Guitar wood - is your guitar made from poached wood? Our responsibility as musicians

Did you know music instrument manufacturers are notable purchasers of endangered wood?

I just finished Canadian writer Lyndsie Bourgon’s 2021 book, “Tree Thieves.”

I had heard an interview with the writer and CBC’s Duncan McCue on radio, and was startled to learn the music industry was so integrated in this.

As a mom, I’ve purchased and received gifts of wooden instruments for my kids, and more the fool me, never gave a thought to the idea of where the wood came from.

In our case, it was violins, and we landed on 2 that belonged to a friend’s grandfather and great grandfather, that she has said the girls could use in perpetuity, but she wouldn’t sell them. I had one of their teachers ask to buy the older violin, and the above is what my friend said. Tutor said she wouldn’t be able to buy a violin for a reasonable price with the tone that age brings to these wooden instruments. When I sent them to a luthier to get them back into full playing condition, he said over the phone they were good German violins. If he knew what type of wood, it didn't come up, and is sort of irrelevant since that wood was harvested long ago.  Both are now over 100 years old. There’s nothing you can do about vintage instruments, except continue to love and play them.

But I have been in the market for a new guitar for myself. I’ve had a Denver (house brand to Long & McQuade here in Canada, made in China) classical for about 20 years. And you know, it has been a serviceable gateway instrument.  For $100, the same tutor picked it up for me and I never thought about the wood’s origin then either.

I have a Washburn acoustic-electric that was a 40th bday present. (The one in my banner image.) It has  a cutaway shape for reaching higher notes, as well as on-board electronics. The scale of the guitar is  perfect for my smaller female frame, but the electronics make it heavy, too heavy for me now that I'm older. So now I knew after years of reflection that I wanted a light (so, non-electric) classical with a cutaway. Well, not many manufacturers make that shape without electronics. Except good old Denver. I would have paid more for one than the Denver, even gone to another company, but  this is what I knew I would use. Again, no thought to the wood’s origin.

The Denver site doesn’t say anything about it being a sustainable wood product. It says solid spruce top (if solid, it would be a bigger piece vs slat pieces with greater chance of being something like an old growth Sitka spruce). I would have preferred cedar, oh well. Mahogany back and sides (endangered, dang it). Black walnut fingerboard - ok. Nato neck (googles nato wood - “Mora wood species are not listed in the citeS Appendices^[2] or on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species - Wikipedia).

[* It looks like 'solid top' could mean simply non-laminate.*]

No FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) logo anywhere near it on the site. The L & M listing is the same. Note to self - I’ve just sent email to LM websales to ask if it’s FSC certified.

I’m obviously late to this party, but those are the steps I would take in future or recommend a parent or student to take when sourcing a new instrument.

In short strokes, the usual woods that go into elite guitars are for the most part endangered. The Bourgon book notes that figured maple for beautiful guitar soundboards is likely poached. Rosewood - poached. Mahogany, endangered. Ebony, red flag. This is true for other wooden prestige instruments.  Key red-flag woods/descriptors from US and Canada: Douglas fir, western red cedar, Sitka spruce, figured maple, flame maple, big leaf maple (the ‘pretty’ maple grain cuts  are worth the most money.)

Please note - some guitars are made with ethically harvested old growth woods (ie by commitment smaller scale clearcutting, among other practices) by indigenous forest stewards in Canada, and will bear the FSC logo. In other words, look for the logo, not just the wood name.

However, even if there is an FSC stamp associated with the guitar you’re thinking of, the paperwork coming from source can be faked (sigh). But maybe customer demand can cause the logo to become a feature on even the lowest end guitars.

Bourgon describes a timber DNA database in the US which continues to collect samples. Perhaps it will be possible to tell in future if guitar wood is poached by running it thru this database and allow guitar shops to halt commitment to that supply.

To be fair, guitar makers are not the worst offenders in buying poached wood. I think they’ve been singled out in this because they do have stakes in keeping viable the supply of old growth woods that they use in premier instruments. 

(However much more old growth wood is made into items like furniture by the likes of IKEA. We as average consumers need to train ourselves to watch for the logo, or ask if we don’t see it.)

There’s a documentary from 2013, directed by Mary Trump of the UK, called “Musicwood” (I rented it on YouTube for like $5). It closes with an in-house luthier at Taylor (?) guitars saying something like, the 1 or 2 piece guitar top will become impossible to make. Guitars will have to be made differently in future. 

The record wildfire situation in Canada this summer (2023) should cause us all to wonder about how many years are left until old growth wood is gone.

The old classic instruments with go-to woods that signified industry best, like my daughters’ violins on loan to them in perpetuity, will only increase steadily in the type of value that’s impossible to put a price on over time.

Endnote - I will try to update this post when significant updates become available.

This just in -  I've received a reply from a web sales rep at L & M. Full marks for prompt reply. I'll attach screen cap below. To judge from his answer, FSC certified seems to apply to elite, more 'expensive' guitars. Ok, that mindset has got to change. Why should a student feel like they're maybe contributing to clearcutting because they just need an entry level guitar. Let's make sure we ask about FSC certification about every newly made guitar we buy.

After getting this email, I typed the FSC into the search bar on the L & M site. Only 7 items came up. 2 were Taylor ukuleles, both over $600. 3  were Martin guitars - over $1000 (one a left handed Shawn Mendes) and just under $3000. These reference FSC a few times. The fourth was a used Fender Strat, with no actual mention of FSC in details, but it does have a Certificate of Authenticity, sale price $4999. The 7th item is an FSC foot switch lol.