice in using certified sustainable materials for the guitar? What practical replacements are there for solid spruce tops, and how do they compare with the qualities of other soundboard materials? With the possible lowering in availability and higher prices for the future of many traditionally used tone-woods, how then could the luthier be better equipped to meet challenges posed in sourcing compatible materials, and how can one make better choices in their current approach to materials?
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Source Study
Having gained personal experience in the investment of various tonewood species, and with several years of knowledge in the field of guitar making, much of the standards a quality tone-wood has to meet were much easier to explain. Questions regarding materials used in guitar making throughout the ages were initially addressed through reading books such as, Guitars: Music, History, Construction and Players, From the Renaissance to Rock (Evans, Tom & Mary, Oxford University Press, 1977), and The Art and Times of the Guitar, an Illustrated History (Grunfeld, V. F, Da Capo Press Inc, 1974). Both of these books provided a well illustrated and documented history of guitars, makers, players, social survey, construction, technique, and performance, as well as the evolution of practical music standards. Information gathered on new and traditional tone-woods currently used in the modern world of commercial guitar making came by researching major guitar businesses such as, Gibson, Martin, Taylor, Yamaha, Lakewood, Ibanez, and Fender. Further evidence of recently introduced tone-woods on offer for acoustic/classical guitar was provided through leading lutherie suppliers such as: LMI (Lutherie Merchantile International) (US), Allied Lutherie Ltd (US), David Dyke (UK), Touchstone Tonewoods (UK), Maderas Berber (Spain), and Stewart MacDonald (US). Source study on the chapter, Composite Materials as Timber Substitutes, including some history of, material compositions, and previous results from studies on modern composite technologies came from institutions, organizations, and music journals such as, Hardwood, Plywood, and Veneer Association, APA woods (wood engineering), National Music Museum, Acoustic Guitar magazine, The American Plastics Council, and Cool Acoustics. Also within this chapter Pye, D, The Nature and Art of Workmanship (Cambridge University Press, 1968) offered some of the social background in relationship between man, tools, materials, and the world around them. Pye offered explanatory theory in contextualising the relationship between different kinds of workmanship, that of certainty and risk, handmade and machine made, while representing levels of workmanship within the order of artisan. Primary methods of research in material source for the production of the two guitars using native UK and other certified sustainable woods and their availability were made via contact with leading lutherie distributers such as LMI (Lutherie Merchantile International) (US), Allied Lutherie Ltd (US), David Dyke (UK), Touchstone Tonewoods (UK), Stewart MacDonald (US), Craft Supplies (UK), Touchstone Tonewoods (UK), Maderas Berber (Spain), and North Heigham Sawmill (UK).
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With a number of independent certification schemes operating throughout the world working to various standards with varying levels of success, research into certified timber included the CSA (Canadian Standards Association); PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification), SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative), FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), and the MTCC (Malaysian Timber Certification Council). With over 100 million hectares certified and with FSC certificates in 81 countries, and while they are the most successful in pioneering the certification of forests sustainable, only FSC certified tone-woods were currently to be found on the lutherie market. It was therefore for the benefit of this project that FSC certified tone-woods were sought. From egg cartons to tissue paper, from government buildings to home improvements, FSC certified products today can be found thriving in many commercial packaging and timber dependant sectors. Although rather new to the lutherie market, FSC certified tone-woods currently prove difficult to obtain. With lengthy backorders via leading suppliers such as LMI, FSC certified tone-woods offered here are all but a few. Was there only a small choice due to there being little in the way of demand from the luthier concerning FSC certified woods? Was it simply due to the immediate lack of FSC certified available through main lutherie suppliers, and if so, why? While the guitar industry has mass investment in the stock-piling of tone-woods, how aware are they of certified woods? How conscious are they to the threats concerning the commercial availability of some prized tone-woods? To answer these subquestions, the best forms of research were in contacting suppliers of tone-woods, the FSC, and Soundwood, a subgroup of Fauna and Flora International International, who look to raise awareness in areas where tone-wood species remain threatened. In reading online back issues of music quarterlies such as the American Guild of Luthiers, American Luthier magazine, and Acoustic Guitar magaziner, I was subsequently able to find more information on awareness with threatened species among luthiers, as well as through major guitar companies such as Gibson and Taylor. By asking the opinions of individual luthiers in how aware they were of FSC and UK material availability, feedback then provided a general overview of opinions and views towards the benefits and disadvantages in using those sources. Further questions answered surrounding levels of environmental awareness concerning threatened tone-wood species, as well as those actions currently undertaken, came from a more recent branch of Greenpeace USA. In 2006 they launched the MusicWood Campaign, are now in partnership with major guitar companies, Gibson, Taylor, Guild, Fender, Martin & Co, Yamaha, as well as main tone-wood suppliers LMI, Pacific Rim Tonewoods, North American
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Wood Products, and Allied Lutherie.6 In conjunction with the FSC, the Music Wood Campaign now work to promote more responsible management of threatened prime tone-wood forests, while raising further awareness within the music sector. To make this Masters project more challenging I sought out alternative UK materials less frequently used in the field of guitar making, those being Laburnum and reclaimed oak. While many home-grown UK woods used by makers today are walnut, maple, ash, cherry, poplar, holly, pear, apple, yew, lime/basswood, and plum, a certain amount of research in material science was undertaken, ensuring the afore mentioned would be acceptable in meeting the standard requirements posed as guitar components. Having researched books such as, the Good Wood Guide (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996), I was able to look at more of the structural properties of UK woods. Other material research entailed brief consultation with Sue Newton, head of materials science within the London Metropolitan University. The ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organisation) first became established under the United Nations in 1986, as an intergovernmental organization promoting the conservation and sustainable management, use and trade of tropical forest resources and whose 59 members represent about 80% of the world's tropical forests and 90% of the global tropical timber trade7. The ITTO were a key source in providing information in how tropical hardwood availability may look to develop for the future, as well as statistics in the current rates of global deforestation. Through their website, the ITTO were subsequently able to offer many other leads connected to the environmental timber sector such as the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification), WWF (World Wildlife Fund), Rainforest Alliance, Princes Trust, TRADA (Timber Research and Development Association), CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), and the UNFF (United Nations Forum on Forests). These and other environmental organizations provided further information on regions affected, threatened species, forest regeneration, as well as subsequent actions being taken to curb the threats to forests. Questions surrounding sound quality in comparison to the traditional use of some tropical hardwoods were also in their workability with tools, and how certain woods took to the application of certain varnishes and oils. Guitar hardwoods
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Greenpeace Music Wood Campaign: <http://www.musicwood.org/who.htm> 22/10/2007. ITTO, about: < http://www.itto.or.jp/live/PageDisplayHandler?pageId=225> 30/10/2007.
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such as maples, rosewoods, and mahoganies all have varying structural properties concerning density and elasticity. These varying structural properties produce warmer or brighter tonal qualities, quicker/sharper response with trebles and/or basses. While many have difference in sound, the physical aspects remain just as important. Where some are oilier than others, leading to difficulties when gluing or sanding, others have dense interlocking grain, making them hard to work with tools or bend. All of these aspects were further reviewed after consultation with practicing luthiers. By reading back issues of the journal, American Lutherie, knowledge through experience from established guitar luthiers provided more insight with the characteristics of timbers, as well as problems and challenges within the use of certain species. Investigation into how much of Europes spruce forests are currently run as sustainably managed sources came from factual sources such as: CPET (The Central Point of Expertise on Timber Procurement) which is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and is operated by ProForest, an independent company with wide experience in responsible purchasing8; and the UNEC (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) forestry sector who provide current European forest resource assessments. 9 Overall information gathered on the international trade on forest products was gathered from Centre for International Trade in Forest Products (CINTRAFOR). Further study into the environmental and ethical aspects examined within how environmental issues and philosophies have transgressed over time was carried out by looking into NGOs such as WWF and Greenpeace. Environmental Discourse and Practice, A Reader (Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 2000) by Benton, L.M. & Short, J.R. shone more light on social and structural development of the environmental movement across the USA. While there are plenty of debates on moral environmental and ecological issues, this book gave strong and often well narrated views from many writers over the last 400 years on their own environment throughout America. After as much gathered information into sustainable forestry practice, certification, materials, mechanical properties, workability, and tonal strengths/values had been carried out, there was then sufficient representation to draw up the two tables. Representing FSC certified, native UK, tropical and other traditional timbers used in guitar making, tables provided an overview of all wood characteristics concerned with guitar making. These included mechanical strengths, durability, tonal characteristics, other uses, as well as showing the availability, regions of origin, CITES or IUCN listed. In relation to these tables, all
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CPET, UK Governmental Dept, on timber procurement: < http://www.proforest.net/cpet> 29/10/2007. 9 UNEC: <www.unec.org> 30/10/2007.
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mechanical and workability properties were sourced from: trada.com (Timber Species Search tool); onlinewoods.com; woodworkerscorner.com, Useful Woods of the World, as well as through personal experience.
In relation to Chladni testing, source material included: University of New South Wales, London Metropolitan University, Music Dept, Musical Instrument Makers Forum, and Chladni Music Acoustics. All sources were able to provide examples of Chladni pattern acoustic soundboard tests. All other source study researched throughout the project concerning acoustic, history, performance, and music related theory relied upon online sources via RILM (Rpertoire International de Littrature Musicale) and Oxford Music Online.
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Chapter Overview
Chapter 1 Demands and Demise of Tone-woods
p. 13
Chapter one shows examples of threatened species, focusing particularly on the plight of Brazilian rosewood and Alaskan Sitka Spruce. In reviewing the standards a good tone-wood has to meet before being used as guitar components, also shown are the high quality demands on species by instrument makers. Concluded are the challenges in recognising trees as a threatened/endangered species and as to what choice luthier and supplier has towards the availability and use of more environmentally friendly tone-woods.
Chapter 2 FSC Guitar and Certified Species as Tone-woods
p.29
As well as how well they acted as tone-woods, this chapter into the current availability of FSC certified tone-woods, also revealing those difficulties in sourcing and using those woods for the construct of the FSC guitar. Current actions taken and the difficulties faced by a conglomeration of Greenpeace, major guitar companies and tone-wood suppliers in certifying forests sustainable for the future are also reviewed. In conclusion: what actions the luthier, suppler, and musician are able to carry on in promoting sustainability of fine tone-wood guitars.
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An Environment in Tone-woods Chapter 3 UK Species Tone-woods and Guitar Construct

p.49
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Covered in this chapter are what species native to the UK are available to the guitar maker, the materials used in the construct of a UK woods guitar and how they compared to traditional tropical hardwood guitars. In concluding, how aware UK makers are of native tone wood species and how much the aesthetical and mechanical qualities influence the maker in using those species.
Chapter 4
Timber Substitutes as Composites for Acoustic Guitar
p.67
This chapter is comprised of the benefits and disadvantages of using plywood, graphite/epoxy, and polymer, a recently introduced composite for guitar making. Each composite material discussed is related to research and findings from makers and players. How the various materials were manufactured, and how they performed compared to natural tone-woods are also briefed upon. It concludes with reasons why tradition in using natural solid timbers in high end guitar making continues to outclass the use of such composites in the professional field of music.
Chapter 5 Chladni Tests on UK Native Species Guitar Soundboards
p.76
In carrying out Chladni tests on two lesser known UK species as guitar soundboards I was able to reveal in brief how they acted in comparison to traditionally used of spruce and cedar, while concluding what advantages and disadvantages there were in their possible use as guitar soundboards.
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p.97
Chapter 6 Conclusion
A final summary on better areas of waste management within guitar making and solutions towards a more environmentally sound responsible approach.
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Chapter 1
Demands and Demise of Tone-woods
Contents
Introduction Deforestation and Tighter Controls Tone-wood Standards Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) Pernambuco (Caesalpinia echinata) Table of Threatened Species Makers Demands Old Growth Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) Sitka Infestation Conclusion 14 15 17 18 19 20 22 23 24 25 27
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Introduction
..By 1840 there were more than thirty thousand sawmills, shingle factories, and related wood establishments operating east of the Mississippi River (more than six thousand in New York State alone). Between 1850 and 1860, more than 150,000 square kilometers of North American forest was liquidated. In 1867, one of the first inventions specifically designed for mass disposability arrived in the form of the paper bag. By 1900 North Americans were felling and clearing in excess of fifty billion board feet per year.10
- The Golden Spruce by John Valliant
The mass volumes of timber that have come from tropical, temperate and boreal forests currently provide the luthier with more guarantee in availability, often at high quality. Compared to tropical tone-woods much of the UK timber available to guitar makers is of limited quantities and thus can be problematic to obtain. As it now stands luthiers are easily swayed to invest more in tropical timbers due to current aspects of availability at higher quality, whether illegally or legally procured. Just how long this can continue depends on many aspects such as the future yield of forest production, the tightening of import/export laws surrounding timber, the expansion of both local and international policing of timber related businesses both large and small, how forest law governance looks to develop and how subsequent certification of many forests may look to expand. With particular focus on where many of our prized tone-woods come from, the following chapter sets out to explore the extent of deforestation across the globe while highlighting examples of tone-wood species under threat and/or vulnerable. Then revealed are to what standards make a good tone-wood species. Demands by the maker and guitar industry which are put upon tree species, particularly with the pressures which fall upon old-growth forests, are also shown. Conclusions are then drawn on the possible outlook for the future of tone-woods and what action the luthier can take towards promoting a more responsible practice in utilising and quality timbers.
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Valliant, J., The Golden Spruce, p. 87.
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Deforestation and Tighter Controls

Mass liquidation of forests over the last two centuries has inevitably lead to the loss of many tree species. As it now stands, approximately 8000 tree species, 10% of the world's total11, including a quarter of the worlds coniferous trees12, have been estimated to be threatened with extinction. In 2006 the ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organisation) concluded that:
forest coverage has been declining since the inception of ITTO: in Africa, from 49.3% of total land area in 1985 to 44.2% in 2005; in Asia, from 41.4% in 1985 to 35.4% in 2005; and in Latin America from 59.4% in 1985 to 52.4% in 2005. For all ITTO producer countries as a whole, the decline was from 52.7% in 1985 to 46.4% in 2005.13
While Vietnam which has lost one-third of its forest cover between 1985 and 2000,14 further analysis of deforestation rates in South-East Asia provided by the Princes Trust Rainforest Project also shows that:
South-East Asia contains approximately 25% of the worlds rainforest cover. However, a study of forest clearing from 2000 to 2005 showed it to have the highest deforestation rate of all three rainforest regions. Forest loss in Indonesia alone is the second highest after Brazil, and deforestation accounts for 85% of its emissions. The population of tropical Asia is predicted to grow by 70% between 1990 and 2025 and tropical Asia is predicted to lose 21% of its forest during the same 15 period.
At the turn of the 21st century 30 million hectares of forest were harvested in Brazil, when only 4.5 million had been authorised with 80-95% of this trade illegal.16 Vietnam alone lost 33% of its forest cover between 1985 and 2000, mostly through unchecked trade in logging and land clearance.
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Release of the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals ongoing decline of the status of plants and animals: <http://www.iucn.org/en/news/archive/2006/05/02_pr_red_list_en.htm> 5/11/2006. 12 Global Trees Campaign: <http://www.globaltrees.org/abou.asp> 23/05/2006. 13 ITTO, Annual Review, Executive Summary, Page 9: <http://www.itto.or.jp/live/Live_Server/377/E-AR06-Text.pdf> 23/11/2007. 14 Ravanel, R., Granoff, M.E., Magee, C., (ed) Illegal Logging in the Tropics: Strategies for Cutting Crime (U.S. Haworth Press Inc., 2005) p.15. 15 Princes Rainforest Project: <http://www.princesrainforestsproject.org/rainforest-nations/asiaoceania/introduction> 09/11/2008. 16 Ravanel, R., Granoff, M.E., Magee, C., (ed) Illegal Logging in the Tropics: Strategies for Cutting Crime (U.S. Haworth Press Inc., 2005), p. 56.
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Particularly with the Amazon, concerns over unsustainable rates of deforestation continue to hit headline news. Although the Amazon has shown over recent years that deforestation rates had began to slow, rates have been shown to accelerate again for the first time in four years according to BBC reports in 200817. With such high demand attracting ever increasing lucrative profits, pressure continues to be put upon forests through wide scale illegal logging, commercial over logging, and land clearance for agriculture. Here, the Amazon rainforests merely serve as an example of what looks likely to happen with many other poorly governed forest regions of the world. So what measures are being taken to combat the problems surrounding increased levels of deforestation? As countries such as Brazil and Indonesia are put further in the media spotlight over rates of deforestation, intergovernmental organisations such as the ITTO and the UNFF (United Nations Forum on Forests) now find themselves obliged to take more stringent action for the future of forests. With tougher policies on forest law enforcement look to be implemented, 18 tighter regulations look to come into further practice with import/exports of timbers in many countries, including the UK. In a report the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee 20052006 report, British MPs called on laws to ban imports of illegal timber by accepting sustainable timber only.19 In a more recent review of the CPETs (Central Point of Expertise on Timber Procurement) UK Government Timber Procurement Policy plan, the government is now set to bring about tighter restrictions on the import of timber. This plan which will allow only legal and sustainable timber imports is set to come into effect from April 1st 2015.20 As a globalised awareness over green issues has been amassing over recent years, particularly with the threats over global warming, far tighter controls and regulations surrounding the trade in timber look to take hold for the future. This then looks to further affect future standards of tone-wood availability with an inevitable new era of higher prices and lowering in availability of many, if not most, quality timbers from around the world.
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BBC World News, Amazonian Deforestation Accelerates : <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7756241.stm> 12/12/2008. 18 ITTO, Tropical Forest Update: <http://www.itto.or.jp/live/PageDisplayHandler?pageId=243> 13/11/2008. 19 House of Commons, Environmental Audit Committee, Sustainable Timber: <http://www.parliament.the-stationeryoffice.com/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmenvaud/607/607ii.pdf> 01/05/2008. 20 CPET, 2007 Review of UK Government Timber Procurement Policy: < http://www.proforest.net/cpet/review-comments-1/review-comments/> 15/12/2008.
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Tone-wood Standards
With over 200 different tree species worldwide used to make musical instruments,21 there are many standards a species has to meet before being accepted as a tone-wood. The first and fore-most of these standards is in its ability to produce an acceptable tone. The experienced luthier is generally able to recognize this quality by the tap-tone of the wood. This is done by holding the top corner of one half of a book-matched piece of timber for the top or back of an instrument, about three inches down with finger and thumb and letting it hang. By knocking or tapping any piece with a little force with the fingers of the other hand, one can then hear the wood vibrate producing a sharp or dull tone. The frequency produced generally depends on the density and elasticity of the wood. Whether it be a dense piece of wood like ebony, producing a bright treble response, or a light piece of spruce, which depending on the quality produces any number of high, low, dull, and/or sharp frequencies, the experienced luthier can then tell how good the wood may then act as a compatible tone-wood for any given instrument. To go without saying, this practice can indeed take years in mastering in gaining knowledge and understanding of the various tonal characteristics of so many different tone-woods. After the initial tap-tone test has been carried out, the wood then has to withstand the stresses and pass several standards before it can be applied as a suitable component for an instrument. Does it work well with tools, making cutting not too difficult? Does it have a good weight to strength ratio? For a stringed instrument top, is it strong enough along its grain line to take the tension of strings, yet flexible enough across the grain-line to vibrate freely? Does it have good elasticity enabling easier bending for the sides of an instrument without warping or cracking? Does it remain stable over time that it is not too susceptible to move, shrink, crack, warp, or split under the stresses of changes in humidity? Does it deflect sound well for the back and sides? Can it endure well the under the stresses of a fingerboard? Is it an oily timber making it difficult to glue or finish with certain varnishes? Is it not too porous, enabling easier finishing with varnishes? Does it have rich and interesting texture, colour, and grain-line patterns, thus making it more attractive and therefore more prized? When a tone-wood is dynamic enough to pass all of these standards for acoustic stringed instruments, then indeed the more sought after that species becomes.
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Global Trees, Projects: <http://www.globaltrees.org/proj.asp?id=23> 03/01/2008.
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Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra)

