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I am no stranger to the warm and beckoning smell of an acoustic guitar. Some girls melt when they smell roses. I, on the other hand, melt when I walk into an acoustic room in a music store. The myriad smells from the collection of guitars is overpowering. Those intoxicating smells are, of course, particular to each wood used for each guitar. And no matter how good they all smell, some of these types of wood aren't good to use for guitar-making.
Frankly, there are a whole lot of guitars being sold each day that are made with wood from trees that are not sustainable. I don't care if you're Jimmy Page or the girl playing down the street at the coffee shop
Since many guitar salespeople aren't going to focus on letting you know whether or not your guitar's wood is sustainable (lets face it, they're going to try to sell you on sound, look, and reputation first and foremost), it's up to you to know which woods and certifications to look for when buying your next guitar.
Martin, one of my favorite guitar companies, recently released one of the greenest guitars on the market. It's called the D Mahogany 09. It's an acoustic guitar and it's made from wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The guitar is made of mahogany and spruce. While both types of wood are a challenge to find certified, Greenpeace joined up with Martin a few years back to make this possible. The Music Wood campaign was born out of this partnership. Now those buying guitars made from FSC wood can rest assured that their wood is coming from forests that lead in responsible management and practice. Gibson is another guitar company with FSC-certified woods
Other guitar companies, like Modulus, SoundWood, and Eco Timber are experimenting with alternative wood that are more sustainable than treasured tropical wood, like mahogany or rosewood, for their guitars. They're using non-endangered wood, like granadillo, chechen, red cedar, chakte, kok, and soma.
What you can do before you buy your next guitar: Research. Research your next potential guitar and the wood it uses carefully before supporting its line through a purchase.
