California State University, Northridge Tonewood

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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE

TONEWOOD:

AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts in Geography

Lisa Rae Black

May 2013

The thesis of Lisa Rae Black is approved:

______Dr. James W. Craine Date

______Dr. James J. Hayes Date

______Dr. Ronald A. Davidson, Chair Date

California State University, Northridge

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my beloved mother Beverly Black who supported my efforts in continuing my education. And to my father Jerry Black who sat with me frequently and spoke of his love for the forests and the varied species of timber within them.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Very special thanks to Toni Valenta-Pencille for her continued support, moral and otherwise, without which I could not have completed this thesis, and also to Carol Rosenthal for her inspiration and continued support of my work.

Special thanks to Fren Askir, Rebecca Apodaca, Joe Bonamassa, Paul Boutin, Sylvester Bowen, Rob Canny, Leo Coulson, Dr. James Craine, Clint Davidson, Dr. Ron Davidson, Pierre de Beauport, David Deis, Chris Elliot, David Ellis, Edwin Fountaine Jr., Eric Garcia, Jeff Hanna, Dr. James Hayes, Susan Hyatt, Gary Kaluza, Kate Lewis, Terri Ludmer, Meredith MacArthur, Cynthia Luchia, Ricky Mahler, Troy Richardson, Marty Rifkin, Larry Rosen, Larry Rousseve, Dan Salfer, Adam Steinberg, Chris Stenko, and Toni Valenta-Pencille for their willing participation in this study, I have the utmost of respect for each of you, it is an honor to know and work with you all.

Table of Contents

SIGNATURE PAGE ______ii DEDICATION______iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ______iv LIST OF FIGURES ______vi ABSTRACT ______vii CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION______1 1.1 - RESEARCH PROBLEM______1 1.2 - RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS ______2 1.4 - PURPOSE STATEMENT ______6 1.5 - SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ______7 1.6 - LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ______7 CHAPTER TWO - BACKGROUND ______9 2.1 - INTRODUCTION ______9 2.2 - THE GIBSON RAID ______9 2.3 - ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ______11 2.3.1 - CITES ______12 2.3.2 - THE LACEY ACT ______13 2.3.3 - THE FARM BILL ______18 2.4 - COGNITIVE DISSONANCE ______26 2.5 - LUTHIERY ______35 2.6 - TONEWOOD ______35 2.6.1 - BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD, THE ‘HOLY GRAIL’ ______37 CHAPTER 3 – DATA AND METHODOLOGY ______46 3.1 - INTRODUCTION ______46 3.2 - ETHNOGRAPHIC AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH______46 3.3 - TONEWOOD DATABASE-QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ______47 3.4 - RESEARCH METHODS ______47 CHAPTER 4 – RESULTS AND CONCLUSION______50 4.1 - INTRODUCTION ______50 4.2 - QUALITATIVE RESULTS ______51 4.3 - QUANTITATIVE RESULTS______53 4.4 - CONCLUSION ______54 WORKS CITED ______56 APPENDIX - A - SURVEY ______61 APPENDIX - B - TONEWOOD DATABASE ______64

List of Figures

FIGURE 1: MUSICIANS WHO SIGNED THE PLEDGE ______5

FIGURE 2: ROSEWOOD FRETBOARD ______20

FIGURE 3: ‘MAGELLAN’ JOE BONAMASSA'S 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD ______32

FIGURE 4: JOE BONAMASSA'S GUITAR COLLECTION ______34

FIGURE 5: MARK TWAIN’S 1835 MARTIN GUITAR ______41

FIGURE 6: C.F. MARTIN AND CO., PRICE LIST FROM 1931 ______41

FIGURE 7: MAP OF BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD (DALBERGIA NIGRA) COLLECTION AND OCCURRENCE______42

FIGURE 8: MATURE BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD TREE (DALBERGIA NIGRA)______43

FIGURE 9: MAN STANDING ON ROSEWOOD STUMP ______44

FIGURE 10: MARTIN 0-28 GUITAR (1894) WITH SPRUCE TOP, BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD BACK AND SIDES,

SPANISH CEDAR NECK, EBONY FRETBOARD, IVORY BOUND BODY ______45

ABSTRACT

TONEWOOD: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE By Lisa Rae Black Masters of Arts in Geography

For centuries, guitar players and luthiers (guitar makers) have counted on Brazilian rosewood to provide superior tone in the construction of acoustic and electric guitars. Due to deforestation, the species is now threatened by extinction and subject to trade protection under international environmental law. In a rare collision of music and environmental regulation, musicians and luthiers now find themselves on the wrong side of environmental law (the Lacey Act). Shockwaves were sent through the music world in 2011 following a raid at the Gibson Guitar plant in Nashville for violating the Lacey Act. The raid culminated in the confiscation of illegally harvested ebony and rosewood. A group of twenty-five musicians who support laws designed to protect the environment were surveyed for this study. Interviews reveal that less than half of the group support the Gibson raid and that enforcement of the Lacey Act has placed their musical sensibilities at odds with their environmental sensibilities. Challenges to their values system have resulted in trivialization of the Gibson raid, for example blame was placed not on the illegal use of endangered woods, but on political and personal views of the Gibson’s CEO.