Due to its highly sonic reflective qualities producing full deep basses and brilliant trebles, its highly figured grain, many guitar makers rank Brazilian rosewood as the ultimate tone-wood for classical and steel string guitar making. It has been used extensively in instrument making over the last two centuries by many acoustic guitar makers, from the back and side veneers of English maker Louis Panormo (17841862) to some currently produced C.F. Martin solid bodied acoustic guitars. Today Martin remains one of the most successful and influential acoustic guitar companies to have promoted the use of Brazilian Rosewood since the beginning of the 20th century. With the success of Martin guitars, and the rise in musical instrument production over the latter 20th century, Brazilian Rosewood became the ambassador as a tone-wood, thus setting the standard. With results of a very low population density of Brazilian rosewood first recorded in the 1920s, and with the species becoming increasingly rare up to the 1990s,22 most timber suppliers no longer stock Brazilian rosewood. Under CITES laws one is only able to use stock which has been proven to be cut before 11th June 1992. As it now stands single sets of BR for acoustic guitar back and sides can now fetch well up to and over 1,500. Indeed, the mass increase in the value of the species was highlighted when Kansas Stars columnist and long time instrument dealer, Jim Bagget, reported:
Retail prices for a new Martin D-28 acoustic guitar with Brazilian rosewood were $600 to $800 in 1970. They're now $10,000 to $12,000...23
As the price climbs higher and availability lowers, most makers today seek out acoustically ideal, attractive and economic rosewood replacements. While
22
C.I.T.E.S.: A meeting was held NGOs and other groups to discuss the current state of environmental progress for the protection of species in 2001: <www.cites.org/eng/com/sc/28/E28SumRep.pdf >12/28/2005. 23 Musicwoods, News, The Kansas Star, September 17th 2007: <http://www.musicwood.org/news/kansascity_sept17_2007.htm> 25/11/2007.
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rosewoods such as Madagascar (Dalbergia baroni), Bolivian (Machaerium schleroxylon), or Honduran (Dalbergia stevensonii) are available, most bespoke and larger companies now use Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia). It is seen as one of the best compatible yet readily available and economic in comparison. It was also concluded in a controlled study by luthier Paul Jacobson who noted that If wood density and thickness are held constant, backs of Brazilian and Indian rosewood will produce the same tone results24. Although, through personal experience I have found that it does depend on the maker to find the most excellent set of Indian rosewood to make the grade in comparison to Brazilian. For many makers the Brazilian rosewood is the most beautiful and rich tone-wood for backs and sides of an instrument. Whether on the black market or from old stock, many makers continue to seek out and use the timber. The involvement by makers, however small a part it may be, merely helps to promote further illegal logging and demise of Brazilian rainforests. This has lead not only to further dire consequences for the environment through imbalances in oxygenating the planet, but on the ground helps to promote the deadly conflict between illegal logging companies and those trying to save those forests. Between1996 and 2000 it was reported that twelve forest rangers were murdered and four-hundred and ninety others were injured,25 while in 2004 in one area of the Amazon roughly 1500 people, including police and forest rangers, were also reported murdered trying to prevent the destruction of the Amazonian rainforests.26 As logging, illegal or legal, continues in the Amazon so does the loss of life on all levels, and with often incalculable cost to those immediate forest environments, the loss and threat towards many species, including Brazilian rosewood, continues.
Pernambuco (Caesalpinia echinata)

Distributed from Brazil: Alagoas, Bahia, Esprito Santo, Minas Gerais, Paraba, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Nergipe 27, Pernambuco (Caesalpinia echinata) has now fallen under CITES list as threatened since 2007. As the exploitation of, combined with rapid deforestation in its native
24
Paul Jacobson guitars: <http://www.pjguitar.com/options6.htm>. 5/10/2006. Ravanel, R., Granoff, M.E., Magee, C. (ed) Illegal Logging in the Tropics: Strategies for Cutting Crime (U.S. Haworth Press Inc., 2005) p.14.
25
26 27
Anderson, B., BBC2, Holidays in the Danger zone: Rivers, 21/02/2006, 23.20. Global Trees Campaign: <http://www.unep-wcmc.org/trees/trade/cae_ech.htm> 8/8/2007.
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regions has caused its demise, remaining stands of the species exists on coastal plains of Brazil. The exploitation of this species as a source of wine-red dye dates back to 1501 and has resulted in the country being named after the tree. Since the introduction of synthetic dyes in 1875 it became less exploited. It was then after much painstaking search, violin bow maker, Franois Tourte (1774-1835), came to the conclusion that Pernambuco was the ultimate material for bows given its weight, strength and elasticity.28 Since this discovery, it has been the most important wood used in the manufacture of violin bows.29 With the price of individual bows sometimes reaching thousands of pounds , and with rising difficulties in sourcing Pernambuco, considerable temptations for illegal harvesting and trade shall continue to put further pressure on the species. Also important to note is that 70-80% of the wood is lost in converting logs into bow blanks and a further 70-80% is then lost in processing bow planks into bows.30 This conversion loss can also be applied to many other species used in instrument making, from the carving of violin tops to guitar necks.
Table of Threatened Species

Brazilian rosewood and Pernambuco merely serve as prime examples of recently endangered species and as to how many more look to follow suit. Shown in the table below are more species which look to follow the plight of Brazilian rosewood and Pernambuco. All following species have been listed as either vulnerable or endangered according to both IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and CITES lists:
28 29
Centrum, The Bow: <http://www.centrum.is/hansi/thebow.html> 8/8/2007. Global Trees Campaign, Population Trends and Status: <http://www.unepwcmc.org/trees/trade/cae_ech.htm> 8/8/2007. 30 Global Trees Campaign, Population Trends and Status: <http://www.unepwcmc.org/trees/trade/cae_ech.htm> 9/10/2007.
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Common Names
Latin Name
Source
Instrument Use Acoustic guitar back and sides, fingerboards and veneers.
Conservation Status VU A1cd
Indian rosewood (also Bombay Blackwood, Indonesian and Malibar rosewood and Palisandre de Linde) Big-Leaf, Brazilian, Honduras Mahogany
Dalbergia latifolia
India, Indonesia
Swietenia macrophyllia
Various forest types including Amazonian rainforest.
Acoustic guitar back/sides and necks, end blocks.
Classified as vulnerable (VU A1cd + 2cd) on the IUCN Red List 2002, and listed on Appendix II of CITES. VU A1acd.
Cocobolo
Dalbergia retusa
S. Mexico & Central America Mexico N.S. America
A.G. Back and sides.
Red cedar, Spanish cedar, Cigar-box wood.
Cedrela odorata
Soundboards of nonbowed stringed instruments
VU A1cd+2cd
Utile, African Mahogany
Khaya ivorensis
Africa
Piano VU A1cd casework, xylophone, marimbas and glockenspiels Bowed stringed instruments, viols, piano, harpsichord, spinet, clavichord, 44 threatened species in this genus. None of the commonly used species.
Swiss pine, sugar pine, Rumanian pine, British Columbian pine, Bavarian pine, yellow pine, Western white pine,
Pinus spp.
Eurasia, Americas
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An Environment in Tone-woods pitch pine, and Baltic redwood. virginal, pipe organ
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Interpretation of the IUCN conservation information: CR: Critically Endangered, EN: Endangered, VU: Vulnerable, LR: Lower Risk, cd: Conservation Dependant, nt: Near Threatened, 1c: Least Concerned. A: High levels of population decrease, B: Small area of occurrence, C: Small number of individuals, D: Extremely small number of individuals, E: Extreme risk of extinction. Lower case letters (a,b,c,d,e) and numbers (1,2,3) give additional information
Makers Demands
As forests are cleared and harvested by the need for housing, infrastructure, furniture construction, lumber for fuel, paper, as well as land clearance for agriculture, it was surmised that only an estimated 1% of forest depletion can be attributed to use in instrument making. However, when one takes a closer look at the demands by instrument makers for the best quality timbers, a much more significant part towards waste surrounding tone-wood species is also evident. In the search for the best quality straight-grained and knot free trees it is often not only one species that has to suffer but many others. In one case with a species of mahogany, used predominantly in guitar making, it was estimated that for one of those mature mahogany tree to fall freely to the ground, 12-17 adjacent trees had also to be felled.31 This clearly shows as an example of one hidden aspect, that within the need for the best straight grained tone-wood many more species in turn can be affected. Another example native to 26 African countries, African Blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) has been put to use for oboes, guitar back and sides sets, bagpipes and clarinets. It is also t note that much of the wood produced by African Blackwood is brittle and shatters and therefore sections containing irregularities cannot be used. When harvested for musical instruments only around 10-20%is of use. This in turn means that around 80-90% of every tree has often gone to waste.32 Threats to the species were initially highlighted through pressure from the governments of Tanzania, Kenya, and Germany in 1994 to have the species CITES listed. Today Global Trees Campaign (Fauna & Flora International) work
31 32
Global Trees Campaign, Soundwood: <http://www.globaltrees.org/proj.asp?id=39> 5/17/2006. GTC, Tree Species, African Blackwood: <http://www.globaltrees.org/tp_african_blackwood.htm> 03/08/2009.
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at both local and government levels towards creating projects to keep the species sustainable.33
Old Growth
Old-growth, anywhere between 75-500 yrs, depending on climate and species, is needed to yield enough girth of any given tree to produce two-piece book-matched tops for stringed instruments. Often the older a hardwood species then the more densely rich and highly figured can be found, which in turn makes old-growth of particular high value to the luthier. It is with these qualities that demands for high quality old-growth timber, particularly by high production guitar companies, continue to add pressures on remaining intact old-growth forests across the continents. In 2006 Greenpeace identified remaining intact old-growth forest throughout the continents as: 35% in Latin America, 28% in North America 19% in Northern Asia 8% in Africa 7% in South Asia Pacific Less than 3% in Europe34
While there figures are of concern, focus within the acoustic guitar industry on shortages of old-growth currently falls upon South-East Alaska.
33
GTC, What conservation action is needed?: <http://www.globaltrees.org/tp_african_blackwood.htm> 03/08/2009. 34 Wikipedia, Old Growth Forest: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_growth_forest> 03/01/2008.
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Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)

Sitka spruce is the worlds largest and longest-lived species of spruce; it can live for more than 800 years and grow to heights exceeding 300 feet, which is tall for even a redwood. Despite the colossal end result, their beginnings are almost unimaginably humble: a single Sitka spruce seed weighs only 1/13,000 of an ounce, and yet it contains all the information needed to produce a tree that can weigh more than 300 tons about as much as three blue whales.35 John Valliant, The Golden Spruce
Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), used dominantly on guitar soundboards due to its high quality strength to weight ratio and excellent sound producing qualities, is one of the finest and most important tone-woods exported from Southern Alaska. It has been exploited for its use in all forms of construction, from WWII aeroplane propellers to modern day temples in Asia. With the mass liquidation of much of North American forests over the last two hundred years, exploitation has now helped bring those forests ever closer to the brink of commercial non-viability. Sitka forests used to stretch from the Pacific Northwest to Alaska, but now forests with trees old and large enough for harvesting exist only in Canada and Alaska.36 Recent figures released by Sealaska, the largest private landowner and logger in South-east Alaska, and the main provider of Sitka to US guitar companies, show low yield of old-growth Sitka left (old-growth trees aged anywhere between 75-250 years which are able to produce wide enough board material for two-piece guitar tops). After further analysis of those findings by Greenpeace it was observed that without significant changes they would be out of their old-growth within 15 years.37 Now backed by the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council), Musicwood, a conglomeration of major guitar companies and luthier suppliers formed by Greenpeace in 2006, now continue to push for further protection of Sitka forests. Since 2006, Musicwood has managed to bring about more support from major US guitar companies and lutherie suppliers in promoting the certification of tone-wood producing forests. Those who have stepped up to join the Musicwood
35
Valliant, J., The Golden Spruce, Chapter 1,A Threshold Between Worlds, (Canada, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005) p16. 36 Gearwire, Bob Taylor (Taylor Guitars), Greenpeace Speak Out On Guitar Making, Responsible Logging: < http://www.gearwire.com/sitka-spruce-guitars.html> 1/9/2009.
37
Billboard, Greenpeace and Guitar Makers Unite to Save Forests, by Ayala Ben-Yehudall, April 2008: < http://www.musicwood.org/news/billboard_april2008.htm> 01/05/2008.
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initiative have been Gibson, Martin, Taylor, Fender, Guild, Walden, Luthiers Mercantile International, Pacific Rim Tonewoods, North American Wood Products, and Allied Lutherie. Since their inception they have been working for the protection of declining supplies of Sitka spruce from the forests of Southeast Alaska in the hope of securing the future of this tone-wood. Pressures exerted on the future yield of Sitka forests still run at high levels and many NGOs such as Greenpeace and WWF are currently trying to save many of what forests remains. In 2005 the BBC reported that after a long and costly battle, timber companies, environmentalists and local natives had signed a landmark agreement over logging in a controversial rainforest in Canada. They had agreed to preserve more than 1m hectares (2.5m acres) of pristine wilderness along the country's Pacific coast.38 This is all good news, however these forests remain threatened as the demand for Sitka remains huge and continues to grow. For stringed instruments, from guitars to piano soundboards, Sitka will always remain one of the most important species due to its exceptional tone producing qualities.
Sitka Infestation
While we do still have the advantage of using such a fine timber as Sitka for acoustic soundboards, there is another problem facing spruce forests across North America, that being the spruce beetle. The spruce beetle is small, reddish brown and generally gets under the bark of the tree where it continues its infestation. In the past 25 years outbreaks have resulted in an estimated loss of more than 25 million board feet in Montana, 31 million in Idaho, over 100 million in Arizona, 2 billion in Alaska, and 3 billion in British Columbia (see fig. 1).39 The seasonal life of the beetle is now prolonged due to the effects of global warming and it was last reported in 2004 that roughly seventy thousand square kilometers of B.C.s interior forest were infested, while that number may easily have doubled by 2005. When the trees are infested they are left to rot, or
38 39
Valliant, J., T.G.S., p. 87. Forest and insect disease leaflet issued by U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service: <http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidls/sprucebeetle/sprucebeetle.htm> 09/11/2007.
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in some cases used as potential pulp for paper. This adds to the danger of forest fires, which are probably the forests best natural deterrent to rid the beetle. This problem combined with over logging shall continue to have an effect on future supplies of Sitka, while the problem of infestation may only continue to escalate. For the luthier, while further pressure is raised on the future commercial value of these forests, in turn, increase on the demand for European spruce for means even further price increases across the board.
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Conclusion
Over recent decades a raise in awareness over animal cruelty caused people to begin demanding products such as eggs be open farmed, and that health and beauty care products non animal tested be made more available. During this time more realization that pesticides in food may also be detrimental to long term human health, and that organic farming without the use of pesticides could provide a healthier lifestyle, causing less harm to the environment. Today the trade in organically grown produce, alongside non animal tested health and beauty care products continues to grow, with many more people returning to the safer knowledge of locally grown produce. As ethical and environmental standards improved within the food, health and beauty sectors, many continue to buy and sell high end wood products without knowing where the wood was sourced, and to what extent the overall impact on forests and species is. One problem is that people dont recognise trees as threatened species. While human beings have strong apathy towards the plight of the panda, mountain gorilla, or tiger for example, people are much less likely to associate trees as threatened species. However, over the years as a clearer picture begins to emerge of the rapid and unsustainable loss of forests and tree species, particularly within the Amazon, attitudes have begun to change. Mainly due to the growing acceptance of global warming as a fundamental threat, combined with more precise and revealing satellite imagery, and often undeniable scientific data, the true scope of deforestation particularly over recent decades, comes into light. With concerns over the long term commercial sustainability of forests added by growing fears over global warming, work now being carried out by governments and NGOs across the globe only looks intensify for the protection of tree species and their environments. As tighter import/export regulations surrounding raw materials come into effect in the immediate future and many tropical tone-woods continue to become vulnerable or endangered, it looks certain that instrument makers look to be increasingly challenged towards sourcing particularly good tone-woods as easy as they have in the past. As greener societies continue to take root across the globe, growth in more responsible purchasing by consumers will begin making demands on the music instrument industry for much more environmentally sound products. It is with this current outlook of an upcoming environmentally conscious generation that luthiers, for the future, should at least be somewhat prepared.
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Chapter 2
FSC Guitar and Certified Sustainable Species

