Sustainable or Recycled Guitar Wood

roachello · Post by **roachello** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:58 pm

Anyone know a type of guitar wood that is sustainable? Or even some sort of recycled material that's strong enough to be used as "guitar" wood? I have this craaaazy idea for my senior thesis to build a sustainable guitar that's paint-free and contributes to the "Green" movement. Also, has anyone tried staining wood with berries?

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:13 pm

The Gibson 'smartwood' Les Pauls used sustainable hardwoods. I suspect mahogany grows really slowly and most if not all the stuff that's used in guitar construction is probably unsustainably felled.

robrtnickerson · Post by **robrtnickerson** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:44 pm

I can't tell you exactly what species of woods will be the best. I would start out searching on the internet for dealers or mills in your area who are liscenced with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or some such similar organization, there are a couple out there. Or just go scavenging through the forest for felled trees and take a chunk to a high school that still has a woodshop program, I've fount that they are willing to take on projects for little or no money. They would likely need a bigass bandsaw though. Umm, what else? Maybe track down an old solid core door, generally they are 1 3/4" thick and depending on the style of door could actually make a decent platform to work with. Sounds like a fun idea for a thesis, good luck.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:51 pm

First Act makes a "Green" sustainable-wood guitar.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:51 pm

good idea with the door.

here in buffalo we have this giant home re-use place called buffaloreuse.com

check out the website for ideas, then try and locate a place like this in your area

http://www.buffaloreuse.org/ReSource/WhatWeSell

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:53 pm

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?4511
http://www.good.is/post/martin-and-othe ... s-go-green

Simpsons did it.

robrtnickerson · Post by **robrtnickerson** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:58 pm

Habitat For Humanity has stores called Re-Stores that have building materials, also a good place to find old record players.

roachello · Post by **roachello** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:10 pm

Good ideas guys! All these big ass corporations need some competition! Ha! But in all seriousness, it's good to see that everyone's contributing to the plight to save trees

roachello · Post by **roachello** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:11 pm

robrtnickerson wrote:Maybe track down an old solid core door, generally they are 1 3/4" thick and depending on the style of door could actually make a decent platform to work with.

This is actually a good idea. Bodies might have to be 3 ply or skinny, but it might just work!

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 9:02 pm

the first act one was bamboo. i really wanted to do my own custom guitars in bamboo because that shit grows so fast.