According to Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance, trivialization of a value or belief not consistent with a behavior may result in future avoidance of similar issues. I argue that a poorly written 2008 amendment to the Lacey Act penalizes a small group of people, guitarists who support environmental policy, and that future support of environmental policy from these musicians is in jeopardy. Revisions to the Lacey Act are needed to exempt guitars from all travel restrictions built prior to 2008 when the law was passed.

vii Chapter One - Introduction

1.1 - Research Problem

For centuries, guitar makers (luthiers) have used Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) to craft superior guitars. Threatened by extinction, due to deforestation, Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) is now legally restricted from trade and international transport. In 2008, The Farm Bill (the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act) amended the

Lacey Act, a United States environmental law, prohibiting the trade and transport of

Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) in any form, including guitars. Considering that it’s the foundation instrument upon which rock and roll was built (Hall 2009), it’s hardly surprising that guitars are so loved and held dear to those who play them, own them, fix them and build them. Most of the world’s great guitars, whether made in America, Spain or Japan have been built in part, with Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). Therefore placed at odds are the environmental and musical sensibilities of several musicians and luthiers. Known by luthiers and musicians as the holy grail of tonewood ethical use of this precious commodity is at the heart of this study.

A problem exists when musicians who support laws designed to protect the environment trivialize enforcement of the Lacey Act in order to cope with the fact that tonewoods such as Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) are near extinction. Analyses of this group’s perceptions are needed to aid in future development of effective environmental policy. What happens when musicians and luthiers who support laws designed to protect the environment consider themselves on the wrong side of the law?

Trivialization, or cognitive dissonance (Festinger 1957) may occur, leading to future avoidance of environmental issues resulting in apathy and/or avoidance.

1 Several species of tonewood (woods used to make guitars) are now endangered and protected in CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

Some guitarists are tempted to dismiss the issue of vanishing wood as hysteria and marketing hype. “That would be a mistake,” says Bob Taylor, founder of Taylor Guitars.

“In our generation, we’ll see the disappearance of some well-loved species. Even if they don’t become extinct, they’ll become extinct commercially” (Ellis 2008).

1.2 - Research Question and Hypothesis

Are the values of a subculture affected when musicians are criminalized by the tools of their trade? Will the affinity that members of this community have for guitars take a back seat to the environmental values of its culture? Passage of the 2008 Farm Bill revising the Lacey Act marks the first time in American history that musicians and musical instrument manufacturers, large and small, were prohibited from utilizing CITES listed flora or fauna like Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra).

Using an ethnographic approach, a nine-question survey was presented to a group of twenty-five musicians, luthiers and brokers (known as ‘the group’) to analyze their belief systems regarding enforcement of environmental policy. Festinger’s (1957) theory of cognitive dissonance was the framework for the study. Of the twenty-five members of the group seven members were interviewed at length to analyze the role trivialization

(Festinger 1957) plays in their continued support of environmental policy. Views on travel policies affecting the transport of guitars built with Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) were also analyzed.

2 The Gibson raid cumulated in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service seizing raw material and nearly 100 guitars temporally shutting down production. According to the

United States Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General Ignacia Moreno, “Gibson has acknowledged that it failed to act on information that the Madagascar ebony it was purchasing may have violated laws intended to limit over harvesting and conserve valuable species” (Maher 2012), yet some members of the group failed to recognize any harm done to the environment by Gibson for purchasing this illegal wood.

By analyzing the group’s perceptions of environmental policy enforcement (the

Gibson raid) and its affect on their livelihoods, this study aims to contribute to the cause of conservation by applying Festinger’s (1957) theory of cognitive dissonance to illuminate attempts to trivialize the fact that, the practice of illegal logging involves some woods used to make guitars. Under Festinger’s hypothesis, once trivialization occurs, as is apparent in this case, avoidance of similar issues may follow.

On several occasions anger was expressed by several members of the group when asked to discuss the Gibson raid and travel restrictions placed guitars made from

Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). Joe Bonamassa, a high profile, world class, blues guitarist who toured the world during most of 2011, experienced several difficulties associated with the Lacey Act while traveling with his collection of expensive, vintage guitars. Without hesitation he was the most outspoken member of the group proclaiming his anger at the legal process required for international travel with a guitar made of endangered wood. When asked if he supports laws designed to protect the environment he answered angrily, “Not if it means I have to rip the Brazilian rosewood off of my guitar to get it on an airplane, but other than that, yes I’m all for the environment” he

3 went on to add in an interview, “Its not like I can rip the Brazilian rosewood off my guitar, plant it in the ground and grow a tree, the law is stupid”. He later went on to express his love for the environment and how it troubles him that the Lacey Act and the

Gibson raid have placed his values system at odds with his love for his guitars. The 2008 revision to the Lacey Act that affects this group was, I argue, poorly drafted and places future support of environmental policies from this group in jeopardy .

Famous musicians frequently use their celebrity as a platform to promote environmental causes. Sting and his wife Trudie Styler founded the Rainforest

Foundation in 1989, Rolling Stones’ keyboardist Chuck Leavell founded The Mother

Nature Network, and has written several books dedicated to sustainable development and forest conservation in America. Lesser known musicians too have been known to dedicate time and money in support of environmental causes at a regional scale.

Hundreds of Earth Day music festivals take place across the United States every spring where local musicians bring eco-awareness to their communities. Yearly music festival

South by Southwest (SXSW) holds a separate three-day event “ECO SXSW” dedicated solely to issues concerning the environment each fall. Portland, Maine-based “Reverb” is a non-profit organization founded in 2004 by environmentalist musician Adam Gardner

(Guster) who provides custom greening programs for music tours and conducts grassroots outreach education programs around the globe (reverb.org). I argue, no greater concern for the environment can be found by a singular group of people, as musicians.