Contents
Introduction FSC Gibson Guitars and Environmental Groups FSC Certified Tone-wood Availability FSC Certified Guitar Components Woods Chosen FSC Guitar Results Conclusion
29 29 32 36 37 42 44
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Introduction
As challenges become more apparent for future makers and suppliers, there now opens up new frameworks enabling the luthier to source their materials in a more ethically sound fashion. Lutherie suppliers in conjunction with the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) now offer a small range of certified sustainable tonewoods that have come from well managed and protected forests. To date the availability of FSC certified tone-wood is extremely low, this being mainly due to the fact that high quality tropical species are already coming from endangered forests. In using FSC certified sustainable tone-woods, Project A for this study set out to make an acoustic folk guitar using FSC certified tone-woods alone. With this hands-on approach I was able to show how certified woods could affect standards for future makers, and how certification may look to develop in this field. Also revealed were the difficulties in obtaining those materials, and what problems and advantages in sourcing FSC tone-woods. In surmising are what problems lay ahead in recognising trees as a threatened species, and how the luthier could be better adapted to understanding and dealing with those threats.
FSC Gibson Guitars and Environmental Groups

With instrument makers having such a passionate consumer base and being representatives of the use of some of the finest old-growth woods in the world, the FSC have recognized the important roll makers can play towards raising awareness. In December of 2005 the FSC published the following article The Sound of Certified Wood. Musical instrument manufacturers source timber from forests all over the world. Tone and sound quality are influenced by the type and quality of the wood. Therefore, to ensure a supply of the required species for generations to come, many manufacturers have become Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. FSC certification around the world offers the music industry an alternative to species such as mahogany and rosewood that are often from forests of questionable management. FSC certified forests provide many species traditionally used for instruments, as well as many that are coming into their own and being recognised as quality-sounding substitutes. FSC certified forests provide chain of custody companies like Gibson Guitars, Modulus Guitars, Martin Guitars, and Dave Maize Guitars with granadillo Chechen, and katalox from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, cherry from Pennsylvania, maple from Wisconsin in the US, and certified mahogany and rosewood. Gibson Guitar's started to look into FSC certification in 1994 when CEO Henry Juszkiewicz met Richard Donovan, Chief of Forestry at the Rainforest Alliance's (RA) anniversary gala who convinced him that Gibson could benefit from using certified woods in the manufacture of its musical instruments. Because the forests were responsibly managed, they would always be able to produce a supply of choice woods. Gibson Guitars now crafts the FSC certified Les Paul SmartWood Exotics with certified mahogany backs and curupay fingerboards, and a certified Les Paul Bass with a certified mahogany body and
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maple top. Martin Guitars produces the certified SWD model, made of cherry, basswood, hard maple, and Mexican katalox. Modulus Guitars uses granadillo, Chechen, red cedar, chakte kik and soma to make electric guitars and basses. Dave Maize Acoustic Guitars makes bass guitars with certified, recycled and salvaged wood. Adam Clayton of U2 uses a Dave Maize guitar made of certified wood. The buzz around certified instruments continues to grow. Musical events, like the Rainforest Alliance's 'Smart Sounds' and SoundWood's 'SoundWood Jam', where the artists all play certified instruments, are attracting big music names like Keith Richards, Keb'Mo', the Bacon Brothers, Carly Simon, and Taj Mahal. The musical instrument industry provides a good model for other industries that favour tropical wood. It has shown that it is possible for environmental and social values to be partnered with economic success. "The guitar is an excellent ambassador for certification and certified wood," says Robert Garner, SoundWood's Director. "Each instrument can be made of pieces from certified forests all over the world."40 While there is definitely a buzz around these issues, more recently the Rainforest Alliance, aided by the Clinton Global Initiative, appealed to Gibson Guitars USA. Gibson, who first introduced the Les Paul Smartwood, the first electric guitar to be produced entirely from FSC woods in 1996,41 have now set out to further maximise its purchase of FSC products from 42% to 80%, over the next 5 years.42 With FSC certificates in 81 countries, the FSC have been pioneers in promoting the responsible management of the worlds forests since the early 90s. To date they have helped certify over 100 million hectares.43 Since the inception of FSC in the early 90s where it began improving forest management worldwide, there are now a growing number of FSC certified products available to the public. The FSC seal of approval is now probably the most internationally recognised. With increased deforestation and a rising awareness across nations towards a more balanced and sustainable environment, many more environmental NGOs, sustainable timber certification bodies, and musical instrument related organizations make combined efforts towards promoting future sustainability. Included in this movement is the promoting of and pioneering of systems to provide tone-woods that come from more sustainably managed sources. Shown below are a few examples of those: The Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) Founded 1990 in California, the FSC began as a group of timber users, traders, and representatives of environmental and human-rights, and who promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests.44. With growing support from many
40
FSC, The Sound of Certified Wood, 1st December 2005: <http://www.fsc-uk.org/about/casestudies/2/the-sound-of-certified-wood/ > 23/11/2007. 41 th Rainforest Alliance, Whats New? September 26 2007: <http://www.rainforestalliance.org/news.cfm?id=clinton_initiative> 23/11/2007. 42 Rainforest Alliance, Whats New? September 26th 2007: <http://www.rainforestalliance.org/news.cfm?id=clinton_initiative> 23/11/2007. 43 FSC, About: < http://www.fsc.org/about-fsc.html> 19/12/2008. 44 FSC, What is FSC? < http://www.fsc.org/en/about/about_fsc/history> 27/10/2007.
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NGOs and businesses worldwide, they are internationally recognised and respected as leaders in forest certification. Over the last decade they have been slowly progressing towards raising awareness in the music instrument sector.
Musicwood (Greenpeace USA) Musicwood are a recent coalition of guitar companies Gibson, Martin, Taylor, Fender, Guild, Walden, Yamaha, and lutherie suppliers, Luthiers Mercantile International, Pacific Rim Tonewoods, North American Wood Products, and Allied Lutherie. Musicwood. Their manifesto proclaims that they are a Greenpeace initiative, to encourage private landholders in Alaska to apply for FSC certification to safeguard the survival of the regions remaining natural forests, while continuing to produce high quality wood.45
Soundwood (Global Forests Campaign) This group was founded 14 years ago, who are a joint initiative between Fauna & Flora International (FFI), Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEPWCMC), who work to safeguard the future of threatened tree species used to make musical instruments.46
Precious Woods Precious Woods are based in Switzerland currently employ 2300 people worldwide to lead in the sustainable management and use of tropical forests.47
Wood for Good Wood for Good has been running since 2000 and boasts to be largest timber promotional campaign ever undertaken in the UK. According to a recent report by Wood for Good, that while over half of EU twenty-five forests are certified (80 million ha), certification continues to grow. 48
45
FSC News and Notes, Volum5, Issue 1 February 26th 2007, Page 3, FSC Certified Tunes: <http://www.fsc.org/keepout/en/content_areas/63/40/files/FSC_PUB_20_05_02_2007_02_26FINAL2. pdf> 23/11/2007. 46 Soundwood, Global Trees, Projects: <http://www.globaltrees.org/proj.asp?id=23> 23/11/2007. 47 Precious Woods, About us : <http://www.preciouswoods.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=4&Itemid=30> 04/12/2007. 48 Wood for Good campaign, timber procurement: <http://www.woodforgood.com/resource/Timber_procurement.pdf> 29/10/2007.
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FSC Certified Tone-wood Availability
After researching the available of FSC wood for the guitar via main suppliers within America and here in the UK, only LMI (Lutherie Merchantile International, US), David Dyke Luthier Supplies (UK), North American Wood Products (US), and Stewmac Lutherie Suppliers (US) had extremely limited stock of ready to use tonewoods, mostly for back and sides of guitar. Below is shown table of tone-wood species certified sustainable which are listed within lutherie suppliers websites, with many if not most unavailable at the time:
Common Names & Latin Distribution Description Instrument Workability Use & Finish Durability and Stability
After seasoning is dimensionally stable.
Sound Quality
Machiche, acapurana, ajunado, almendro, almendro cimarron, Almendro de rio, angelim, arenillo, barbosquillo, Black plum, Cabbage angelim, cuilimbuco, False mahogany, guacamayo, maquilla, moca, Partridge wood, Rode kabbes,(Andira inermis)
West Indies and from southern Mexico through central America to northern South America and Brazil.
Brick red/brown colour and fine, even grain lines.
Classical and steel string back and sides.
Due to alternate bands of hard and soft tissue, the wood is not easy to work. Saws easy but difficult to plane to a smooth surface. Glues well. Polishes well after pour filling.
It has a crisp, sustaining tap tone that indicates that it will be a good tonewood for both classical and steel string guitars, promising quick, even response and excellent volume.
Narra, Papua New Guniea rosewood, amboyna, rosewood, angsana, sena, Solomons padauk (Pterocarpus
Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Southeast Asia and into Australia.
Golden tan to cinnamon brown. Sometimes small golden petal flecks.
Classical and acoustic guitar back/sides. Possibly fingerboard.
Machines well with both hand and machine tools. May exhibit difficulty in planning if interlocking grain is present. Glues well.
Stability and Durability both good.
Good choice for finger style steel string guitars.
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indicus) Excellent finish and high polish. Native to central Europe and southwestern Asia, from France east to Poland, and south in mountains to northern Spain, northern Turkey, and the Caucasus. Cultivated in North America for several centuries. Fine and eventextured. Lustrous with a creamy whiteness. Classical and acoustic guitar back and sides. Fingerboard. Works easy with sharp tools. Figured material has tendency to chip out when planed unless cutting angle reduced. Stains and polishes well. Glues satisfactorily. Relatively low durability unless kept and worked under stable conditions. Expect movement in the sets until you have them braced.
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European maple, Sycamore maple, plane tree, great maple, harewood, sycamore plane, sycamore, kaede, tokiwakaede (Japanese) (Acer pseudoplatanus)
Bright response, strong tonewood used for guitar, and violin family.
Common Names & Latin Name

Pau Ferro, Morado, pau roxo, coracy, amaranath (Machaerium scleroxylon)
Distribution
Description
Instrument Workability Durability, Use & Finish Stability & Bending

Classical and steel string back and sides. Fingerboard. Known to be difficult to plane. Low angle required (20) particularly with high figure. Nonporous and finishes well. Dimensionally stable. The timber is reported to have moderate steam bending qualities.
Sound Quality & Similarities

Similar to Honduran or Indian rosewood. It has a crisp, sustaining tap tone that indicates that it will be an excellent tone-wood for both classical and steel string guitars, promising quick, even response and
Ranges from Sao Paulo in Brazil to Trinidad and Panama.
In appearance its much like Indian Rosewood, but substitute browns, gold and yellows for the purple shades.
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excellent volume.
Lacewood, Silky oak, grevillea (Grevillea robusta)
South American, native to eastern Australia.
A warm cinnamon brown colour and has outstanding, bold crisscrossing figure. Large and plentiful rays.
Classical and acoustic guitar back/sides.
Can be tricky to bend (like most figured woods). Planes relatievely well, but tends to chip if angle not reduced on plane. Glues well. Excellent finish and high polish. Works relatively easy with tools. Finishes well but needs much filling of pours.
Stability and Durability both moderate.
Dense wood with loud sustaining tap tone. Good for steel string. Strong trebles with sharp basses.
Swamp ash, brown ash, black ash, basket ash, hoop ash (Fraxinus nigra)
Common in the Great Lakes region, ranges from central Minnesota to the Atlantic seaboard and from southern Ohio to central Ontario.
Ring porous, and the rays inconspicuous. Greyish-brown heartwood. Close spaced annual rings. Light browns to greys.
Acoustic steel string.
Stable in use but splits easy along annular rings. Durability low due to extreme pourous.
Can produce mellower tone than tropical hardwoods, but bale to project treble and basses well.
Distribution
Description
Instrument 34 Use
Workability & Finish
Durability, Stability & Bending
Sound Quality & Similarities
Basswood lime, American linden, linden, lim tree, American whitewood (Tilia americana) Range extends from New Brunswick and southern Quebec to southern Manitoba and North Dakota, south to South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri and Kansas. Although commonly known as Honduras mahogany, because it was first shipped to England from that colony as early as the 17th century, this species is native from Mexico to Brazil. Heartwood is creamy white to brownish and is not always easily distinguished from the wide, nearly white sapwood. Straight grained and uniform. Kerfings, electric solid body guitars, bindings, bracing, etc. Easy to work. Glues and carves easy. Dimensionally stable.
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More for electric guitar bodies.
Big-leaf Mahogany, Genuine mahogany, American mahogany, true mahogany, caoba (Spanish), acajou (French), Honduras mahogany (Swietenia Macrophyilla)
Its colour can range from a light greyishtan to mahogany red.
Acoustic guitar back/sides, neck, end blocks, kerfing, back bracing. Acoustic tops.
Planes and carves very easy (outstanding). Due to coarse texture, filling may be necessary to achieve glasslike finish. Often interlocking grain shows up well on finish;
Good strength to weight ratio. Excellent durability.
Warm tap tone. Good tone wood for neck, transmits sound well.
Yellow Poplar, American tulipwood, American whitewood, Canary whitewood, Canary wood, Canoe wood, Poplar, Popple, Saddletree, Tulip poplar, Tuliptree, Tulipwood, White poplar,
Southern New England through New York to southern Michegan and south to west Louisiana northern Florida.
Lightweight hardwood of fine texture. Light yellow to brown heartwood turns greenish on exposure. The sapwood is creamy white. Grain is usually straight but sometimes an attractive
Acoustic steel string back and sides, possibly neck. Solid body electric.
Works relatively easy with tools. Finishes well. Glues easily.
Dimensionally stable. Shrinks moderately.
Is known to have good acoustic qualities for traditional harp and dulcimer soundboards, producing a good range across trebles and basses. May be somewhat warmer, closer to
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Whitewood (Liriodendron tulipifera) blister figure is found.
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cedar (see Chladni Tests, Chapter 6)
Out of an estimated 200 other species used in instrument making, there are only nine certified tone-wood currently on offer that are certified, revealing the poor availability of FSC certified tone-woods.
FSC Certified Guitar Components

