De-colonising Guitars

My friend once explained to me why it is that woods such as ebony, Brazilian rosewood and Honduras cedar (also known as Spanish or cigar-box cedar) are used in classical guitars..

Firstly, it's because they are very good tonewood, but it also goes back to the days of Empire and European conquest of South America, Africa and the Indian sub-continent.

It was at the same time, during the 19th century, that while the modern classical guitar was being developed in Spain by Antonio de Torres, that other Spaniards, Portuguese, British and French explorers, colonists and bounty hunters were out carving up the 'new world', claiming those places as their own and making off with whatever they could carry.. including silver, gold, diamonds, slaves, ivory and wood...

Until then, local woods such as maple, walnut, pear, cherry and cypress would have been used to make stringed instruments in Europe.
It didn't take long for guitar makers to discover the amazing visual and tonal qualities of these newly imported, dark, heavy, fragrant woods. Their use added value, class and an exotic touch to what had up until then been mainly a folk instrument. Rosewood, ebony, mahogany and 'Spanish' (not really Spanish at all) cedar soon became standard for all high quality classical and acoustic guitars. Ivory was the material of choice for saddles, nuts and inlays.

When all is said and done, there are very few woods as hard as ebony and no other wood rings as deep and rich as rosewood from the Amazon, though some come close. It's also true that there's nothing in nature that is quite as good as ivory for making guitar saddles and nuts - but we've discovered (almost too late) that elephants need them more.

Nowadays, thankfully, killing elephants for their tusks and trading in ivory is illegal and so is logging of Amazon rosewood trees. There are measures to try to ensure that ebony, Honduras cedar and other rosewood trees are protected and sustainably managed so that new trees are planted when old ones are cut down. Of course some people try to get around such restrictions. Mafia interests, bribery and corruption also play their part on the timber trade, like most other trades. That's one reason I try to use locally sourced and reclaimed materials as much as possible in my instruments. But like I said, there aren't many woods that compare to ebony, rosewood and Honduras cedar and mahogany when it comes to building classical and acoustic guitars, so I keep on using them and hope that the FSC are sustaining forests as they're supposed to do.

But here's another thing, and maybe this also goes back to an old fashioned way of thinking, from times gone by...

When you buy tonewood from a dealer, they grade it according to certain criteria - tightness and evenness of the grain and whether it's perfectly quarter sawn are the two main factors which indicate how good a tonewood it's likely to be. Of course, the tone is the main factor, and what the maker does with the wood to bring out the tone.. but appearance is also a factor, even though it has nothing to do with the tone.

You'll pay more for wood which has interesting figure or grain pattern. That's understandable. Part of making awesome looking guitars is in using amazing looking wood. But when it comes to ebony and spruce, it's the opposite. The most expensive and sought after ebony is pure black. The highest grade of spruce is pure white. Stripes of different colours lower it's 'value'. They are seen as imperfections, even they do nothing to lessen the tone.

I for one don't care if the fretboard is completely black or if the soundboard has stripes. If anything, the stripes make it more interesting. We're in the 21st century now. It's possible to see things differently.

Pictured here is some stripey ebony and I really like the way it looks. Of greatest value is the little sticker, which will hopefully ensure that there will still be some good trees for future generations of guitar makers to make great guitars out of..