However, when it comes to defending one’s ‘ax’, one’s beloved guitar, the environment may take a back seat. Enforcement of the Lacey Act, a United States environmental law seems to have placed some musician’s environmental sensibilities and musical

4 sensibilities at odds (Lewis 2013). Adam Gardner established the “Keep Guitars Free of

Illegal Wood” campaign in opposition to proposed bills designed to weaken the Lacey

Act and published ‘The Musician Pledge’ which states:

“Widespread illegal logging is placing at risk the wood we treasure in our

musical instruments, and thus the future of music as we know it. As

musicians dedicated to our art and to protecting the earth’s natural

resources, we call on everyone involved in the sourcing, crafting and

production of musical instruments to join us in our commitment to

eliminate all trade in illegally logged timber and forest products. We will

not buy a new instrument without asking where the wood comes from and

if it was harvested legally and sustainably. We support the Lacey Act and

other laws that prohibit trade in illegally sourced wood and we oppose the

efforts currently underway to weaken the Lacey Act. We urge lawmakers,

suppliers and craftsmen to ensure that our art has a positive impact on the

environment rather than contributing to forest destruction. We call on our

fellow musicians to do the same” (reverb.org).

Jack Johnson Deborah Harry Mick Jagger Maroon 5 Lily Allen Dave Matthews David Crosby Bonnie Raitt Willie Nelson Barenaked Ladies Guster Linkin Park Simon Le Bon Bob Weir Lenny Kravitz Brandi Carlile Pat Simmons Sarah McLachlan Jools Holland Sting Bryan Adams

Figure 1: Musicians who signed the pledge

Legal protections of our environment are necessary. Paramount to their existence is a level of integrity that ensures their effectiveness. I argue that by placing a musician’s environmental beliefs at odds with their musical sensibilities, poorly written legal laws, like the 2008 Farm Bill revision to the Lacey Act, place future support from musicians who support laws designed to protect the environment in jeopardy. I argue that the 2008

Farm Bill revision to the Lacey Act was remiss in not exempting Pre-CITES certification requirements of guitars built prior to 2008 when the law was passed. In the words of Joe

Bonamassa “It’s not like I can rip the Brazilian rosewood off of my 1957 $200,000 Les

Paul guitar and grow a tree”.

1.4 - Purpose Statement

A goal of this study is to bridge a body of literature, mostly legal briefs and comments from a quantitative perspective to that of the qualitative by taking an ethnographic approach similar to that of Carol Brewer (2002) who writes, “In almost any region of the world facing conservation issues, a key challenge is to capture the imagination and interest of local people”. The purpose of this research is to join and contribute the fight against the $15 billion global black market of illegal logging

(Tanczos 2011). Continued support from high profile musicians Joe Bonamassa, Pierre de Beauport (The Rolling Stones), Marty Rifkin (Bruce Springsteen Band), Troy

Richardson (Musical Journalist), Chuck Leavell (The Rolling Stones), Bonnie Raitt and lesser known musicians is essential. While several artists have pledged their support in the fight against illegal logging it is widespread knowledge amongst the community that

6 legal restrictions placed on the utility of endangered tonewoods like Brazilian rosewood

(Dalbergia nigra) have put unfair burdens on the traveling musician and luthier. Drafting effective environmental legislation needs to be rooted in the realities of those who may be most affected by policy; this study is designed to assist in that process.

1.5 - Significance of the study

This study has economic and social significance. Nature is, and of course has long been, ‘big business’, especially through the dynamics of extracting from, polluting and conserving it. As each of these dynamics seems to have become more intense and urgent, the capitalist mainstream is seeking ways to offset extraction and pollution to find more effective methods of conservation, while increasing opportunities for the accumulation of capital and profits (Arsel 2012). While the Lacey Act was designed to help protect our environment by combating international trade of illegally obtained plant and wildlife, the poorly written, widely criticized 2008 Farm Bill has had a negative impact on the attitudes and value systems of some of its most ardent supporters. I argue that, in regards to this group, under the current Lacey Act structure, the environmental movement stands to lose support and gain opposition if changes are not made. This study adds value to the cause of conservation by analyzing the attitudes and values systems of luthiers and musicians.

1.6 - Limitations of the study

American luthiers and musicians who support laws designed to protect the environment are artisans’ spread out across the United States; gaining access to them all would be impossible. A select group of candidates were interviewed in person and

7 remotely using Skype and Facebook messaging. Limitations regarding financial considerations included travel costs.

8 Chapter Two - Background

2.1 - Introduction

This chapter provides background on the topics pertinent to this study including; Details of the Department of Justice raids of the Gibson Guitar Corporation for alleged violation of the Lacey Act, background of United States and international environmental policies including CITES, The Lacey Act and The Farm Bill. Background is also provided on

Festinger’s (1957) theory of cognitive dissonance, the framework under which the qualitative research was conducted. Background on the craft of luthiery (guitar making) and on the woods they use to do so (tonewood) is also provided.

2.2 - The Gibson Raid

At the heart of this study are two publicized events centered around the enforcement of the Lacey Act that sent shock waves through the luthiery and guitar community, the Gibson raids of 2009 and 2011. In November of 2009, with guns drawn federal agents raided the Gibson Guitar Corporation’s Nashville manufacturing plant in connection with a shipment of Madagascan ebony (Diospyros gracillipes) to be used on guitar fingerboards. The seized materials had an estimated value of $70,000 (Shelley

2012). The debate between Gibson and federal officials revolved around whether the seized wood was an unfinished wood product export, which Madagascar law bans or, as

Gibson contends, was a finished good export that local officials approved. United States officials, however, described the wood as “sawn timber” illegal to export under

Madagascan law, causing Gibson to accuse the United States government of second guessing the findings of the Madagascan government. An employee at Gibson was questioned during the 2009 raid and told he could face as many as five years in jail for

9 buying Madagascar rosewood (Delbergia grevaena) and ebony, on what he referred to in e-mails following a 2008 trip to the country as “the grey market1.” Madagascan ebony

(Diospyrus gracillipes) is highly threatened due to over exploitation (Shelley 2012).