In searching for FSC certified guitar components for the practical side of this project proved to be tough. LMI had on offer only a limited selection of backs and sides which were FSC certified, and as I was informed most sets were unavailable for six months or longer. After further enquiries it was unpredictable when they would actually next be available. With lengthy backorders it was therefore a long shot to place an order and expect anything too soon, considering the time constraints for this project.49 Of the six species of guitar backs and sides sets LMI had on offer, only Machiche (Andira inermis) from South America, and Narra (Pterocarpus indicus), a Papua New-Guinea rosewood, were available. Both sets are relative new-comers to the world of guitar making and have been purchased for this project, one of those sets being a back-up in case there were problems in using the first. There had been a certain amount of effort trying to source FSC woods through timber yards in England and Scotland, with several major timber suppliers telling me that they only had FSC mahogany and would only supply in cubic metres. Through purchasing, transportation and conversion costs, it was beyond my personal budget for this project. After a lengthy search within the UK from lutherie suppliers such as Craftwoods, David Dyke, and Touchstone, I was also informed they had no FSC certified tone-woods on offer at this time, with no guarantee when, and if they would have in the future. Stewmac, a major supplier based in the United States to luthiers, only had lengths of mahogany for guitar necks which were FSC certified. The major obstacle here was that under US law they are unable to ship outside the US. It should be to note at this point that if one then needs go as far as American suppliers this is even more costly to European makers through the extra costs of shipping and import taxes, as well as energy and transport costs to the environment in the first place.
49
LMI, Environmentally certified backs and sides: < http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?CategoryName=+Backs+and+Sides&NameProdHead er=+Environmentally+Certified> 22/12/2007.
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As we can see from the initial enquiries from leading international suppliers, while some major suppliers are able to list FSC available woods, there is currently very little available.
Woods Chosen
With descriptions in tone quality, workability, and aesthetics, the following woods purchased for the guitar are now described. Machiche (Andira inermis): Back and sides Source: LMI Lutherie Supplies, US Originating from South America (Caribbean, southern Mexico to northern South America and Brazil), it has a light redbrown to pink colour and is a hard and heavy dense wood. The texture is course with straight grain and has a high blunting effect on most cutting edges. Used mostly for flooring, turning, and furniture, Machiche is a fairly recent addition to the world of guitar making, but has a growing popularity as a tone-wood. Initial testing showed this wood to have a bright and responsive tap-tone, a good sign. The wood itself is finely porous, and although it produced a decent measure of elasticity, compared to a more commonly used rosewood this wood felt slightly stiffer, making it more difficult to retain its memory when bending. When it came to bending the sides for the guitar, it tended to warp or ripple slightly where too much water and Figure 1: Machiche back and sides heat had been applied. Therefore one must have a good even hand to move widely and smoothly when applying heat, while using water sparingly. After the back and sides were assembled and then coupled with a European spruce top, the Machiche was able to project strong, clear bass and treble frequencies. Although the wood projected a clear and strong sound, when compared with denser tropical woods such as Indian, Honduran and other denser rosewoods, the overall sound frequencies felt drier, less bell like, and slightly duller. Machiche takes a good finish with varnish, though due to it being porous does need a certain amount of grain filling if one wishes more of a closed reflective surface.
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American sycamore/plane (Platanus occidentalis): Neck Source: David Dyke (UK lutherie supplier) had one piece (by chance) of FSC certified American sycamore available. Maple/Sycamore is not a very stable wood for a guitar neck, as it tends to move over time as it is more sensitive to humidity changes. However, used on violin necks, and sometimes for electric guitar necks, I decided to go with it. After preparing the neck, it was noticed there was evidence of a large knot. This would certainly lead to movement in the wood, as the knot would begin to shrink and move over time, perhaps leading to Figure 2: FSC Sycamore the fingerboard coming away from the neck at that particular point. This was a chance I did NOT want to take. Having very little time to find anything else, and knowing there was no FSC certified neck material available from UK suppliers, I decided to use the most common and reliable wood for neck component, mahogany.
Amercian mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla): Neck Source: Maderas Barber, Spain Mahogany is generally the most common and stable wood used for acoustic guitar necks. It is easy to cut, works well with tools, remains relatively resilient to humidity changes, has a good strength to weight ratio transmits sound to the body well, and is one of the most desirable components for a guitar neck. This particular mahogany had been ordered from a luthier supply company in Spain. As I had been informed by other luthiers here in Europe, the Spanish company may have been more than likely ordering from America, and may even have been the same suppliers to Stewmac, who provide FSC certified mahogany, although no stamp or seal of approval was given.
Figure 3: American mahogany
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European/Swiss AAA spruce (FSC certified): Soundboard/Inner Bracings Source: Tonewood Switzerland, Florinett AG
One of the biggest problems remaining was in sourcing FSC spruce for the soundboard and inner bracings. After a lot of enquires through the FSC I was then directed to the WWFs Forests for Life program. They then pointed me towards FSC certified European through Florinett AG, Tonewood Switzerland, a small company in Switzerland dedicated to quality spruce for stringed instruments. This wood was only available in limited quantities with only six sets for soundboards allocated per customer per year. When it arrived, in comparison to many other uncertified spruces I have used this particular spruce was excellent quality and cut with great care. Considering the great lengths one has to go to in keeping their commercial forest certified through intense yearly audits by the FSC once a year, the extra care and attention to the quality of wood delivered may indeed be a reflection of these standards.
Figure 4: Swiss spruce top
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European oak (Quercus robur): Fingerboard and bridge. Source: David Dyke, UK (Reclaimed from Eastbourne sea defence blocks)
Figure 6: Oak fingerboard
Figure 5: Oak bridge
The other main problem here had been to source FSC fingerboard and bridge material. LMI had nothing available for FSC fingerboard at this time, and all other suppliers contacted also had nothing available. Although an unpopular choice for luthiers due to its poor resonant qualities, I decided to go ahead and experiment with some irresistible and interestingly coloured reclaimed oak. It was going to be a slight worry for the bridge and fingerboard, as one needs a good solid wood to transmit the tone through the neck, and tone vibrations directly into the soundboard. More often used for furniture, railway sleepers, door and window frames, this particular piece has been cut from a larger piece which played a part as large blocks thrown into the sea as part of Englands Eastbourne sea-defence. Due to oxidisation through reaction to the salt water, it has turned a grey/silver/blue colour and was extremely interesting in its appearance (see figures 5 & 6). I had left this wood drying for almost one year before using. This particular piece of oak was much softer, light and drier in texture compared to ordinary oak, causing it to powder when cutting. After being cut and fitted as a fingerboard and glued to the neck, to compensate for the second levelling of the fingerboard I had to cut the fret slots a little deeper. After cutting the fret slots a little deeper I noticed due to its fragility that with the second cut the slots began to powder and had opened up a little wider on most fret positions (This would not have occurred if typical ebony or rosewood had been used). No matter how carefully I cut, the .5mm slots just seem to powder and crumble at the edge of the fingerboard to 1mm opening, double what was required. This then led to the fret wire not gripping properly. A part of the job that should have taken me half an hour, then took me close to three hours, with a lot of superglue, small clamps, and the air maybe as blue as the oak I was using. However, this was not the end of the problem. After completing the worst fret pressing I have ever made, I began the process of levelling the frets. Job time here also more than doubled. Due to the frets being more uneven than would normally have been, the levelling took some of the frets down to .5mm in height, where they should be just over 1mm. This would make for a lot shorter life span on the frets due to any normal
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wear from playing. In the end the finished fret job was detrimental to the quality of durability needed. Prior to fretting, I also had to coat the oak fret board with three coats of oil sealer for floorboards. This was to seal the wood, preventing moisture absorption, and to harden the wood due to its soft surface texture. Using this soft Oak, the bridge work proved much easier to carve.
For the remaining components for the guitar, the inner kerfings and bracings were of high quality FSC certified spruce and the headstock veneer was of the same oak used for bridge and fingerboard.
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FSC Guitar Results
Figure 7: FSC Project front and back views
Once completed, the guitar was as compatible in sound with many top-end guitars in depth, volume, and projection, however, although the basses were stronger than the trebles which though clear, the guitar itself lacked in brightness and attack. The guitar emitted a decent amount of sustain, while the the basic clarity of what was actually being produced of a medium standard in comparison to previous constructs using rosewoods and same bracing specifications. Attributes towards clarity, balance of tone and sustain I put down to the FSC certified Swiss spruce top and inner bracings, which were of exceptional quality. The top grade FSC certified Swiss spruce soundboard proved to be very responsive. In comparison to other rosewoods I have used on other same models, the Machiche back and sides resonated less warmly, yet provided a slightly more dry and brittle attack. Indeed in comparison to good rosewood constructs I have made previously, sound vibrations transmitted and reflected from the Machiche felt rather dry around the edges, lacking in both warmth and brightness. As presumed, in comparison to a traditional ebony or rosewood bridge, the oak bridge was very week in pushing the full potential of tone and string vibration into the soundboard, potential which was certainly lurking in the undercurrents. Thus much of the upper and lower harmonics were lost, while the mid range fell low. The
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sound fell below the mark in producing sharpness, leaving the player with a slightly duller and softer clarity of trebles. I also felt that the fingerboard was a loss in comparison to denser tropical tone-woods commonly used. The oak was very dry and porous and would not have acted the same way as and ebony fingerboard, transmitting sound vibrations more directly along the neck into to the body, thus lifting both sustain and sharpness. Due to the fragility of the oak leading to a poor fret job, I surmised that in the end the frets would not last much longer than a year or so without having to be taken out and the fingerboard then re-fretted. This would have indeed led to a somewhat arduous, if not counter-productive job. It was with this prospect that I decided to replace both fingerboard and bridge. Due to a lack of funds and time constraints I found myself using what I could find lying around the workshop to use as a bridge. In the end, I ended up using a piece of South-East Asian rosewood (Dalbergia oliveri), also referred to as Vietnamese rosewood. This wood, often used for turning and sometimes making jewellery, is very dense, looks similar in appearance to a dark walnut and is relatively comfortable to carve (see fig.8). The fingerboard was replaced using Grenadilla (Dalbergia Melanoxylon), grown in South East Africa, and sometimes referred to as East African ebony. This wood used mostly for woodwind instrument making, is very dense, yet slightly less dense than other ebonies, and could be compared between ebony and rosewood in its taptone qualites. The wood worked well for its use as a replacement Figure 9: Grenadilla fingerboard fingerboard, and kept a good line when it came to cutting the frets.
Figure 8: South East Asian bridge
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After both fingerboard and bridge were replaced, the sound dynamics increased greatly. Overall tone and attack was raised with increased sharpness and brightness. Yet, the Machiche still seemed to lack in lifting the full potential of the upper harmonics and in transmitting and deflecting that more bell-like tone, in comparison with other good rosewoods.
Conclusion
The main objective was a basic practical approach in understanding the advantages and disadvantages in using certified sustainable woods. In trying to make the guitar using FSC tone-woods entirely I was thus able to demonstrate limited availability and choice. There are two main reasons for this, with the first being that FSC certified tone-woods are relatively new through luthier suppliers, only
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making their way onto the market over recent years, so the demand not so high. The second reason is that in both limited availability and choice is due to the fact that many of the desired quality tropical woods are coming from already endangered or otherwise protected forests. Due to most species originating from forests already threatened, increasing the supply of sustainably produced timber is perhaps the hardest nut to crack. Added to the equation is that only a small percentage of FSC certified tone-woods make good guitar woods, hence the lengthy back-orders via luthier suppliers. When further enquiring about the demand of these timbers, LMI went onto say that:
Unfortunately, a big part of the problem is that there is essentially no special consumer demand in the US for certified woods. We offer them as a "labour of love". Even at higher prices, with the low turnaround and expensive certification dues, we barely make any profit on these woods!50
Compared to the wide variety on offer of uncertified tropical hardwoods, the price of the sets offered by LMI averaged around a third more than the price of uncertified timbers. This is due to the extra costs in certification tariffs. These extra costs arrive though the ardious process of creating and maintaining a forest sustainable, and can be show where Jimmy Leslie of Guitar Player magazine writes:
.As Sealaska is Alaskas biggest logger of Sitka spruce, the MusicWood Coalition is urging the corporation to seek FSC certification in order to protect and sustain the forests it owns. While there are presently no FSC standards for Southeast Alaska, Paul maintains that all Sealaska has to do to jumpstart certification is express interest. However, gaining FSC certification is not as easy as shouting, Were interested. Let us in! Once a company asks to be certified, the FSC sends out third-party auditors to evaluate the firms forest areas and logging operations. Specific standards for the environment are established through the audit, and bolstered by the FSCs principles and criteria. If all conditions are met, the company receives a five-year certification, and then must plan to reapply for certification every five years thereafter. Annual audits also cost additional money. The process is time consuming, and its not free. We estimate the total cost of an FSC audit and certification at under $100,000, says Juskiewicz, and the MusicWood Coalition and Greenpeace is offering to pay those initial costs, so the ball is in Sealaskas court. But, from their point of view, the process will cost lot more than the certification fee, because certification calls for a company to implement forestry practices that could be very expensive.51
It certainly seems a long way before the many economic challenges in certifying forests sustainable can be overcome. For the future, the funding may have to come more from local governments and other vested parties focused enough to maintain
50 51
See Appendix, FSC Email Correspondence, LMI FSC Demand. Guitarplayer, The Troublesome Truth About Sitka Spruce by Jimmy Leslie, June 2007: < http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/the-troublesome-truth/Jun-07/27810> 30/12/2007.
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the sustainability of commercial logging in vested areas. Meanwhile the guitar industry and NGOs continue to raise awareness and take action towards implementing promotion of the regeneration and conservation of those forests greatly affected. In all fairness the process of making certified tone-woods more available has only begun to take shape over recent years. Although with still a long way to go, big names in the guitar business such as Fender, Guild, Marin, Gibson, Taylor and Yamaha, are all in partnership with Greenpeace and the FSC in making initial steps towards protecting endangered forests supplying Sitka spruce. Under the Greenpeace campaign, Musicwood, they are now influencing many in the music business towards more awareness in the protection and sustainability of forests. However, from small things come great things and this campaign is indeed only a drop in the ocean, but waves are being made. It is therefore imperative that much more awareness needs raised throughout the music industry towards less promotion within the use of threatened tree species on musical instruments. If not for the commercial sustainability of quality tone-woods then for the future of global climates and environments therein contained more action needs taken. We have to remember that musicians and makers may be playing what may seem a small part in deforestation, but with an even wider and more captive audience they can play a far bigger part in further promoting a safer and more balanced environment. While it is indeed an uphill struggle creating more forests sustainable, the extra certification tariffs dissuades many bespoke makers from purchasing FSC products. However as shown, in light of LMIs lengthy back-orders of FSC certified tone-woods, this would signal there is a more evolving consciousness and certainly a growing demand for now and for the future. Until the practice of illegal logging is further cracked down upon, and forests themselves are permitted to return a healthier state, certified sustainable tone-woods may only be then made more widely available. This however is a far off cry. With one estimate of 2000 sq/m per second52 and another of 50 million acres a year53 currently lost through deforestation, one can invariably surmise the future of choice in the commercial availability of many certified tropical or sub-tropical tone-woods looks ominous. While energy and transport costs rise, with the availability in traditional quality tone-woods falling, and while forests disappear at astronomical rates thus elevating rising concerns over global warming, it is apparent through the current backlog of LMI (Luthiers Mercantile International) orders on certified tone-woods that there are many makers out there who are now practicing more in the trend of responsible purchasing. Today with greener issues and practices more talked about and acted upon the FSC stamp looks certainly to become a stronger selling point for future generations of more environmentally conscious musicians.
52
Princes Rainforest Project, Deforestation Rates: < http://www.princesrainforestsproject.org/whatshappening-to-them/drivers-of-deforestation> 04/01/2009. 53 National Academy of Science Estimates : < http://www.csupomona.edu/~admckettrick/projects/ag101_project/html/destruction.html> 12/4/2009.
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Instrument makers may feel they play what may seem a small part towards deforestation, but instrument makers demands for the best quality, and often in oldgrowth, do have a far greater impact than they may first conceive. With so many instrument makers and musical instrument companies worldwide, reaching and influencing an ever more passionate audience, they can play a bigger part collectively than they may first assume. It is up to all involved in the wood industry to come together from all corners of instrument making, certification, governments, and musicians to proceed further with the combined effort towards the sustainability and the protection of forests, thus protecting and maintaining the quality of their prime assets, wood. This however will take time and until then instrument makers are obliged to go on meeting the customers demands with what acceptable choices in the best quality timbers they have.
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Chapter 3
UK Species Tone-woods and Guitar Construct

Contents
Introduction Table of UK native tone-woods Woods Chosen The guitar in Completion Conclusion
49 50 55 62 64
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Introduction
As the environmental benefits through energy and transport saving outweigh those of imported hardwoods, the availability of UK tone-woods now and for the future remain unclear. By investigating which woods were available in the UK for use in making a guitar I was able to reveal the current state of UK tone-wood availability, and reasons why some woods are less practical for use in high end guitar making. I was then able to draw comparisons with commonly and traditionally used tropical and sub-tropical timbers such as rosewoods, mahoganies and ebonies. Comparisons were drawn in tonal qualities, mechanical strengths in durability, stability, bending, as well as workability with tools.
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Table of UK native woods that can be used as suitable tone-woods:

Ash, European,(Fraxinus excelsior) a.k.a. Common ash, ash, Italian olive ash. Other names are associated with the country where they are grown such as Frein (French ash)
Distribution
Description
Instrument Workability Durability, Use & Finish Stability
Sound Quality
Europe including the British Isles, north Africa and western Asia, growing best on loamy soils where both the soil and the atmosphere are moist and cool.
Usually no distinction in colour between sapwood and heartwood, freshly cut wood being whitish to pale brown with a pink cast, turning to a slightly brownishwhite after drying. Pink/pale reddish brown.
Steel string back and sides. Fingerboard, neck.
All aspects satisfactory. Sanding, gluing and finishing all are performed without special effort.
Dimensionally stable. Medium moisture movement. Similar to oak but tougher and more resistant to splitting. The timber is reported to have moderate steam bending qualities.
Fairly good tone-wood producing clear treble and bass. Much less dense than tropical timbers and so produces softer and warmer tones.
Cherry, European,(Prunus serotina) a.k.a. Gean (UK), cerise (France), kirsche (Germany), kers (Netherlands), wild cherry (UK).
Europe including the British Isles. It occurs from Scandinavia and southwest Russia southwards, and is found in western Asia and the mountains of North Africa. The London plane is believed to be of hybrid origin and to have first appeared about 1670 in Oxford. Found in parks and squares in streets and cities, but is
Acoustic guitar back/sides, electric solid body;
Works well with cutting, planning and sawing. Glues well and polishes well.
Durable and stable in use.
Good tonewood producing bright trebles and bass. Good for finger picking styles.
Plane, European, (Platanus hybrida, Platanus acerifolia, Platanus orientalis) a.k.a. European plane (According to origin), London plane, French plane, English plane, lace wood
Heartwood is light reddishbrown clearly defined from the lightercoloured sapwood. The rays, are broad and numerous. Quarter-sawn surfaces, an
Acoustic steel string back and sides.
Works relatively easy with tools due to fine and even grain texture. Finishes and polishes well. Quarter sawn needs
Durability low. Relatively stable once dried. Bends relatively well.
Bright with plenty of attack.
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(quarter-sawn wood only), platane (France, Germany), not known anywhere in the wild state. The oriental plane, Platanus orientalise L. occurs in south-east Europe and west Asia. attractive fleck figure, the reddishbrown rays contrasting with the lightercoloured background, thus giving rise to the term lace wood. Pinkish brown. Texture very close and uniform. Fingerboard and bridge. Bindings. sharp tools to avoid chipping out around rays.
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Pear, (Pyrus communis) Pearwood, pear tree, common pear.
Europe including the British Isles, parts of Asia and parts of USA.
Glues very easy and stains and finishes well. Can be worked with tools in any direction. Good steam bending properties.
Dimensionally stable after drying.
Dense wood mostly for fingerboard and bridge. Bright sound compared to rosewood bridge. Good tonewood producing clear trebles and bass. Good for finger picking and rhythm styles.
Yew, (Taxus baccata) a.k.a. Common yew, European yew,
Wide distribution in Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, the Himalayas and Burma. It extends in Europe from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, and from the Atlantic to the western provinces of Russia, and is found in Algeria and northern Iran. Sycamore is native to central Europe and western Asia. It
Purple brown, orange/brown to purple brown.
Acoustic guitar back/sides, fingerboard, bridge.
Difficult to work especially where crossgrain is present. Often oily, sometimes trouble with gluing. Polishes and finishes well.
Very durable and stable in use.
Sycamore, (Acer pseudoplantanus) a.k.a. sycamore plane,
White or yellowishwhite when freshly cut, with a natural
Classical and acoustic steel string back and sides, neck,
Good - Fairly easy to work and machine, and capable
Durability low. Relatively stable once dried. Moisture
Bright tap tone with plenty sustain.
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great maple. appears to have been introduced into Britain from the Continent in the fifteenth century. lustre especially noticeable on quarter-sawn surfaces. It is generally straight grained but may be curvy or wavy grained, and the texture is fine. fingerboard, bridge. of a fine, smooth finish when straight grained; material with curly or wavy grain picks up in planing and moulding and a reduction of the cutting angle to 15 is needed in order to obtain a good finish movement medium. When making maple backs, it is best to leave bracings slightly in from edges as maple/sycamore shrinks over time.
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Produces bright tones with more on trebles.
Oak, European, (Quercus robur, Quercus petraea, Quercus sessiliflora, Quercus pedunculata) a.k.a. European oak, English oak, French oak, Slovanian oak, Polish oak.
Q. petraea produces the sessile or durmast oak, while the pedunculate oak is produced by Q. robur: both species occur throughout Europe including the British Isles, and extend into Asia Minor and North Africa. Walnut is a native of the Himalayas, Iran, Lebanon, Asia Minor, and extends
Yellow brown. Usually very porous. The annual rings are clearly marked by alternating zones of early-wood consisting of large pores, and dense late-wood.
Mostly Fingerboard, Possibilities depending on how porous for back and sides, though not common.
Medium to difficult; Sharp tools with a low plane angle must be used to avoid tearout especially where wide cross-grain occurs.
Dimensionally unstable unless dried properly. Drying is a slow process even in a kiln and care must be taken to avoid excessive degrade. Medium bending strength.
Not common to see used on guitars as is known to be have poor taptone and dull transmitter.
Walnut, European,(Juglans regia) a.k.a. European walnut, English, French,
Grey (grey/brown with dark streaks). English walnut; lies between
Acoustic guitar back/sides, electric solid body; fingerboard,
Good Works easily and well with both hand and machine tools. It can be glued
A fairly hard to tough wood with a relatively high resistance to splitting.
Good tonewood producing bright trebles and bass. Good for finger
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Italian, Turkish, etc walnut (according to origin), into Greece. It was introduced into Britain about the middle of the fifteenth century. It extends from Scandinavia and northern Europe down to central Spain, and throughout the British Isles. French and Italian in decorative appeal, but is often superior to both. bridge. satisfactorily, and takes an excellent polish.
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picking and rhythm styles.
Birch, European,(Betula pendula, Betula pubescens) a.k.a. Silver birch, White birch.
There is no distinct heartwood, the wood being whitish to pale brown, without conspicuous features, fairly straight grained and finetextured.
Acoustic steel string back and sides.
Good Works fairly easily but is inclined to be woolly. It can be planed and moulded to a good clean surface, and can be glued, stained and polished satisfactorily.
Durability low. Heavy density. Large moisture movement. Medium bending strength.
Birch was used extensively by Gibson guitars during the early part of the 20th century for guitar back and sides and proved highly popular until they changed to tropical hardwoods. Good sound deflection, volume, trebles and basses.
Alder, (Alnus glutinosa) common alder, black alder (UK), aune (France), els (Netherlands), erle (Germany)
Alder occurs in Europe from Scandinavia and north Russia southwards. It is common throughout the British Isles and is found in north Africa and western
There is no distinction by colour between sapwood and heartwood, the wood being a dull, light reddishbrown colour, without lustre, and
Neck, End blocks, back and sides for acoustic instruments.
Medium to good - Easy to work and finish provided tools are kept sharpened. It takes glue, stains and polish.
Once properly seasoned the stability factors are above average.
Fairly good sound transmitter for neck.
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Asia. Lime, European,(Tilia spp, Tilia platyphyllos, Tilia cordata, Tilia vulgaris, Tilia euchlora) a.k.a. European lime, linden (Germany), Several species and their variants of the genus Tilia occur throughout Europe, including the British Isles, where the tree may be found not only in pure stands as in Scotland, but also in mixed woodlands. North America, Europe, western Asia; temperate soft. Pale yellowishwhite when freshly cut, turning to pale brown when dried. It is a soft, compact wood, with a fine, uniform texture, and a straight grain. Bindings, kerfing, bracings, guitar necks, Electric guitar bodies. Good Works readily and easily, but is inclined to be woolly, and requires thin-edged, sharp tools in order to affect a smooth finish. It stains and polishes very satisfactorily. Medium durability. Stable when dried well. -
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Poplar (Populus x canadensis var. serotina) a.k.a. Italian/European/ Hybrid Black Poplar/ Cotton wood/Populus
Creamy white with wide shades of light brown streaking
Sometimes for cello, (particularly late 18th century onwards, but less popular today with the acceptance of maples as a standard), Sometimes used for traditional harp and dulcimer soundboards. Electric guitars, Piano.
Works quite easy, though does have a tendency to tear when planning.
Low cutting resistance, rather easy to work with planes, takes glues and varnishes well, medium/low bending properties, takes longer to sand and finish due to its woolly texture, also marks easy.
Experimented by some for cello, producing rich and dark resonances. Mellow to rich warm tones on harps.
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Woods Chosen
Several sets of woods for the UK guitar construct had been purchased through a supplier in England and through other luthier contacts within London Metropolitan University. Sets for back and sides, neck, fingerboard, bindings, and soundboard included: European yew (Taxus baccata), London/European Plane (Platanus acerifolia), European/English oak (Quercus robur) (reclaimed from the Eastbourne sea-defence), English cherry (Prunus serotina), European lime (Tilia platyphyllos), and European ash (Fraxinus excelsior). All of these were purchased mainly due to their availability as suitably seasoned and dried tone-woods at the time. UK native tone-wood chosen were as follows:
European/Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior): Chosen for back and sides Source: North Heigham Sawmill, England (sold to London Met Music Dept)
Figure 10: Flamed Ash back and sides before and after
This particular ash was chosen for the following reasons: With a growth rate of around 12 to 18 inches per year,54 ash is a medium fast growing wood and thus is a more, economic, sustainable, and readily available wood. This particular piece had been cut and converted around 1996 and therefore was very dry and stable.
54
Michigan State University, Bio-Diversity Database: <http://web1.msue.msu.edu/imp/modzz/00000634.html> 15/05/2008.
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This particular piece also had extremely striking figure (see figure 11), known as flamed (fiddle-back, rippled, or tiger). This is more commonly seen on maples, often used for backs and sides on the violin family and was quite rare to see this on a piece of ash. The effect normally occurs near the bass of a tree when the tree has grown tall, usually around 200 feet or more, and due to the weight of the tree causes compression, a kind of reversal in the trees growth.55 This effect is particularly rare in a piece of ash and so makes the piece more aesthetically more interesting and pleasing to the eye, making the guitar in turn more attractive, and thus more valuable.
Ash is a medium tough wood with a high resistance to splitting and with good elasticity. It is used in all kinds of building, crafts and construction, particularly furniture, tennis rackets, and snooker cues. Due to price rises and the lowering availability of some rosewoods and mahoganies, species such as Ash and Cherry, are now more common place in schools of making within the UK. Ash is also used predominantly in UK schools of furniture making. For the back and sides of this guitar, the wood worked relatively well with the tools and was relatively easy to bend. However, this particular ash seemed to have a slightly more brittle and shredded honeycombed structure within, and so soaked up water quickly, a bit like a sponge. When bending with the hot iron to make the ribs I had to be sparing when applying water as this can lead to slight warping, making the shape of the body uneven. The dry almost honeycomb structure was probably due to this piece having been left untreated in a fairly dry wood-store, where the humidity levels can be extremely low, in some cases less than 20% in winter time. Under these conditions the ash had dried out very well. This also made the wood very light in weight, very good for the weight of a guitar. Common Ash is generally found not to be to be a very attractive wood compared to the darker and more colourful textures on offer from rosewoods or other tropical hardwoods. The wood colour has grey, cream, to light brown streaks running throughout, sometimes green when freshly cut. It can be rather porous and usually needs grain filling when it comes to finishing. However, some luthiers prefer to leave the woods a little porous as it gives a raw and more natural look.
55
AllunCaruthers, Luthier, Forum on What Causes Flamed Wood? : <http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.makers.builders/browse_thread/thread/d3484419bb97ca5 4> 5/15/2008. *As part of this project the issue of aesthetics within the guitar world is further discussed in theory and practice essay.
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London/European/Hybrid plane/Lace-wood (Platanus acerifolia): CHOSEN FOR NECK Source: David Dyke, Luthier Supplies, England. London place is often thought to be a hybrid of the Oriental plane (P. orientalise) with the American plane/sycamore) (P. occidentals). It is found to have a fairly rapid growth rate, is resistant to pollution and grows in most inner cities, parks, and gardens throughout much of Europe. It also grows in other temperate regions throughout the world (Buenos Aires, New York City, Paris, Madrid, Melbourne, Shanghai, and Chicago). Plane is very hard and dense and much similar to maple in texture and tightness of grain-line. It is particularly hard on hand-tools due to the interlocking grain-line. Used for indoor joinery, cabinet/furniture-making, veneering, and inlay work, it has a fine grain texture with interlocking brown/golden-tan speckled appearance. This makes at an attractive wood for marquetry, as it also polishes well. Being a common species to cover the UK for centuries, the timber can be seen on a few examples of early stringed instruments such as viheula, viol, and 1619th century guitar neck, back and sides (sometimes died black for fingerboard material). Less popular for instrument makers over the centuries than its cousin the common maple (Acer), the wood projects sound well and is quite bright in timbre. After cutting and squaring the wood for the neck, I found it interesting but had decided against its use. Having seen an example of an early 16 th century viheula with a clear varnished London plane neck, I was able to predict how the guitar neck would look. The neck of the viheula only had its interesting figure apparent along a thin strip of the centre length of the neck. This is due to the shaping of the curve of the neck, thus loosing the figure you originally see on the quarter-sawn pre-shaped neck blank. When the neck blank is rounded, around 90% of the original figure is lost, and simply becomes a blur of beige-brown. Also over time the wood fades into a slightly unattractive smoked yellow colour. In the end I felt it was going to clash with the figure and light colour tone of the fiddle-back ash and so decided not to use it.
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Figure 11: Brazilian mahogany heel view
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Brazilian/Big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla): Neck Source: Bespoke Luthier, Scotland. Due to time constraints set for the project I was unable to find any other UK native species for neck component. The main source may have been maple or sycamore, but I could find nothing readily available through UK suppliers. Under the time constraints I had to go directly ahead and use a piece of Brazilian mahogany, which I happened to have in stock. Brazilian mahogany is now very difficult to source and has remained on the CITES appendix II list of endangered species since 1998.56 The piece was bought in 2001 and had been purchased by the original suppliers before this date. In using this material was hypocritical in relation to the subject of this project, however, at this juncture in the project the point was made in how difficult it can be for a luthier to source other readily available local UK native woods for neck material. Brazilian mahogany has been very popular throughout guitar making, particularly for necks, back and sides. It is very stable, light, and easy to cut and shape, with straight, even and fairly tight interlocking grain-line. When quarter-sawn, its raw appearance often produces a highly reflective interlocking grain-line. It finishes with varnishes and oils very well. Many other Mahogany species grow across much of the temperate and tropical parts of the globe, with 16 species now listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critical under the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List.57
56
CITES, First Meeting of the Mahogany Working Group, 2001: < http://www.cites.org/eng/prog/MWG/MWG1/E-MWG1-Doc-08-06-CR.pdf> 15/05/2008. 57 IUCN Redlist, Mahogany: <http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/search> 02/12/2009.
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European Lime/Basswood (Tilia europaea): Kerfing (inner linings) Source: David Dyke Luthier Supplies, England. This basswood is a creamywhite, tight-grained, light in weight and easy to cut. It is readily available and well known in instrument making, particularly for its use in electric guitar bodies and for recorders. This woods strength to weight ratio is very good, and is very stable. It is very easy to work with tools, planes well, glues, and sands well. It is very good as use for inner lining supports as it bends easy, enabling it to take the curvature of the guitar without breaking.
Laburnum (Laburnum anagyriodes), is sometimes known as the golden rain tree: Fingerboard and bridge. Source: David Dyke Luthier Supplies, England. Although grown less in the south of the UK, Laburnum often grows more in the north of Scotland and is native to central and southern Europe. It has been said that the heart-wood of Laburnum was often used as an Ebony substitute since it is very hard.58 The sapwood is butter-yellow, with light brown to golden-tan streaks on the outer core. This makes a particularly attractive fingerboard and bridge, compared to the common use of rosewood or ebony. This wood worked particularly well with hand tools and was light in weight yet remained a fairly dense fibrous wood. It often grows not very large in diameter with a short bass trunk, and therefore was only
Figure 13: Laburnum bridge
Figure 12: Laburum fingerboard
58
Laburnum, the tree: <http://www.the-tree.org.uk/BritishTrees/TreeGallery/laburnumc.htm> 12/01/2008.
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available in size for fingerboard and bridge. This wood is very rare to be seen on fingerboards or bridge, but can be seen used on fingerboards by UK guitar makers A.J. Lucas and Bruce Brook. The tonal properties of this wood are similar to a medium to light density rosewood and it was able to transmit sound vibrations relatively well, and even although less sharp in tone than an ebony or good quality rosewood, a bright but soft tap-tone still was produced. As seen in figures 13 and 14, this was indeed a beautiful piece for both bridge and fingerboard, particularly with the cream/butter yellow sapwood showing across one side edge of the fingerboard.
FSC Swiss Alpine/European spruce (Picea abies): Soundboard Source: Tonewood Switzerland, Florinet family, Switzerland. Spruce once grew across most of Europe before the expansion of industrialization in the early 19th century, when many of the spruce forests were cut down for their use in building infrastructures, furniture, for fuel and wagon transportation. The map59 here on the left shows us much of the spruce range heading up through, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Poland and through Russia towards the Ural Mountains.
Figure 13: Map showing spruce regions across Europe and Russia
Much of the European spruce used in instrument making actually grows in high regions in France, Switzerland, Italy and parts of Austria and Slovenia (the south face of the Alps), trailing down through the mountainous parts of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, with remnants in Bulgaria and the Balkans. European Spruce is the most common use of spruce by the luthier for soundboard material to be used. As with most spruces, it can be found growing in higher altitudes and in cooler climates in moisture rich soil. Growing at a slow and even pace, ES produces tight annular rings. This is perfect for stringed instrument soundboards as the tight grain-line makes them flexible across the grain-line,
59
Map source: <http://www.lutherie.net/eurospruce.html> 09/04/2012.
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enabling the soundboard to vibrate freely, yet stiff along the grain-line, thus able to take string tension. Several timber suppliers in the UK had been contacted in the hope of finding a suitable piece of home-grown UK spruce to experiment with as a soundboard for the UK species guitar. All of the suppliers contacted could offer me nothing suitable and said that the grain-line would be irregular and containing knots. In the hope of finding something even half suitable I also reached out to several established UK luthiers. The UK luthiers I contacted gave the same story as the suppliers, adding that the acoustical dynamics of such a piece of UK spruce would be very poor. This is because, compared to other European spruces growing in high climates producing tight and even grain line, UK spruce grows at a much faster pace, producing far wider irregular grain-line, with many knots. Compared to tight-grained spruce, often producing more dynamics with clearer/richer ranges of trebles and basses, wide grained spruce is renowned for producing duller tones with much more emphasis on bass, and in the end is much less dimensionally stable to act as a soundboard. It is therefore wide-grained spruce is subjugated to being of a much lower quality grade.60 It was then after I decided I would also use the same FSC certified Swiss spruce used for the FSC guitar, as for the UK guitar. This spruce was of extremely high quality with very clean, tight and even grain line. It was very light and strong and had an excellent tap tone.
60
Many great guitar makers over the past centuries, including Antonio de Torres, have used widegrained spruce. However, this would have been for a number of reasons: either as an experiment: or because a customer preferred the look of that particular piece, or may have preferred more bassier/softer sound: or simply, and more probably, as they had no tight-grained spruce available to them at the time. To put it plainly, if makers such as Torres had tight-grained spruce then they used it, as they did on most of their guitars.
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Figure 14: UK Guitar front and back views
The Guitar in Completion The tonal quality produced by the rippled ash back model was much softer than tropical woods utilized on other models of the same size and bracing specifications I have made. Even so, the clarity throughout treble and bass ranges was impressive. It produced a range of definitive clear tones, while deflecting a strong volume, expressing harp-like harmonics with a soft but full timbre. Tropical tone-woods do tend to have much denser qualities and are oily in their composition. This oily composition dries out at a slow pace, often taking decades. Once the wood becomes drier, this then allows the wood to vibrate more freely while releasing any underlying tonal dynamics. Many tropical hardwoods can thus produce a richer character of sound, improving over time often producing richer, warmer and more definitive sound variables. Ash on the other hand is a far dryer and lighter wood, reaching its peak in tonal maturity in much less time. As is often the case, many high quality hardwoods initially produce the best in a more definitively rich resonance. It is with this knowledge the bespoke luthier, and professional
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musician, are naturally more in favour of incorporating denser quality tropical hardwoods on their instruments. Compared to that of a softer hardwood such as laburnum, the traditional use of ebony or rosewood bridges often transmits sharp and clearly defined tone. The slightly less dense and lighter structure of the laburnum bridge on the UK guitar proved to transmit clear string vibration, yet may have added to the mellower sound produced by the ash back and sides. Having a medium to high density in weight and consistency, relative to that of a soft Indian rosewood, the Laburnum fingerboard helped transmitted a clear definition of treble and bass string vibration into the soundboard. To some the guitar maybe less bright and sharply defined in tone than other traditionally used hardwoods. However, combined with the European spruce top, the warmth and clarity of the ash guitar is immediate and is pleasing to any untrained or trained ear. While potential customers for this guitar have been attracted by the aesthetic qualities in the combination of the creamy brown, golden tan and grey woods used, they also have been pleasantly surprised with the sound. With the ash and laburnum being very light in weight, the guitar also worked to higher degree of comfort for both playing and in transportation. Overall, the UK species guitar was of particular good quality in sound value and the woods used, exceptional in appearance. Although producing a lot softer tone in comparison to a tropical hardwood such as dense rosewood, the ash was able to produce and deflect a clear, yet mellower, range of trebles and basses being almost harp like in sound. Both trebles and basses were clear and balanced with a mellow but clear mid range. This sound value was probably due to the ash being much less denser and porous therefore producing softer trebles and basses. The only close comparisons to this piece of ash may have been to a mahogany back and sides, which also produces much warmer and softer tone to that of a tropical hardwood. The most obvious conclusion about the sound of any guitar falls ultimately to the quality of soundboard. The soundboard basically acts as the main driving force behind the sound. Depending on thickness, density, elasticity, uniformity of grain-line and method of bracing, the soundboard has the ultimate say in all tonal aspects of any instrument. Compared with many tough and dense oily tropical rosewoods used, the workability of both Laburnum and Ash worked well with tools when it came to planning, bending and shaping. The fact that the woods were well seasoned, particularly with the Ash, which had been drying for over 20 years, thus lead to an easier finishing with varnishes. The look of the guitar once complete with both Laburnum and flamed Ash components was striking, to a somewhat exotic extent. This made the guitar far more attractive and appealing to potential customers.
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Conclusion
Around 5000 years ago a greater part of the UK was once covered in forests. With about 90% of that cover now gone,61 a significant part of UK forests and woodlands are today managed solely for the purposes of timber production or conservation-based timber production. This is carried out mostly under the control of forestry commissions for Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with the remainder privately owned or conserved by NGOs such as the National Trust or the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).62 With very low forest coverage in the UK, much of the suitable UK native tone-wood currently offered by suppliers is often wood that has been sourced as the result of storm damage, or sometimes stock sold on through local forest regeneration management. This makes the availability of UK native prized tone-woods such as Walnut a scarce commodity while other ornately figured woods such as Yew, are also found to be extremely sparse in their availability. Indeed there is little readily available from UK luthier suppliers concerning many, if not most UK native species. Any strands of old-growth forests dotted around the UK are mostly protected by private owners or by the National Trust. Where old growth was more abundant pre-industrial Britain, today any old-growth for use as a tone-wood either comes by way of private land clearances or storm damage. Mostly due to there being no oldgrowth forest cover left in the UK available for commercial use, supply and demand of traditionally and habitually used tropical/sub-tropical tone-woods will continue to dominate. As many luthiers are aware of keeping their costs down, they are always happy to accept timber that has come from local sources such as apple or pear for bindings, cherry for back and sides, and if good fortune arrives, a good quality local Walnut or Yew for use as back and sides. Most guitar makers know what sells and makes a good guitar is in tonal production. Tone-woods such as ash, though abundant in supply, are of particular low quality in comparison to many other tropical tone-woods and are therefore never seen on commercial guitars. The Ash I was lucky enough to come by was rare, as it presented an attractive figure and grain-line which gave it that something extra in appearance. When combined with the top quality Swiss spruce the sound was very warm, clear and wide providing a soft sweetness with plenty of character in both upper and lower harmonics. In the end most professional musicians are looking for standards set through tried and tested tropical tone-woods, projecting highly defined basses and trebles complimented by crisp sweet harmonics. These indeed are the ultimate woods for the maker. Until more can be done in the UK to regenerate more species such as prized yew, walnut, and maple, makers will continue the demand for imports of tropical tone-woods.
61
UK Clearing House Mechanism for Biodiversity, Nature and Extent of UK Forest Cover: < http://uk.chm-cbd.net/default.aspx?page=7637> 17/12/2008. 62 UK Clearing House Mechanism for Biodiversity, Nature and Extent of UK Forest Cover: < http://uk.chm-cbd.net/default.aspx?page=7637> 17/12/2008.
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Chapter 4
Timber Substitutes as Composites for Acoustic Guitar

