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Post subject: Forest Friendly Fender
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:40 pm
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Among all the varieties of the Stratocaster being brought to market - isn't the time just right to introduce The Forest Friendly Fender.
I know more people than me are concerned with the rain forests survival and would prefer a guitar with certificates of the materials origin.

This really would be an issue for Gibson that on a daily basis uses up wagonloads of mahogany - but even though Fender mainly uses ash, alder and basswood (and rosewood...) many potential buyers would appreciate the possibility to buy a certified guitar produced with environmental conscience (pheew, that was a hard sentence for Swenglish).

This would also strengthen Fender's image of being one of the good guys. Being first with a Forest Friendly guitar could probably result in really nice press coverage all over the world. The time is right.
And it would be a not big, but not small either, step in the right diraction for the planet.

Or what do you think?

Erik


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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:53 pm
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I agree that in general, because of the use of softer / faster growing woods, Fender's impact must be less than other companies. That said, it would be cool to have an eco-friendly guitar.

Maybe the guitar could be designed using criteria similar to those used for the LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficient Design) certifications that are such a big deal in the building construction world right now. For instance, it could be a Custom Shop guitar made out of all reclaimed materials. With reclaimed materials, the quality of the wood would probably be higher than on a new Standard model guitar.


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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:00 pm
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Great idea!!! I'd sure like to see (and hear) a bamboo body. Any luthiers out there up to the challenge? Are there any companies that would make a body out of a board that you send them? Imagine this as a strat body:

Image

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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:18 pm
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Well, on further research, I found that that this actually has been an issue for Gibson for many years. They achieved the FSC certificate as early as 2004.
Quote from Gibsons home page:
"The Rainforest Alliance has been working with Gibson since 1996, when the corporation became the first musical instrument company to produce guitars using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood. In fact, Gibson Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has been a committed member of the Rainforest Alliance's Board of Directors for many years." Sorry, Gibson.

So I was wrong (next time I-ll do my research before posting javascript:emoticon(':oops:') )

But nevertheless - I still think Fender should offer certified eco-friendly instruments.

ClarwaterZiggy:
Why on earth would anybody want to build a bamboo guitar?


//E


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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:23 pm
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swenglish wrote:
Why on earth would anybody want to build a bamboo guitar?
//E


Because bamboo is a type of grass, it is considered as a sustainable resource. Compared to timber, bamboo is as flexible and strong as a building material. It is also as hard and lasts as long, if not longer.

It takes about 15 to 20 years before timber hits maturity. On the other hand, bamboo plants only need about three to five years before its wood can be used as a perfect raw material for construction.

And the wood patterns have a very unique look.

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Post subject: eco friendly guitar
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:25 pm
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hmmmm a bamboo strat, that would be a cool spin.

or a dense carbon fiber body with sides,top and fretboard in bamboo,
graphite bridge and nut,
and to compensate for the lightness, maybe adding a heavier bridge block for sustain, and a stronger trussrod.

just brainstorming a few thoughts


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:03 pm
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ClearwaterZiggy wrote:
Great idea!!! I'd sure like to see (and hear) a bamboo body. Any luthiers out there up to the challenge? Are there any companies that would make a body out of a board that you send them? Imagine this as a strat body:

Image


I like the idea. I thought I remembered someone had already tried this, so I Goggled and got:

http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/W ... ooGTR.html

http://www.greendaily.com/2008/04/22/ba ... earth-day/


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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:25 pm
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WhatsThatSmell wrote:
I like the idea. I thought I remembered someone had already tried this, so I Goggled and got:

http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/W ... ooGTR.html

http://www.greendaily.com/2008/04/22/ba ... earth-day/


Rats! You beat me to it!

I knew I'd read about bamboo acoustic guitars in the music press some place, and I've just been going back through reams of Guitarist magazines trying to find it...

Mr C F Martin IV of Martin Guitars has recently been talking a lot about sustainability in tonewood. Frankly, he's a bit pessimistic about the next few decades: he was saying he sees quality timbers becoming harder to source and costs going up. He said he wished companies such as his had been tackling providers of wood harder over renewing their sources decades ago. But as he said, they just assumed the resource would go on for ever.

Martin guitars are up to all kinds of things on their lower and middle range instruments: artificial timbers, pressure laminated necks - which, frankly, look like plywood to you and me. (On the side, they are also rumoured to be putting waterbase finishes onto some top end instruments - but they are very cagy on that one.) Mr Martin was saying that in coming years we are going to be seeing a lot of unfamiliar new timbers, and we'll just have to get used to multi-piece bodies, acoustic tops, etc etc.

Now, as swenglish certainly knows, the Scandinavians lead the world in genuinely sustainable forestry, and some truly astonishing stuff goes on in Finland, and Norway and Sweden too. Unfortunately for us, that is predominantly coniferous soft wood: we desperately need them to start growing European Maple (known this side of the pond as English Sycamore, not to be confused with what North America calls sycamore) as soon as possible. Soon as those guys start farming millions of acres of maple then we'll know that in only 60 or 70 years the future of guitar building will be safe...

:? - C


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:16 pm
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Thanks, Ceri, for all that info. You always have so much interesting stuff.

And....as I think about this, I hazily recall reading (probably in an advertisement), that some guitar manufacturer had a program called "making one tree in to one guitar", or some such goal of forest conservation. But, I don't remember who that was.


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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:24 pm
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WhatsThatSmell wrote:
Thanks, Ceri, for all that info. You always have so much interesting stuff.

And....as I think about this, I hazily recall reading (probably in an advertisement), that some guitar manufacturer had a program called "making one tree in to one guitar", or some such goal of forest conservation. But, I don't remember who that was.


Ceri is a wealth of information. I always enjoy reading the post he's involved in. 8)


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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:18 am
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I knew I'd read about bamboo acoustic guitars in the music press some place, and I've just been going back through reams of Guitarist magazines trying to find it...


Recent article in Guitar Player Magazine within the past twelve months if someone ....(Ceri??).... might care to do the research on this one :P

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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:20 am
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Image[/quote]


Wonder how well scallions function as a transducer?? :?

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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:23 am
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zzdoc wrote:
Wonder how well scallions function as a transducer??

Hilarious, dude. :lol:

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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:53 am
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zzdoc wrote:
Image



Wonder how well scallions function as a transducer?? :?[/quote]

No, I think it means you can only play "Green Onions" with this guitar. :P


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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:06 pm
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WE would also need a amp that is powered by solar or wind . :wink:


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