Also leading to confusion regarding the laws of Madagascar was the fact that the country’s government was in the middle of a political coup in 2009 when the Gibson raid occurred, leaving some question as to what laws were valid and being enforced at the time of the wood shipment. Chris Martin, CEO of C.F. Martin Guitar Co., explained that the coup had created an illegitimate government, which prompted his company to stop buying wood from Madagascan, though Gibson continued to import it until the 2009 raid

(Shelley 2012).

An ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden described the

Madagascar wood trade as the wood “equivalent of Africa’s blood diamonds.” Since the

2009 raid, Gibson has stopped acquiring wood from Madagascar, instead seeking ebony and rosewood supplies from India. The 2009 raid also prompted Gibson CEO Henry

Juszkiewicz to resign from the board of the Rainforest Alliance (Shelley 2012).

On August 28, 2011, Gibson’s Nashville and Memphis factories were raided a second time by federal officials, culminating in the confiscation of company documents, computer hard drives, pallets of Indian ebony and rosewood, guitars, and tools. Like

Madagascar, India has a ban on exports of unfinished wood in an effort to keep jobs in their country. Again, the 2011 Gibson raid centered on a disagreement over how to define guitar fingerboards: whether they are finished parts of musical instruments as they were declared by Gibson, or an unfinished raw material as the United States contends.

1 An unofficial market in which goods are bought and sold at prices lower than the official price set by a regulatory agency (princeton.edu).

10 According to the affidavit, which secured the search warrant of Gibson, fingerboard blanks more than 10 millimeters thick cannot be exported under Indian law, and only finished veneers less than 6 millimeters thick are eligible to be exported. The shipment seized from Gibson contained veneers 10 millimeters in thickness. Indian law prohibits the export of unfinished wood materials in effort to protect woodworking jobs in India

(Shelley 2012).

2.3 - Environmental Policy

The 1970s marked the beginning of modern environmental policy making. On

January 1, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA). At the time, Environmental Policy was a bipartisan issue and the efforts of the

United States of America helped spark countries around the world to create environmental policies (Andrews 1999). During this period, legislation was passed to regulate pollutants that go into the air, water tables, and solid waste disposal. President

Richard Nixon, who signed the Clean Air Act in 1970, was quoted as saying; "I think that

1970 will be known as the year of the beginning, in which we really began to move on the problems of clean air and clean water and open spaces for the future generations of

America." In 1970 The United States of America laid foundation as one of the world leaders in environmental conversation (EPA.gov)

A number of international agreements and laws serve as America’s foundation for protecting the environment and public health. McCormick (2001) writes of societies attempts at controlling man’s effects on the environment describing environmental policy as any course of action deliberately taken to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources.

11 Environmental policies of concern to this study are the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), The Lacey Act and the 2008 Farm Bill revision to the

Lacey Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) are the branches of government that issue the necessary paperwork (Pre-Convention CITES certificate) inspection and clearance required for international transport of guitars made from

Brazilian rosewood (Dalbgergia nigra) and other endangered tonewood.

2.3.1 - CITES

The Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) is an international agreement between governments whose aim it is to “ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival (cites.org)”. CITES estimates the annual international wildlife trade of plant and animal species to worth billions of dollars and to include hundreds of millions of plant and animal species. Because the trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from over-exploitation. CITES accords varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats, guitars, food products, exotic leather goods, wooden musical instruments, timber, tourist curios, dried herbs and or medicines, global trade of endangered species is vast and diverse (cites.org).

CITES argues that while it is true that many species in trade are not endangered, the existence of an agreement to ensure the sustainability of the trade is important in order to safeguard these resources for the future. In 1992 Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia

12 nigra) was the first tree species to ever be listed on CITES and remains the only

Dalbergia species (of which there are around 300 worldwide) to be on this list (GTC

2008).

2.3.2 - The Lacey Act

"There is a compensation in the distribution of plants, birds, and animals by the God of nature. Man's attempt to change and interfere often leads to serious results. We have given an awful exhibition of slaughter and destruction, which may serve as a warning to all mankind. Let us now give an example of wise conservation of what remains of the gifts of nature."

–John Fletcher Lacey, April 30th, 1900.

Conservative Iowa Republican legislator John Fletcher

Lacey first earned his reputation as a conservationist in 1894 by sponsoring Yellowstone’s first effective game law. On May 25th,

1900 his bill, the Lacey Act, authorizing federal aid in the restoration of game birds and other wild birds, was signed into law. The law established federal control over the introduction of American or foreign birds or animals in localities where they have not heretofore existed and restricted the marketing of wildlife by establishing stiff fines ($200) for interstate shipment of the dead bodies or parts thereof of any wild animals or birds killed or in possession out of season or otherwise in defiance of existing state protective laws (Cart 1973).

The Lacey Act’s original intent was to assist the states in enforcing their own laws against poachers, who coveted bird feathers to sell to hat makers, and pothunters working

13 for the food industry (Luppino-Esposito 2012). While states could enforce their own laws within their own borders, they were effectively powerless to address the interstate market, and poachers took full advantage of this impotence, trapping game unlawfully in one state for sale in another where the law did not apply. The Lacey Act would put an end to this loophole (Luppino-Esposito 2012).