Contents
Introduction Plywood Plywood Guitars Benefits and Disadvantages Graphite/epoxy Graphite/Epoxy Guitars Benefits and Disadvantages Polymer Guitars Benefits and Disadvantages A Traditional Conclusion
66 66 67 68 68 69 70 71 72 72
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Introduction
With availability of some tone-woods becoming increasingly scarce it is then worthwhile considering what comparable replacements may look to become more commonplace in the field of lutherie. While UK native woods provide a satisfactory but limited option, composite materials remain a solid fixture on todays market. Presented within this chapter are a brief look into the uses of plywood, graphite/epoxy, and polymer in guitar making. In setting out to examine all of these substitutes, I then evaluate an overall comparison to the use of solid woods and what effect this may have on the future of guitar making.
Plywood
Traces of plywood can be traced as far back as the Egyptian times, 3500BC, where laminated wood was found in the tombs of the pharaohs.63 The English and French are reported to have used the principals of plywood in the 17 th and 18th centuries, although historians have accredited Russia with using forms of plywood just prior to the 20th century, when it was used in decorative hardwood forms in the construction of furniture and household items. 64 It wasnt until the 1920s and 1930s when advancements in science improved the quality and availability of adhesives. The only adhesives around before this period were animal glues consisting of hide or bone, while another option being vegetable glues. 65 It was therefore that the development of synthetic resin adhesives during this era was one of the most important innovations in the manufacturing of plywood. Modern forms of plywood we are now more familiar with today have been developed and engineered in the 20 th century with the use of softwoods ingredients, typically Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), pine, spruce, and other firs. Plywood is now used in many forms of construction, industrial and domestic, as well as for factory made guitar backs, sides and tops. Plywood is basically thin sheets of veneers glued together with the differing layers running perpendicular to each other. It is typically bonded using heat and strong resins, making it a composite material. This creates a far more stable and stronger material than natural wood which tends to shrink and move over time, often leading to cracks. While also being more resilient to heat and humidity than solid
63 64
Wikipedia: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plywood> 5/21/2006. APA woods (wood engineering), Milestones: <http://www.apawood.org/level_b.cfm?content=srv_med_new_bkgd_plycen> 21/05/2008. 65 Hardwood, Plywood, and Veneer Association: <http://www.hpva.org/products/history.asp> 22/05/2008.
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woods, many an untrained ear can tell no difference between a solid top to that of a plywood top guitar.
Plywood Guitars
Not so long after the Second World War economies and countries needed rebuilding, capitalism was asserting its foothold, and the model consumer of the present day was being moulded. With the arrival Elvis Presley in the 1950s and the Beatles just around the corner, every dreamy-eyed teenager wanted to be like their idols. Since then the exploitation of this culture through music and the media brought on was an even bigger demand for musical instruments, especially the guitar. Guitar companies such as Martin, Fender, Gibson were then on their way to becoming the largest guitar manufacturers in the world and the demand for economic cheap guitars was now in overdrive. It was with this surge in demand that veneered plywood guitars, being more cost effective in manufacturing than solid woods, became ever more common place on the market. With the ability to sell more of these guitars at a cheaper price than their solid bodied counterpart, these factory guitars were real money spinners. Since then plywood has been used on all manner of acoustic and classical guitars. From the spruce laminated plywood tops of Guild guitars, to the present day plywood laminated backs, sides and tops of many economy Japanese and Chinese made guitars, plywood continues to be used as a compatible substitute for solid body acoustic guitars.
Benefits and Disadvantages

Plywood is cheaper to produce and so cheaper to buy Solid timber is offers more sonority to begin with and more likely to yield richer and complex timbres as time goes by Plywood is less prone to cracking or warping due to sudden humidity changes and so have a longer life expectancy When solid timber has cracks or breakage due to impact damage it is far easier to repair; Problems in trying to repair the many layers of perpendicular grain lines running throughout plywood due to impact are extremely difficult to re-bond (often some type of wood filler needs applied) Solid timber guitars are often lighter in weight Plywood changes the way the top vibrates compared to solid and can dumb down the true potential of sound frequencies and string vibration. There is far more in dynamics with tonal range in the large variety of tropical timbers and various spruce soundboards, producing greater values in tone
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Solid wood guitars are generally known to be louder than most plywood models Most solid wood guitars presenting naturally rich and interesting textures via grain-line and figure are far more attractive than their plywood counterparts Although solid tone-woods offer wider variety of sonority, for many beginner/amateur players, the plywood guitar is quite often the more popular and economically viable option. Environmental concerns with laminates such as plywood remain in the binding process using resins, as most boards use toxic resins. The other main concern here is much of the timber content of plywood originates from nonsustainable sources.
Graphite/Epoxy
First coined by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789, graphite is known to be the most stable form of solid carbon ever discovered. Most commonly associated with its use in pencils, it derives from the Greek meaning to draw or write. 66 Epoxy resin is best explained as:
Epoxy or polyepoxide is a thermosetting epoxide polymer that cures (polymerizes and cross links) when mixed with a catalyzing agent or "hardener". Most common epoxy resins are produced from a reaction between epichlorohydrin and biphenyl-A. The first commercial attempts to prepare resins from epichlorohydrin occurred in 1927 in the United States. Credit for the first synthesis of biphenyl-A based epoxy resins is shared by Dr. Pierre Castan of Switzerland and Dr. S.O. Greenlee in the United States in 1936.67
Graphite then combined with Epoxy creates a light but extremely stable material. The first in depth study of the combination of graphite and epoxy as a suitable soundboard material was carried out in 1974 by Daniel W. Haines (University of South Carolina engineering professor), and his student Nagyoung Chang. After receiving a grant from the US
66 67
Wikipedia, Graphite: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite> 21/05/2006. Wikipedia, Graphite: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite> 21/05/2006.
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National Science Foundation, they were then able to research and develop a synthetic substitute for the traditional spruce used in violin and guitar manufacture. With this grant they managed to develop the first graphite/epoxy substitute for spruce (see picture left). The National Music Museum further revealed the outcomes of the experiment as follows:
After much experimentation, Haines and Chang found that they could create a suitable graphite/epoxy "sandwich" by layering a fibreboard material between two layers of a graphite/epoxy flat tape with parallel fibres manufactured by Hercules, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina. Carlene Hutchins, and Donald A. Thompson of C. F. Martin Guitars, was subsequently invited to join the experiment in which both a violin and a guitar fitted with graphite/epoxy bellies were produced. Hutchins provided the researchers with one of her Stradivari-model violins for the experiment. According to Paul Laird's account of the process, "Hercules, Inc. formed the composite violin plate in a 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven over a solid metal violin top mould with a low arch similar to that used by Antonio Stradivari. The composite plate possessed a clear tap tone, necessary for a fine violin top, and an analysis of its modal characteristics proved similar to a fine spruce violin plate. Hutchins cut F-holes in the soundboard and attached a spruce bass bar with epoxy glue that Morton Hutchins spent two months developing. Subjective tests of the instrument indicated that it has a lovely, dark tone with a dominance of the lower partials, perhaps because the composite material has a rather high along-the-grain damping quality. The violin also has a uniform response throughout its range and speaks well."68
Although the sound of the graphite/epoxy violin was found to be favourable, further prototypes were halted when the graphite/epoxy composite proved to be difficult on the skin of those working with it.
Graphite/epoxy Guitars
Alembic Inc. a guitar company created in the US in 1969, were the first company to introduce graphite/epoxy to bass guitar necks as it helped in lowering the weight of the instrument.69 Rainsong Guitars, who originated in Hawaii in the 1990s, are now one of the leading manufacturers of graphite/epoxy guitars today. A recent review of Rainsong guitars in Acoustic Magazine was given by musician, Teja Gerken, about the sound comparisons between the graphite/epoxy and its wooden counterparts where she said:
68
The National Music Museum: <http://www.usd.edu/smm/Archives/NewViolinFamily/Hutchinsgraphiteviolin.html> 23/05/2008. 69 K. Archard, The History and Development of the American Guitar, (Bold Strummer LTD, 1989).
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An Environment in Tone-woods Its impossible not to compare the RainSongs sound to the wooden instruments were all used to hearing. The OM-1000 convinced me that the material a guitar is made of has less to do with its sound than wed like to think. It sounds like an acoustic guitar, and I doubt that many listeners would be able to immediately pick it out as a graphite instrument in a blindfold test. The voice was bright and balanced, and the response was even up and down the neck. It felt equally comfortable finger picked and strummed. The instruments volume was impressive, and while it lacked the warmth and dimension of some wooden guitars, it had a really cool midrange shimmer that added to its tonal complexity. Played along with an Ovation Adamas and a Collings dreadnought, it cut through the mix, and its clear tone gave it an almost processed sound quality.70
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Teja Gerken seems to give a thumbs up to the guitar here, although she does point out the lack of warmth and dimension compared with wooden guitars. Having played one of these guitars myself, I immediately conceit to this lack of warmth compared to a well made solid wooden guitar The warmth of a wooden guitar lays in its ability to produce more of a natural sound than the processed sound Teja spoke of. Graphite/epoxy, while able to transmit sound well, is more responsive to clear high end frequencies, while wooden guitars are able to dip deeper into bass frequencies releasing more of an under lying warmth.
Wooden guitars offer more choice in sound compared to the wide range of complex sound natural timber has on offer. The advantages of using graphite/epoxy are that it does remain more stable and can outlast the lifetime of a solid timber guitar. It is also a strong material and takes very little in the way of maintenance. Graphite/epoxy is much more stable and resilient to heat and humidity change, making it a favourable option for many musicians travelling the world. Without any real solid evidence in research in the overall environmental issues concerned with production and bio-degrades, no estimate has been given on the impacts to the environment.
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The Acoustic Guitar, Rainsong OM-1000 review by Teja Gerken, February 2002, issue No. 110: <http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag110/rainsongreview.html> 5/21/2008.
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No two solid timber guitars sound identical, compared to the lack of sound variables in individual graphite/epoxy instruments.
Polymer Guitars
Plastics are polymers. The simplest polymer definition is something made of many units. Think of a polymer as a chain. Each link of the chain is the "-mer" or basic unit that is usually made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and/or silicon. To make the chain, many links or "-mers" are hooked or polymerized together. Polymerization can be demonstrated by linking countless strips of construction paper together to make paper garlands or hooking together hundreds of paper clips to form chains, or by a string of beads. Polymers have been with us since the beginning of time. Natural polymers include such things as tar and shellac, tortoise shell and horns, as well as tree saps that produce amber and latex. These polymers were processed with heat and pressure into useful articles like hair ornaments and jewellery. Natural polymers began to be chemically modified during the 1800s to produce many materials. The most famous of these were vulcanized rubber, gun cotton and celluloid. The first truly synthetic polymer produced was Bakelite in 1909 and was soon followed by the first synthetic fiber, rayon, which was developed in 1911.71 - Quoted from the American Plastics Council, in What is Polymer? While Plywood and graphite/epoxy are common place in guitar manufacturing, there has been more recent effort to produce synthetic materials that replicate the solid timber acoustics. Guitar company Cool Acoustics have patented a version of polymer material that they claim has now ended the search for a credible and tonally comparative synthetic replacement for the acoustic guitar, and within this claim that it represents state-of-the-art guitar construction in non-wood materials.72 The material is basically a light weight mix of plastics which comes from refined oil and other manmade constituents, which are then injected with air bubbles. The idea originated from a PhD design project by Owain Pedgley at Loughborough University and was completed in 1999. In 2004 Cool Acoustics applied for a grant to research an environmental assessment of alternative materials versus natural tone-woods, but were unable to obtain that grant.73 That is not to say Cool Acoustics have forgotten about the environmental issues, in fact they say they are using recycled plastics in their production.
71
The American Plastics Council, Plastics: The Basics of Polymer: <http://www.americanplasticscouncil.org/s_apc/sec.asp?CID=309&DID=919> 09/04/2012. 72 Cool Acoustics guitars: < http://www.coolacoustics.com/> 09/04/2012. 73 Cool Acoustics, Technical Manual: <http://www.coolacoustics.com/downloads/techmanual_part1_may06.pdf> 25/05/2008.
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Polymer does provide consistent tonal quality in reproduction. Solid timbers give a range of sounds in tonal qualities, warmth, brightness, and sustain. Polymer has a longer life cycle and is also biodegradable. Wood is naturally biodegradable. Environmental factors in the manufacture of polymer in have still to be researched and evaluated. Polymer remains stable and is unaffected by humidity. Solid timber acoustics are known to mature as the wood settles and invariably produce open up in tonal quality and character as time passes. Solid timbers are more attractive. Polymer can be made more attractive by adding pigmentations, although this is still in the experimental stages. There is currently insufficient evidence to say either way which is more environmentally friendly, but the use of plastics in high production is certainly questionable for the benefit of the environment.
A Traditional Conclusion
While composites such as plywood for guitar remain mostly in the lower end mainstream market, markets in the area of high end classical and acoustic instruments are more specialized and hold a certain criteria in material requirements. Luthiers often have to use traditional materials if the instruments are to meet the traditional standards in tone production required by professional players. A luthier needs to adapt to the clients needs, as well as respectfully utilizing the years of tradition and handed down knowledge in working with tried and tested natural woods. Luthiers know what works and what does not with natural timbers and are more able to adapt the dimensions and sound of an instrument to the individual
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players needs. In trying to utilize the use of plywood in bespoke making would certainly limit any choice in standards already set. Many professional classical and folk musicians are aware through the tradition of trusted woods that the sound dynamics of a well constructed wooden instrument also improve with age. Any use of plywood would simply limit any such evolution in sound dynamics. Be it musical instruments or jewellery, hand making is a tempered practice. The craftsman has learned his/her trade over years of often painstaking work. They know that in workmanship the risks taken, temper a whole attitude towards respecting the ingenuity of natural fibres there within. Many, if not most, from all backgrounds held in lutherie are in the business at the beginning because they like working with natural timbers. With so many dynamics pertaining to the many different species of timber of timber, luthiers have a high respect for wood and they know it is much more interesting to work with. One also must realise that wood is a naturally renewable source which offers a huge range of untapped options. Over recent years scientists have been researching more into modifying timbers. Scientists are basically micro-waving timbers and injecting them with treatments that can improve their lifespan, flexibility, and strengths. The process also speeds up drying times from green log to dried finished boards without harming the environment. As experimentation and research is still in what may be the early stages of development, this may become an interesting option for the future of lutherie woods. If safe for the environment, for the future we could be using ordinary pines injected with these treatments, and/or micro-waved, which may then act as reasonable substitutes for natural solid top timbers. While many composite substitutes need time to be favoured and recognized as compatible substitutes, environmental impacts surrounding their use also needs fully evaluated. Until more research and has been accomplished to replicate the wide variety of sound dynamics within different species of tone-woods, solid timber guitars continue to offer the best in sound.
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Chapter 5
Chladni Tests on UK Native Species