In 1935, the Lacey Act’s provisions were expanded to cover international trade. In

1969, the Lacey Act was amended to include protection to amphibians, reptiles, mollusks, and crustaceans and increased maximum penalty to $10,000 and a one-year imprisonment. In 1981, the willful element of the Lacey Act was removed so that only knowing conduct was necessary to be found in violation of the law. It was also expanded to include indigenous plants. In 1988, the law changed to bring culpability to those who served as guides or assisted in providing illegal hunts for protected species. The law was also amended to implicate anyone who falsified documents for the import, export, or transport of protected species, as well as making those found to have knowledge of the import or export of species valued over $350 guilty of a felony (Tanczos 2011).

In May of 2008, the United States became the first country in the world to ban the import and sale of illegally sourced timber and other plant products (Tanczos 2011). Prior to 2008 the Lacey Act had only covered plants native to the United States that are either listed in one of the three appendices of CITES, or are protected by the law of a U.S. state, which conserves species threatened with extinction. The 2008 Amendments to the

Lacey Act extend the statute’s reach to “encompass products, including timber, that derive from plants illegally harvested in the country of origin and brought into the United

States,” either directly (in raw or unprocessed form) or indirectly in the form of finished

14 manufactured products. This also includes products manufactured in countries other than the country where the illegal harvesting took place. It is important to understand that the terms illegal logging and illegally-harvested in this context are largely governed by foreign norms and can refer to various situations, such as wood taken without the proper permits; wood that is over harvested; wood that is taken when it is classified as endangered; or, more generally, wood that is cut in violation of any foreign regulation

(Tanczos 2011).

Many of the issues arose before Congress in favor of amending the Lacey Act in

2008 pertained to the environmental harms caused by illegal logging. The Environmental

Investigation Agency (EIA), a UK-based nongovernmental environmental organization, was one of the principal lobbyists for amending the Lacey Act and presented a lengthy report entitled “No Questions Asked” to Congress. The report points to illegal logging as one of the principal causes of global deforestation and climate change. The report places the United States at the epicenter of the problem and advocates a largely demand-side solution. Other environmental organizations that supported the bill, such as Greenpeace, have been known to oppose all types of commercial logging in general, whether or not they are illegal (Tanczos 2011).

In 2008 The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the Farm Bill) amended the Lacey Act and extended its definition of “plants” to include trees, and added protection to products made from any illegally harvested plants and trees and the products made from them, including timber, furniture, paper, and musical instruments.

Pressed by pro environment groups and individuals (including Rolling Stones keyboardists Chuck Leavell) the 2008 amendment further created an import declaration

15 requirement that importers must state specific sourcing information of all plants and wood, including the genus and species, the country from which it was taken, and the quantity and value of the plant or wood. If the information is unknown, the importer is required to declare what the species of plant likely is, as well as all possible countries of origin.

The Lacey Act today makes it “unlawful for any person to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase any fish or wildlife or plant taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law, treaty, or regulation of the United States or in violation of any Indian tribal law.” Penalties are capped at $250,000 for individuals and

$500,000 for organizations. Additionally, those convicted under the Lacey Act can be forced to forfeit vehicles, aircraft, or other equipment such as a guitar used in the commission of the crime (Shelley 2012).

The Lacey Act - Strange Bedfellows

Since inception the Lacey Act has served as the catalyst for establishing unorthodox coalitions and confluences of interests (Tanczos 2011). In the late 1800’s early support for legislation came from sportsmen (bird hunters) and scientific naturalists together with nature lovers and humanitarians. Earliest to protest were sportsmen's groups who actively opposed large-scale marketing of game for food made possible by improved rail and refrigeration facilities. On the opposite of the spectrum but the same side of the argument was The American Ornithologists' Union (AOU), organized in 1883 to coordinate and foster knowledge of bird life the most efficient force for non-game bird protection in the country. Similarly, The Division of Biological Survey, staffed in part by

AOU members, became an internationally respected center for faunal research, a leading

16 publisher in the cause of wildlife protection, and the most influential source of advice in the drafting and passage of the Lacey Act. Further support for passing the original Lacey

Act came from a broad category of nature loving citizens, many of who held strict humanitarian convictions against cruelty to and the killing of animals, a viewpoint that tended to see the most conscientious sportsman as a heartless hypocrite for espousing animal protection (Cart 1973).

In 2007, a similar confluence of ‘strange bedfellows’; Greenpeace, for example, found itself working side-by side with some of the biggest timber industry lobby organizations in the country United States wood producers, in response to competition from Chinese exports (Tanczos 2011). Both Greenpeace and the United States wood producers lobby stood to benefit from the ban on illegally logged imports and the simultaneous protection from “unfair” competition from foreign goods in general.

In August 2007, Senator Wyden introduced on the floor of the Senate the Combat

Illegal Logging Act of 2007, the precursor to the 2008 Lacey Act amendments. Senator

Wyden stated “Chinese hardwood plywood imports were threatening American businesses raising a host of issues, from tariff misclassification to subsidies to fraudulent labeling to illegal logging”. He went on to claim “unfair and illegal logging practices had lowered the costs of the Chinese hardwood plywood imports, giving them an unfair advantage over United States hardwood plywood putting American companies in jeopardy of going out of business forcing Americans out of work” (Tanczos 2011).

According to Wyden the United States timber industry had much to fear from China since

“it often does not play by the same rules”, and that this was not the first time United

17 States stakeholders have sought protection from Chinese competition. Greenpeace, on the other hand, is opposed to any and all logging, legal or otherwise (Tanczos 2011).

By amending the Lacey Act as it did in 2008, Congress took on the task of putting an end to illegal logging across the globe. The burden of this has fallen on all United States importers, who must now become ‘policemen’ or face the threat of criminal prosecution, as was the case in the 2011 Gibson Guitar raid in Nashville. Several critics of the revision lament this can do little if anything to curb illegal logging. The most important action

Congress can take is to revisit the law, providing necessary technical clarifications exempting guitars built prior to the 2008 revision and to include an ‘innocent owner provision’ within it (Tanczos 2011).

2.3.3 - The Farm Bill

The farm bill has its roots in the Great Depression, when about a quarter of the

United States population lived on farms and endured extraordinary economic hardship

(Etter and Hitt 2008). The first Farm Bill, the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was created to address rock bottom commodities prices, national hunger, soil erosion, lack of credit and unfair export practices. Corn prices at one point actually hit $0. Since then, there have been 15 Farm Bills which have, in one way or another, addressed these issues

(farmaid.org). The Farm Bill has since evolved into a thicket of hard-to-cut programs, providing payments and special loans to farmers to counteract swings in commodity prices and ensure market stability, as well as income. Subsidies flow to growers of corn, wheat and cotton, among other commodities. The legislation has also become a vehicle for funding food stamps; land conservation and school lunches, to name a few things,

18 attracting supporters whose constituents have little or nothing to do with farms.

The Politics of Transporting Guitars

Throughout the history of luthiery several species of endangered flora and fauna have been used to construct stringed instruments. Elephant ivory was used in luthiery to make string saddles, nuts, bridge pins and, and as binding. Fossilized or not, it’s still elephant ivory and subject to ban. Tortoiseshell from the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) was used as binding in the late 1800’s and was used at one time used to make pick guards and flat picks for guitars. Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), was used for backs and sides of acoustic guitars.

Other species of flora and fauna used to make guitars are listed Appendix II in

CITES such as Big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), usually referred to as

Honduran mahogany restricted only in the form of raw material, not as guitars. In the

U.S., we also have to deal with the Endangered Species Act. CITES is the ‘floor’ from which each signatory nation can apply more rigorous export or import standards to protect endangered or threatened species. In 2001, the U.S. placed white abalone

(Haliotis sorenseni) a product once used as decorative inlay in the fretboards of acoustic guitars, is on the ESA list, and under Section 9 of the act makes it illegal to import, export or remove from the sea. If a guitar checks out for tortoiseshell, ivory or Brazilian rosewood, it may not be able to legally get it in or out of any of the 177 member countries of CITES without proper permits (Thomas J. 2008).

Figure 2: Rosewood Fretboard

International travel considerations for traveling with a guitar have changed dramatically in the 21st Century. Stricter enforcement of the Lacey Act following the

Gibson raid of 2011 has been a great cause for concern. The threat of having one’s coveted vintage guitar seized at customs is now a reality. The community of guitar enthusiasts is a relatively small, incestuous one, well equipped with online forums and websites. Following the Gibson raid of 2011 tensions ran high amongst guitar enthusiast as confusion over travel protocol and rumors ran rampant of the threat of potential instrument seizures at customs. On March 7th, 2013 I contacted the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service asking them to provide the travel requirements necessary for a musician or collector to transport a single guitar made with Brazilian rosewood (Dalbgeria nigra) outside the United States.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) the legal transport of a

20 guitar that contains Brazilian rosewood (Dalbgeria nigra) to Germany, is a three-step process: 1.) One must obtain a valid Pre-Convention CITES certificate issued by the U.S

Fish and Wildlife Service CITES Management Authority and 2.) The instrument must pass inspection and clearance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and 3.) FWS suggests that one contact the APHIS for information on coordinating the export clearance or a guitar. Items prohibited by CITES include, but are not limited to, articles made from whale teeth, ivory, tortoise shell, reptile, fur skins, coral, and birds (U.S. Customs and Border Protection).

Permits for Appendix I species are only available if a guitar predates CITES’ application to the species in question. For ivory, the application date is June 1, 1947.

Hawksbill turtle was included when CITES first came into effect on July 1, 1975.

Brazilian rosewood was added on June 11, 1992 (Thomas J. 2008). According to the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) the United States CITES enforcement authority, permits issued by their CITES Management Authority take at least 60 to 90 days to obtain and without one a person runs the risk of being accused of trying to illegally export products made from endangered fauna or flora. If a guitar has even the smallest scrap of a listed species, without an export permit from the United States (which also works as a re-import permit) and import and export permits from the destination country, the instrument may be seized by the USWFS.

If an instrument is seized, what do the Fish and Wildlife Service do with it?

Sandra Cleva, a spokesperson for the FWS law enforcement division, explains, “The Fish and Wildlife Service has a large repository of seized items. We do sometimes have auctions, though we haven’t had an auction since 1999. But we can only sell items that

21 could have been legally imported for commercial purposes, if the importer had gotten the proper permits”. An item is exempt if was acquired it before CITES listed it. CITES will exempt “specimens that are personal or household effects,” so long as they were not acquired outside of one’s home country. This exception, however, does not apply to

Appendix I species, which unfortunately for musicians, luthiers and collectors most vintage guitars contain (Thomas J. 2008). What happens if a guitar doesn’t contain any

CITES substances, but the government seizes it anyway? The traveler will have to prove that the government was wrong. As long as the USFWS can show that it had “reasonable grounds” to believe that your guitar’s headstock overlay, for example, was Brazilian rosewood, the traveler has the burden, not the USFWS of proving that it’s really ebony or endangered rosewood (Thomas J. 2008).