Contents
Introduction The Woods Chladni Tests Conclusion 75 75 78 94
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Introduction
The biggest problem to arise from the physical aspects of this project was in seeking native UK spruce that is acceptable for use as a soundboard. After it was conceded that using any form of UK spruce would be highly impractical, two UK hardwood possibilities, European yew (Taxus baccata), and Italian/Black Poplar (Populus x canadensis var. serotina), were chosen. They were experimented with by means of Chladni testing, later discussed in this chapter. Both species fitted the criteria as species grown in the UK and after some thorough investigation, no examples were found of them ever having being used as acoustic guitar soundboards. In drawing direct comparisons for the experiment, two commonly used softwoods, European/Alpine Spruce (Picea abies) and Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata), were used in direct comparison. The tests which revealed how each soundboard showed basic responses as a soundboard were kept simple and brief due to time constraints in the volume of work surrounding the overall project.
The Woods
European/Common Yew: (Taxus baccata) see Chapter 3 p.52, Table of UK Tonewood Species European/Common Yew is known to be the longest living plant in Europe, with the oldest tree, at around 2000 years old, still growing in Perthshire, Scotland. 74 Having a high elasticity value, Yew has been used over the centuries in Britain for bow making. Being very difficult to source, with a wide enough girth for guitar soundboard remaining knot free, Yew is seldom used by UK makers for back and sides. The acoustic properties for back and sides for guitar Figure 15: European/Common Yew (Taxus baccata) can be excellent producing crisp clear showing knots and outer sapwood tone with strong projection of sound. Being a hardwood, the Yew would be better for use for slide blues style acoustic and lap-steel guitars, producing plenty of treble and sharp basses needed for those particular styles. Other popular examples of hardwood species used in for
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Wikipedia, European/Common Yew: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Yew> 09/04/2012.
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these styles of guitar are species such as Hawaiian Koa (Acacia spp.), and Maple (Acer spp.). Although the availability of Yew is inconsistent, with most Yew trees turning up as a result of storm damage or garden clearances, this particular piece was donated by a fellow student who acquired it after a Yew tree had been felled in her mothers garden 10 years before. After converting into a book-matched top, many hidden knots were revealed, which one is unable to see from the initial piece of uncut lumber. Due to fact knots would only weaken the top and interfere with the sound dynamics, rather than using it on the initial UK species guitar construct it was therefore decided to carry out Chladni tests with the piece.
Italian/Black Poplar (see Chapter 3, p.55 Table of UK Tone-wood species, UK Native Species as Tone-woods and Guitar Construct): Italian/Black poplar originated in France in mid-18th century, which was then introduced into Britain a little later is a hybrid between an American species (Populus deltoides) and the Black poplar.75 Apart from poplars common use over the centuries as boxes, this wood has been used as soundboards over the last few centuries for dulcimers, Irish/traditional harps, and the occasional cello back and sides. Today the wood is more commonly used for solid body electric guitars. Being in the category of a hardwood, it is much more of a soft-wood in its density and texture. Having a rather woolly texture it is quite light, yet stiff with tightly packed fibres. This makes the wood prone to marking and denting easily, one of the reasons why it is seldom if ever used on acoustic instruments. The sound produced by poplar is known to be mellow compared to spruce, and often produces warm fundamentals with far less harsh overtones. Often the thickness of poplar soundboards used on instruments such as pre 19th century dulcimers or Irish harps is left thicker compared to spruces. This would have been intentionally made so, so as to raise the treble ranges. For many pre 19th century, the species was less favourable a soundboard than spruce, but more often it may have been used because it grew locally. One luthier I had spoken with told me he had used the poplar for cello back and sides said that it had acted rather well in this area, producing a variety of deep and dark rich resonances. In the field of traditional harps some do argue that poplar,
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Saps, Trees, Italian/Black Poplar, Description: <http://wwwsaps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/trees/poplari.htm> 07/01/2009.
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when used to its full potential is a good substitute for spruce as a soundboard, in that it can produce a rich enough voice.76
European/Alpine Spruce (Picea abies): See Chapter 3, p.61: FSC Swiss Alpine/European spruce (Picea abies): Soundboard
Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata): Western Red cedar (Thuja plicata) can be found in all manner of exterior uses from boat building to fence posts. Although spruce is now the common choice for acoustic tops, more recent popular substitutes have been Western Red cedar and Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata), used mostly for nylon strung classical guitars. Western Red cedar has been used by numerous luthiers after first being discovered by makers such as Jose Ramirez III (1922-1955) and Ignacio Fleta (1877-1977) in the 1950s.77 This choice of wood is still controversial in the use of guitar making as it generally has a tendency to produce more of a sweet, deeper and mellow sound due to its responsiveness to low frequencies. This leads to a theory that cedar tops have less a capacity to improve in tonal quality during the lifetime of the guitar, however this is a matter for contention between makers. Spruce does tend to have more of a bright sound in its initial stages as a soundboard, but settles after a time to produce release warmer underlying tonal response as the instrument matures. This warmth is far more apparent on the initial stages of a cedar soundboard and so more desirable by many classical luthiers and musicians. One of the finest Spanish classical makers, Jose Ramirez, did go as far to say that, Stradivarius would have used the wood of America if he had known it.78 Cedar is also less popular a soundboard as it is a more fragile softwood than spruce and does tend to split and mark easy. Having repaired cedar guitar tops, I have found through my own experience one should bring the final thickness of a cedar top down to around 20% thicker than a normal spruce, to prevent from splitting over time. This also raises the treble frequencies a little more, balancing out the strong basses typically produced by soundboard material such as cedar.
76
Harps by Wm. Rees Instruments, Beyond Spruce: <http://traditionalharps.com/HarpsGeneralTonewoods.html> 09/04/2012. 77 Evans, Tom & Mary, Guitars: Music, History, Construction and Players, From the Renaissance to Rock (London, Oxford University Press, 1977), p.77. 78 Evans, Tom & Mary, Guitars: Music, History, Construction and Players, From the Renaissance to Rock From an interview with Tom Evans, Madrid, 1976, (London, Oxford University Press, 1977), p.78.
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The Chladni Tests