CITES has three categories of items, items used to build guitars like Brazilian rosewood (Dalbgeria nigra), ivory and tortoiseshell are in Appendix I, the most restricted category. To move an Appendix I listed species across the border of one of the 177 signatories, one needs an export permit, which is granted only if “a Scientific Authority of the State of export has advised that such export will not be detrimental to the survival of that species” and the item “was not obtained in contravention of the laws of that State for the protection of fauna and flora.” In addition, you’ll need an import permit from the destination country; obtainable upon proof that importation isn’t for “primarily commercial purposes” (Thomas J. 2008).

“Appendix I species can never be imported for commercial purposes, we wouldn’t sell those items. We would keep them for educational purposes. For example, if we seized an instrument containing tortoiseshell (used at one time make pick guards on

22 guitars), we might include it in an educational package to send to a zoo as part of an outreach program to demonstrate activities that have led to the endangerment of the sea tortoise.” (Thomas J. 2008).

In the United States, CITES is not a self-contained document; it works in tandem with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and its regulations. The penalties for a knowing violation of ESA and, by the same token, for violating CITES, are fines of up to $50,000 or imprisonment for up to a year, or both. “Knowing” refers to knowledge in the legal sense. It doesn’t matter if you know that you’re violating CITES or ESA--or even that you know they exist--but only if you intentionally, rather than accidentally, take your guitar across borders (Thomas J. 2008). In the case of Appendix II listed Big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), CITES only applies to raw wood, not finished guitars, no permission needed for international travel a mahogany guitar.

Linda Davis-Wallen, wood buyer for the Martin Guitar Company explains “there is a lot of illegal logging, and there are a lot of forged CITES permits out there. We really have to be careful.” Martin is quoted as saying they are quite committed to CITES, but it certainly hasn’t made Martin’s life easier. “We import raw woods and export finished guitars, it takes 60 to 120 days to get each permit, and we have to import and export through the ‘CITES-specified ports’ from which only 14 of the 329 official ports in the

United States (U.S. Customs and Boarder Patrol) are allegeable. So, for example, we can’t fly Brazilian rosewood into Allentown, Pennsylvania, the airport nearest us, but have to fly it into JFK and then fly it to Allentown” (Thomas J. 2008). The 14 authorized ports for importing or exporting CITES species are: Anchorage, Atlanta, Baltimore,

Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark/New York,

23 New Orleans, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle (U.S. Customs and Border Protection).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is responsible for enforcing regulations specific to the import and export of plants regulated by CITES and the Endangered

Species Act (ESA). If you are in the business of importing, exporting or re-exporting

CITES or ESA-regulated plants and plant products, the USDA requires that you possess a valid USDA Protected Plant Permit. CITES listed plants and plant products must enter the United States through a designated port (U.S. Customs and Border Protection).

Vintage-guitar guru George Gruhn regarding CITES “Look, this thing is a nightmare,” he says. “It’s cumbersome, illogical and nearly unintelligible. It’s hard enough to figure out what permits to obtain in the United States, but it’s almost impossible to figure out the necessary permits to get a guitar in and out of another country. CITES only establishes a ‘floor’ of restrictions. The member countries can establish any other rules as long as they’re stricter than CITES. Imagine a touring musician who plans to visit several countries with a guitar with Brazilian rosewood back and sides. It would be almost impossible to comply with CITES and do the tour” The

CITES secretariat in Geneva had this to say about traveling with a guitar made with

‘endangered’ materials: “Travelers should be most concerned when traveling in or out of the United States, European Union, Australia or Japan because those countries have the strictest enforcement efforts they have domestic laws that are stricter than CITES. One must pay very close attention to the legal requirements” (Thomas J. 2008).

CITES has made exceptions regarding the musical instrument industry. At the

June 2007 CITES meeting in The Hague, the nation of Brazil proposed adding pernambuco (Caesalpinia echinata), also known as pau-Brazil and brazilwood, to

24 Appendix II. This wood is used for virtually every high-end violin bow. Classical musicians and violin dealers everywhere rallied, urging the secretariat not to list pernambuco, and they prevailed. Finished products will not be included in Appendix II, only raw wood products such as “logs, sawn wood and veneer sheets, including unfinished wood articles used for the fabrication of bows for stringed musical instruments”. However, in an interview with the Fretboard Journal in 2008 a spokesperson for the FWS, when asked if they thought the decision by CITES to exempt the finished product of a violin bow from Appendix II, they responded by saying “It depends on whether we think that trade in the timber alone or trade in the instruments also threatens a species. With instruments, most think that trade in the instruments themselves is a threat, so I do not think that we will see more exemptions” (Thomas J.

2008). However, on March 13th, 2013 The Fretboard Journal reported the following move by CITES towards creating a “musical instrument certificate” that will function “as a type of passport that allows the non-commercial movement of the identified musical instrument across their borders upon presentation of the original certificate to the appropriate border control officer”. The border officer must treat it like he or she would treat a passport and mark it “with an ink stamp, signature and date to show the history of movement from State to State” (Thomas 2013).

To obtain a passport for an instrument the owner must present “pertinent data regarding the musical instrument, including the species used to manufacture the instrument, and a means of identification, such as the manufacturer’s name and or serial number or other means of identification and photographs. The information must also demonstrate that “the CITES specimens used in the manufacture of the musical

25 instrument have not been acquired in contravention of the provisions of the Convention.”