First created by German physicist and mathematician Ernst Chladni (17561827), Chladni testing enabled one to see patterns form on top of vibrating plates. This was done by using sand, or sometimes tea-leaves, to show the acoustic response of a vibrating plate though patterns of nodes and anti-nodes. Nodes and anti-nodes can be described easiest by referring to one bar on a xylophone for example. When one strikes the bar, which is fixed at either end, it vibrates causing it to vibrate up and down. The simplest mode of vibration is shown in the graph below and shows how as the middle of the bar goes up, the ends go down. This is the simplest mode of vibration. A shown in the figure 14, the dashed line shows the middle going down and the ends standing still (N: called nodes, where no motion occurs). The action of the middle going down is therefore known as the anti-node.
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Figure 16: Xylophone bar showing nodes standing still at ends and middle going down (anti-node)
A guitars fixed soundboard is somewhat more complex, but reacts the same way when vibrations pass through. For this particular investigative study, blue glitter was spread over each soundboard to show, depending on each frequency projected, where the anti-nodes and nodes would be strongest. As each frequency was tested on the soundboards, Chladni patterns appeared on the tops showing nodes and anti-nodes. This then revealed comparisons in the differences of all frequencies generated between the four materials. Rather than exhausting the whole frequency range, a retrospective of the frequencies was taken, represented by three low notes, four tenors, four treble clefs and four sharps. Photographs were then taken and the pitches recorded in Helmholtz notation, shown in the top right-hand corner of the photos. For each test the materials chosen were made into small bodied acoustic guitar soundboards and basic X-bracing was applied, a typical acoustic style of bracing used for many steel string acoustic soundboards. All soundboards were taken down to a thickness to 2.7mm and then x-braced using spruce, 8mm wide by 15 mm high. To reproduce the effect of the soundboards fixed to sides of a guitar, each soundboard was bolted tightly between two solid pieces of 15mm MDF, with holes cut to the shape of the soundboard. The soundboard jig was then raised on blocks over a speaker which was connected to a sound frequency generator. The speaker was placed underneath, close to the bottom bout of the soundboard, where a bridge transmitting the string vibrations would normally be fixed. (It is to note at this point that both the Yew and spruce experiments had been carried out using only screws to fix them between the MDF boards. Although we were able to see patterns form, this less firmly fixed approach resulted in them being less
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Wikipedia, Ernst Chladni: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chladni> 09/04/2012.
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responsive in producing as clear patterns than those of the bolted down examples of the poplar and cedar boards. I was unable to remake the experiments using the more reliable bolted down method. This was due to there being a fire at the university and with the building closed for several months. I was unable to enter the building in time to remake those experiments before the hand in deadline for the project.) The test results were as follows, showing brief descriptions of reactions to frequencies:
As we begin with low C, showing one large anti-node in the centre of spruce, cedar, and poplar, these three react much in the same way. The yew however produces a much hazier pattern, with the board reacting with difficulty in finding any clear nodes or anti-nodes. This then shows that the yew is less responsive at the low frequency and being more rigid as a hardwood, this was to be expected. The poplar on the other hand vibrates freely at the low C in one large anti-node across the whole
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board. This reveals a strong low frequency response, with almost identical patterns made compatible with both the spruce and cedar tops.
On the low E both the spruce and the yew begin to follow the contours of the X-brace in showing similar response patterns. The poplar and cedar show one similar large node with the whole soundboard vibrating freely, with the cedar showing vague signs of the X-brace stopping vibrations. This begins to show improvement with the yew on the low bass responses as being similar with the spruce. The poplar, while being similar with the cedar at this point, is vibrating more freely with less interference from the X-brace.
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Unfortunately as you can see here we have lost one of the photos of the poplar (This was a technical glitch with the university camera, which would did not save the photo properly). However, we do have the yew begin to follow the X-bracings a little more, along with the spruce. The yew does show an anti-node one along the lower left diagonal where the X brace should be still. This may be due to the screws not being tight enough at one corner of the board. As we have seen from the previous poplar results, the poplar seemed to be following the same pattern as the cedar, and therefore we can only presume the poplar would be acting the same in tonal response as the cedar at this point.
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While the X pattern remains somewhat unchanged on the yew, here we can see the tenor g begin to create slightly more definitive patterns. The cedar shows the beginning of a smaller anti-node in the lower bout with the rest of the soundboard vibrating freely. The poplar shows much similar pattern to the cedar again, but with the raise in frequency pushing the node towards the centre, while the spruce seems to be vibrating with one large anti-node split towards the upper bout.
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While the yew at this point seems somewhat unchanged, struggling to find definitive nodes and anti-nodes, the poplar begins to show definitive dynamics as a soundboard on the upper a. With much of the soundboard vibrating freely, three antinodes begin forming at the lower bout on the poplar, while remaining somewhat similar to the nodal patterns of the cedar. This becomes more interesting as it shows that poplar so far to be a very good substitute for cedar tops, making it a viable substitute, particularly for classical makers.
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On the spruce here we can see much more separation, particularly on the upper bout, where we have three antinodes forming showing three partials of the b. While the spruce begins to show more interesting patterns, the yew remains unchanged, but still vibrating freely around the X. The poplar still follows the cedar, yet the cedar seems to break up into further fundamental partials at the upper bout. Mostly on the upper bouts of guitars there are cross bars beneath a fixed fingerboard which restrict most of the sound from vibrating on any guitar.
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Here we have middle C, with more definitive separation by the X on the spruce. The yew again remains unchanged, but with much less definite separation by the X thus showing a more freely vibrating top with little character. With the cedar we have two mirrored anti-nodal patters divided by the X position. The poplar begins to react slightly more differently at this point showing clear open vibration at top and bottom bout with slight division of the X.
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With 6 different separations on the spruce and not a great deal happening on the yew top, we can begin to draw conclusions that the yew may be a poor choice a soundboard. However, with the poplar reacting with one large anti-node on the lower bout and many more surrounding partials surrounding, it is certainly proving to show plenty of character as a potential guitar top.
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Now things begin to change with the yew as we see much more definitive separation on the X than we have previously. This begins to show the yew reacting better to higher frequencies, with the poplar continuing on the same path as the cedar.
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We can now see some immediate change on the yew with two small partials occurring, one at the top right of the sound-hole and one at the lower left, with a node still having its main focus on the centre X. The poplar still shows signs of following similar of the cedar, but with less definitive partials towards the upper bout.
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With the spruce struggling here to show too much in way of patterns, and the yew taking on around 8 different nodes and anti-nodes, we can see the yew reacting far better at the sharp end of the scale. This reveals that the yew would better as a blues slide guitar soundboard. Both cedar and poplar have followed similar patterns with much more definition of nodes and anti-nodes.
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As the spruce begins to react better here finding 5 partials on its upper bout, the yew seems to begin to find less in the way of other partials than previous. Both cedar and poplar show complex movements across the two boards.
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While yew, spruce and cedar show some complex erratic behavioural patterns here, the poplar now shows 3 sound partials at the upper and with 3 at the bottom of the X.
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With two upper partials at the upper bout of the poplar and four below, we can see an almost symmetrical pattern as the cedar emerging on the lower bouts. While the yew is vague in response, the spruce has some nodal patterns splitting at the bottom bout with less movement across its centre.
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There is almost no movement on the upper bout of the spruce as it struggles to find any freedom to move at these parts, while its lower bout has several nodes and antinodes showing. The yew remains more fixed around the X with vague splits of nodes and anti-nodes surrounding (not forgetting the yew is less tightly fixed to the jig, we are doing some guess work here). As both cedar and poplar showing very complex patterns of nodes and antinodes, it shows much less freedom of movement with highly defined lines of antinodes in many areas. This may suggest that the poplar will act weaker, yet still with character, at performing on the high end frequency range as a soundboard.
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Conclusion
While both poplar and yew performed well in comparison to the spruce and cedar, poplar performed particularly well across the range. Although there was less definitive response from spruce and yew, due to them being less tightly fixed in the jigs, we were able to see enough patterns with the yew to make calculated guesses that yew would indeed react better at higher frequencies. As predicted, this could make it far more suitable for blues style slide guitar, which often is associated with clear trebles and sharp tone. The problem with using yew as a top, and under consistent strain from string tension, may arise from the yew splitting over time along its length. Although yew has good elasticity, it also tends to split easy. While yew can act perfectly well as back and sides for acoustic steel string guitar, the durability factors still need proven. Most steel string acoustic guitars have spruce soundboards around 2.5-3mm. If yew was to be used as a top, then one may not go less than around 3mm, so as to take the stresses of the string tension without splitting over time. Also, as the yew may possibly make a good soundboard for finger-picking/slide guitar, the yew would have to be made slightly thicker, at around 3.5 mm to take the high tension of the thicker gauge treble strings normally used. Far more experimentation with this species would need undertaken before taken into consideration as a durable guitar top. However, being a hardwood and more responsive to sharp trebles would suggest that the yew would act as a good lap-steel acoustic soundboard. The Italian/Black poplar, known to have been used in the past on some traditional harps and dulcimer soundboards, seemed to perform well across the range and was almost in unison in its vibratory responses with the cedar patterns. Cedar is generally used in classical making and is known to produce much softer and warmer tones to that of spruce. This showed that the poplar would be interesting as a soundboard, particularly for classical guitar. Being a quick-growing and readily available species is excellent news for acoustic guitar makers to further experiment with. Particularly with the poplar results showing very good compatibility with cedar soundboards, it showed it was able to respond well across the whole range from the lower basses to the higher sharps. A far broader range of tests on different thicknesses and bracings would need to be carried out with the species in maximising its potential as a soundboard. Also being far more dimensionally stable wood than cedar, only adds to the benefits in capitalising on poplar as a guitar soundboard. However, one main problem remaining with this material, and why many luthiers are dissuaded from its use, is the fact that it marks and dents very easily due to its almost woolly texture. The overall results of the Chladni tests did give us some idea of the possibilities of UK native species as soundboards. Many in the field of lutherie remain sceptical about Chladni testing, due to the many variables a soundboard has. One has to take into consideration these variables to give a stronger depiction of
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how an individual soundboard may act. This would entail more experimentation with full bracing systems with the top applied to a guitar and under string tension.
Chapter 6
End Conclusion
The practice is slow and problematic in protecting threatened forest environments and tree species, and meantime makers will begin to find themselves better adjusting to methods in utilizing materials to their full potential. There are small, but often key steps towards creating a more ecologically conscientious practice in guitar making. For example, many luthiers often revert to the use of plastic bindings where off-cuts of valuable timber left over from the initial sizing of the sides of acoustic guitars can be used. If one takes into account the energy costs in having plastic bindings factory made and then delivered, the simple act of sizing and bending the wooden off-cuts makes both economic and environmental sense. Indeed, the use of natural wood off-cuts can easily add to a much more naturally aesthetically pleasing instrument. Other components such as headstock veneers, heel-caps, and bridge plates can all be taken from off-cuts from the guitar backs. Offcuts from the top can also be used as a centre support strips for the back of an instrument. Even when off-cuts are not used for the particular guitar they come from, they can be kept aside and used for later constructs. Other areas of better waste management can be in compromising and working with imperfections. In dealing with small problems such as resin pockets, particularly in spruce (resin pockets are a natural occurrence often found deep inside the tree where small pockets of resin have gathered and the wood simply has grown around these pockets), these pockets can be simply overcome by filling them with wood dust and superglue. The pocket is more often only half the way through a split piece of timber and the face showing the pocket can easily be turned towards the inside face of the instrument. Further methods of conserving waste would be in the initial cutting processes themselves. This is where the actual process of conversion of timber into components such as neck blanks needs to be made more precise. For
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the maker it makes sense that with better waste management one can be immediately far more cost productive, while benefiting the environment.
As the individual luthier can be better adapted to creating a more conscientious practice in utilising their woods, the grander scale of the problems lie in trade in highly valued tone-wood timbers, legally or illegally procured. With the current day black market in illegal logging estimated at around 7.5-11bn80, widespread global problems in the trade of exotic timbers continue, as shown in the following article by Soundwood (Fauna and Flora Internatiional):
Monitoring the global timber trade, especially tracking high-end, tone-wood species, is a complex process. Problems include access to, and accuracy of, export records, especially for countries producing tropical hardwoods, as well as the physical capacity to enforce legislation on illegal logging practices. Concern also exists about the integrity of wood procurement within the music industry. The high value of individual tree species and logs has led to a parallel or black market for woods that have been obtained through unscrupulous wood procurement processes. This has been fuelled within the timber trade by a lack of transparency and unequal benefit sharing at the community level. Despite multilateral agreements and regulations on the international trade of threatened species, smuggling of timbers continues to be a threat to many species. One of the key problems is the lack of focus on trees as threatened species. Another problem is determining the species of woods in shipments in the midst of a massive global commodity trade of timber. Threatened species are often disguised or simply called different names on export forms. In addition, one of the primary threats to individual tree species is domestic consumption.81
While law is not very good for managing environments as it doesnt leave a lot of flexibility, judges can only make laws as guidelines which are less abided by, particularly in poorer countries. There needs to be new ideas and better systems invested towards readdressing more direct involvement in threatened areas. For example, subsidising responsible timber businesses yearly travel fees to forest areas most affected by depletion and species loss. This in turn may not only encourage business to be more responsible in their purchasing, but also encourage growth in a more ecologically sound and balanced market. Many problems related to understanding and respecting threats to the environment remain in base cultures. It has been estimated that around 500 billion dollars is spent on advertising every year. Kids today can recognise hundred corporate logos by the time they leave college, but can barely tell you 10 species of local plant and tree. Whereas industrial civilization has helped bring about many catastrophic impacts on eco-systems, apathy through corporate greed has been one
80
Illegal Logging makes Billions for Gangs, Black R. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment17448581 (21.04.2012) 81 Soundwood, Trade in tonewoods: <http://www.globaltrees.org/proj.asp?id=39> 17/05/2006.
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of the worst enemies to fall upon forest environments. However, this begins to change as more and more awareness and action is being taken not just by large organisations such as the WWF, Greenpeace, or the Rainforest Alliance, but more at ground root levels in communities across the globe brought together by increased social networking. We are all a small part of a bigger chain in the depletion of forests. Every action we take, from using a piece of Brazilian rosewood, whether old stock or not, or using mahogany reclaimed from a skip, makes a difference and influences others. It is ultimately in the instrument makers hands and interests to sustain their assets, and thus be more concerned with investing in timber procured from well managed forests. In the end they do have the choice to become more aware for the future of species, as well as the safety of our earths environments and climate. At the end of the day, trees are the most environmentally friendly and renewable source. As the price of tropical hardwoods begins to rise and availability lower, only the individual can be the better judge in their methods of working, as well as in the materials they invest in now and for the future.
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Barwick, M., Tropical and Subtropical Trees, A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide (London, Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2004) Benton, L.M. & Short, J.R. (ed.), Environmental Discourse and Practice, A Reader (Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 2000) Boulton, E.H.B., and Jay B.A., British Timbers, Their Uses and Identification, 3rd Edition (Adam and Charles Black, 4, 5 & 6 Soho Square London W.1., 1947) Evans, Tom & Mary, Guitars: Music, History, Construction and Players, From the Renaissance to Rock (London, Oxford University Press, 1977) Forest Products Research Lab Ministry of Technology, A Handbook of Softwoods, Reprinted 1966 (Her Majestys Stationery Office, 1957) Flyn, James H. Jr, & Holder, Charles D., A Guide to Useful Woods of the World, 2nd Edition, (Forest Products Society, Madison, Wisconsin, 2001) 97
An Environment in Tone-woods Grunfeld, V. F, The Art and Times of the Guitar, An Illustrated History (New York, Da Capo Press Inc, 1974) Gura, P.F., C.F.Martin and his Guitars, 1796-1873 (The University of North Carolina Press, 2003) Kearey, I. (ed.), Good Wood Guide (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996) Pye, D, The Nature and Aesthetics of Design (London, The Herbert Press LTD, 1978) Tyler, J., Early Music Series: 4, The Early Guitar, A History and Handbook (London, Oxford University Press, 1980) Valliant, J, The Golden Spruce (Arrow Books Ltd, UK,2007) Washburn, J. & Johnston, R., Martin Guitars, An Illustrated Celebration of Americas Premier Guitar Maker (Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, Inc., 1997)
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FOMRHI quarterly (Fellowship of Makers and Researchers of Historical Instruments) American Lutherie (The Quarterly Journal of the Guild of American Luthiers) Strad Magazine
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An Environment in Tone-woods Earth Trends: World Resources Institute of Environmental Information: < http://earthtrends.wri.org/> EFI, European Forest Institute: <http://www.efi.fi/> FFI, Fauna and Flora International: < http://www.fauna-flora.org/> Forestry Commission UK: <http://www.forestry.gov.uk/> Forests Forever: <http://www.forestsforever.org.uk/> Forest World: <www.forestworld.com/wow/country/United_Kingdom/United_Kingdom_fd.html> FSC, Forestry Stewardship Council: < http://www.fsc.org/> FSC, UK Branch: <www.fsc-uk.demon.co.uk/index.html> Guardian, The, Guitar bands strike a chord to send instrument sales rocketing: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/aug/24/arts.artsnews> 24/08/2006.
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Gearwire, Bob Taylor (Taylor Guitars), Greenpeace Speak Out On Guitar Making, Responsible Logging: < http://www.gearwire.com/sitka-spruce-guitars.html> 1/9/2009. Global Forest Watch: <http://www.globalforestwatch.org/english/index.htm> Global Trees, Soundwood: <http://www.globaltrees.org/proj.asp?id=23> Greenbase, The Intersection of Music and Climate Change, Interview: Scott Paul, Forest Campaign Director, Greenpeace USA, Musicwood: <http://green.jambase.com/labels/wood.html> Green Building UK, Article, 02/03/2005, FSC good PEFC and CSA bad! < http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/news/NewsFullStory.asp?ID=549> 09/04/2012. Greenpeace USA, Musicwood Campaign: <http://www.musicwood.org/who.htm> Greenspec, Materials, Wood: <http://www.greenspec.co.uk/html/materials/woodUK.html> Guitar Player, The Troublesome Truth About Sitka: <http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/thetroublesome-truth/Jun-07/27810> IUCN, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN Redlist: <http://www.iucnredlist.org/info/categories_criteria> ITTO, International Tropical Timber Organization: <http://www.itto.or.jp/live/index.jsp> Jiscmail: < http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/> Laburnum, The Tree: <http://www.the-tree.org.uk/BritishTrees/TreeGallery/laburnumc.htm> Luthier Mercantile International: <http://www.lmii.com/>
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An Environment in Tone-woods MTCC, Malaysian Timber Certification Council: <http://www.mtcc.com.my/> Musicwood Campaign, The Guitar Industry Plans for the Future, by Rebecca Hay, July 2007: <http://www.musicwood.org/doc/PremierGuitar-july07.pdf> Musictrades, US Guitar Sales Stats: <http://www.musictrades.com/census.html> Musical Instrument Makers Forum: <http://www.mimf.com/index.htm> NASA, Earth Observatory, Deforestation: <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Deforestation/> Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): <http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/qcert.asp> North Heigham Sawmill: <http://www.timbernorwich.co.uk/sawmill_old/index.html> NGS Greenspec, FSC Timber Merchants, UK: <http://www.greenspec.co.uk/html/materials/FSCtimbermerchants.html> PEFC, Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes: <http://www.pefc.org/internet/html/> Precious Woods: <http://www.preciouswoods.ch/index.php?lang=en> Proforest, CPET, Central Point of Expertise for Timber Procurement, UK: <http://www.proforest.net/cpet> RILM: <http://www.rilm.org/> Stewart- MacDonald : <http://stewmac.com/> The Forestry Commission: <http://www.forestry.gov.uk/> The Forest Service: <www.dani.gov.uk/core/forestry/core/for001.htm> The Free Library, Guitar Makers Crusade for FSC: <http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Guitar+makers+crusade+for+FSC-a0164425048> The Independent, Guitar Makers Band Together: <http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2201097.ece> The JNCC UK Biodiversity Website: <http://www.ukbap.org.uk> The Royal Forestry Society: <http://www.rfs.org.uk/> The Woodland Trust: <http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/> Timbmet (Resposible Purchasing Timber Supplier): <http://www.timbmet.com/default.aspx> Tomorrows World, Australia: <http://apc-online.com/twa/sports2.html#Innovation007> Tonewood Switzerland: <http://www.tonewood.ch/>
2009
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An Environment in Tone-woods Touchstone Tonewoods: <http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/> TRADA, Timber Research and Development Association <http://www.trada.co.uk/index.html> Traditional Harps : <http://traditionalharps.com/HarpsGeneralTonewoods.html> TTF, Timber Trade Federation: <http://www.ttf.co.uk/> SFI, Sustainable Forestry Initiative: <http://www.aboutsfi.org/> Sealaska: <http://www.sealaska.com/page/home> UK Forest Partnership: <http://www.ukforestpartnership.org.uk/pages/conference.html> UNECE, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Timber Committee: <http://www.unece.org/trade/timber/Welcome.html> UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre: <http://www.unep-wcmc.org/> United Nations Forum on Forests: <http://www.un.org/esa/forests/> William C. Kelday, Guitar Maker, (UK): <http://www.keldayguitars.com/keldayguitars/html/construction.html> Wood for Good: <http://www.woodforgood.com> Woodworkers Source, online exotic wood directory: <http://www.onlinewoods.com/onlinewoods/species> WWF Forests for Life Campaign, News: Croatia Certifies all 2 million hectares of state owned forest, 14th November 2002: <http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=4436> The University of New South Wales, Music Acoustics, How does a guitar work? < http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/guitar/guitarintro.html> CIFOR Centre for International Forestry Research: <http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/> Food and Agriculture Organisation for the United Nations, Forestry: <http://www.fao.org/forestry/home/en/>
2009
(EU25 COUNTRIES WOOD DISTRIBUTION/MANUFACTURE/EMPLOYMENT/INDUSTRY VALUE FOR 2003) Stats: <http://www.cei-bois.org/prowood/pdf/Eurofact2Wood%20Industry3.pdf> Center for International Trade in Forest Products: <http://www.cintrafor.org/> Resource Conservation Alliance: <http://www.rca-info.org/issues/consumption.html> Global Forest Trade Network (WWF Subsiduary): <http://gftn.panda.org/index.cfm>
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An Environment in Tone-woods College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Winsconsin, Forestry Fact Sheet: <http://forest.wisc.edu/extension/Publications/93.pdf> John F. Kennedy School of Government, Prof. John Holdren: Global Climate Disruption What do we know, what should we do: <http://www.guba.com/watch/3000128499>
2009
Ted talks, Al Gore's new thinking on the climate crisis: <http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/al_gore_s_new_thinking_on_the_climate_crisis.html>
Global Witness: <http://www.globalwitness.org/> Global Forest Science: <http://www.globalforestscience.org/about_us.html> Global Forest Watch: <http://www.globalforestwatch.org/english/index.htm> World Rainforest Movement: <http://www.wrm.org.uy/> TED talk: Biodiversity scientist, Cary Fowler wants to save the world from agricultural collapse, one seed at a time: <http://www.ted.com/talks/cary_fowler_one_seed_at_a_time_protecting_the_future_of_food. html> Michael Crichton: Fear Complexity and Environmental Management in the 21 st Century: <http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7819184350661384634&ei=D1-xSobSGtqvAbfhKmIAg&q=Michael+Crichton+-+Fear+Complexity+and+Environmental+Mgmt+in#> International Canopy Network (ICAN), Nalini Nadkarni: <http://academic.evergreen.edu/n/nadkarnn/ican/index.html> United Nations Environment Programme, Billion Tree Campaign: <http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/> World Resources Institute (WRI): <http://www.wri.org/about> FSCs Impact of the Ground, Publication, Beautiful Music, Brand New Starts Escola Lutheria da Amazonia (Lutheria Office School of Amazonia)1996: <http://www.fsc.org/fileadmin/webdata/public/document_center/publications/case_studies/BeautifulMusic_Impact_Lutheria.pdf > 11th Hour, (Environmental Documentary) < http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2174195060267517042&ei=c-EWS8z8Kdii-Aa_3aC3BA&q=11TH+HOUR#> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8429708.stm
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An Environment in Tone-Woods by Ray Beattie

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An Environment in Tone-woods

An Environment in Tone-woods by Ray Beattie

Initial Questions Raised

Chapter 1 Demands and Demise of Tone-woods

Chapter 2 FSC Guitar and Certified Species as Tone-woods

An Environment in Tone-woods Chapter 3 UK Species Tone-woods and Guitar Construct

Chapter 5 Chladni Tests on UK Native Species Guitar Soundboards

Demands and Demise of Tone-woods

Valliant, J., The Golden Spruce, p. 87.

Deforestation and Tighter Controls

Global Trees, Projects: <http://www.globaltrees.org/proj.asp?id=23> 03/01/2008.

Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra)

Pernambuco (Caesalpinia echinata)

Table of Threatened Species

Conservation Status VU A1cd

Various forest types including Amazonian rainforest.

Acoustic guitar back/sides and necks, end blocks.

S. Mexico & Central America Mexico N.S. America

A.G. Back and sides.

Red cedar, Spanish cedar, Cigar-box wood.

Soundboards of nonbowed stringed instruments

Utile, African Mahogany

Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)

FSC Guitar and Certified Sustainable Species

FSC Gibson Guitars and Environmental Groups

FSC Certified Tone-wood Availability

Brick red/brown colour and fine, even grain lines.

Classical and steel string back and sides.

Golden tan to cinnamon brown. Sometimes small golden petal flecks.

Classical and acoustic guitar back/sides. Possibly fingerboard.

Stability and Durability both good.

Good choice for finger style steel string guitars.

Common Names & Latin Name

Instrument Workability Durability, Use & Finish Stability & Bending

Sound Quality & Similarities

Ranges from Sao Paulo in Brazil to Trinidad and Panama.

Lacewood, Silky oak, grevillea (Grevillea robusta)

South American, native to eastern Australia.

Classical and acoustic guitar back/sides.

Stability and Durability both moderate.

Acoustic steel string.

Common Names & Latin Name

Workability & Finish

Durability, Stability & Bending

Sound Quality & Similarities

Its colour can range from a light greyishtan to mahogany red.

Good strength to weight ratio. Excellent durability.

Works relatively easy with tools. Finishes well. Glues easily.

Dimensionally stable. Shrinks moderately.

FSC Certified Guitar Components

Figure 6: Oak fingerboard

Figure 5: Oak bridge

FSC Guitar Results

Figure 7: FSC Project front and back views

UK Species Tone-woods and Guitar Construct

Table of UK native woods that can be used as suitable tone-woods:

Common Names & Latin Name

Instrument Workability Durability, Use & Finish Stability

Steel string back and sides. Fingerboard, neck.

Acoustic guitar back/sides, electric solid body;

Durable and stable in use.

Acoustic steel string back and sides.

Durability low. Relatively stable once dried. Bends relatively well.