Who was being quoted here? The passports will be granted only for “personally owned musical instruments,” excluding instrument dealers. The passport only covers non- commercial use. There has been debate on the Treaty’s usage of “commercial” when

German authorities interpreted commercial use to include public performance or display.

The passport resolution clarifies the meaning to include but be not limited to “personal use, performance, display or competition.” In addition, there is an express prohibition on selling, trading or “otherwise disposing” of the instrument “outside the certificate holder’s State of usual residence.” Selling the instrument while carrying it pursuant to a passport would violate CITES and presumably subject the owner to monetary penalties and the instrument to seizure (Thomas 2013).

Instrument passports will “be valid for a maximum period of three years,” after which the owner must obtain a new passport. In addition, if the owner sells or loses the instrument or, shudder, the instrument is destroyed, the passport “must be immediately returned to the issuing Management Authority.” The passport, then, is not transferable.

Alas, there’s no indication of the penalty for retaining a passport for a sold instrument

(Thomas 2013).

2.4 - Cognitive Dissonance

“Because human life depends on what the earth provides, one might think environmental protection would be uncontroversial. Yet bitter disputes have erupted over proposals to preserve undeveloped land, save endangered species, protect or restore ecosystems, clean up toxic dumps and spills, reduce air and water pollution, conserve energy, mitigate human-caused changes in global climate, and ensure an equitable

26 distribution of environmental hazards” (Lazsar 2002). Regarding environmental protections, several geographical perspectives exist within in the literature, ranging from:

Legal comments on policy issues to broad conversations about global conservation efforts to specific bio-geographical studies to economic repercussions to collective psychological phenomena resulting from media bias.

It is no secret that amongst an elite circle of professional musicians, luthiers guitar technicians and musical instrument brokers that Henry Juszkiewicz, Gibson Guitar

Corporation, CEO is a hated man (Richardson 2013). Allegedly he has earned the reputation as the man responsible for “cheapening the brand that we hold so dear” (Pierre de Beauport 2013), a sentiment that comes directly from the Keith Richards, Ron Wood camp; collectively and in part known as The Rolling Stones.

The purpose of stating the role of analyzing cognitive dissonance in this study is not to ‘point fingers’ at musicians and luthiers or to make light of their opinions or belief systems, but rather to point out the potential for a cause such as ‘political ecology’ to lose support when advocates ‘trivialize’ (Festinger 1957) enforcement of environmental polices such as The Lacey Act.

Cognitive dissonance is one of the most heavily studied phenomena in the history of social psychology (Egan et at. 2007). Perhaps some statement here like: Geographers have not much studied the term, but it fits their discipline because…. (Just to tie things explicitly to geography.) The term cognitive dissonance describes a psychological state in which an individual’s cognitions—beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors—are at odds

(Festinger, 1957). People experience cognitive dissonance as aversive, and are motivated

27 to resolve the inconsistency between their discrepant cognitions. Psychologists have long been interested in the nature of cognitive dissonance, as this phenomenon has implications for many areas of social psychology, including attitudes and prejudice, moral cognition, decision making happiness and therapy (Egan et at. 2007).

Festinger (1957) points out that an individual strives towards consistency within himself or herself. Opinions and attitudes, for example, tend to exist in clusters that are internally consistent, however one may find exceptions. A person may think, for example, Negroes are just as good as whites but would not want any living in his neighborhood; or someone may think little children should be quiet and unobtrusive and yet may be quite proud when his child aggressively captures the attention of his adult guests (Festinger 1957).

Festinger’s (1957) basic hypotheses for his theory of ‘cognitive dissonance’ are stated by are as follows:

1. The existence of dissonance, being psychologically uncomfortable, will motivate the person to try to reduce the dissonance and achieve consonance.

2. When dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, a person will actively avoid situations and information, which would likely increase the dissonance.

Festinger clarifies the nature of ‘dissonance’ by pointing out that in place of dissonance one can substitute other notions similar in nature, such as ‘hunger,’ ‘frustration,’ or disequilibrium.’

According to Festinger (1957), when the magnitude of dissonance is high enough to motivate action, people will use one of the three modes of dissonance reduction. The first mode consists of changing one of the dissonance elements that is, simply changing

28 an attitude, value, opinion, or behavior. The second mode of dissonance reduction consists of adding consonant cognitions that reduce the overall level of inconsistency and includes active attempts to seek out new information.

The third, and most applicable mode to this study, is ‘trivialization’; decreasing the importance of the elements involved in the dissonant relations or in which the strategy is to add cognitions that make the attitude-behavior relationship seem more logical or justifiable (Simon and Greenberg 1995). According to Festinger (1957) the purpose of trivialization is not to reduce the level of inconsistency, but merely to reduce the importance of the inconsistency by reducing the importance of one or more of the dissonance elements.

I argue that results for this study indicate trivialization regarding cognitions of an event that took place in 2011 where the United States government raided the Gibson

Guitar plant in Nashville for “unlawfully importing ebony wood from Madagascar for fretboards” (Rollingstone.com 2013) a legal violation of the Lacey Act. In 2011The

United States Justice Department claimed that Gibson Guitars had been in possession of illegally traded timber and in violation of an Indian trade law (Shelley 2012). Gibson originally denied those claims, but later admitted to being in possession of illegal timber and agreed to pay a $300,000 fine and donate $50,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife

Foundation to avoid prosecution. Gibson also agreed to abandon a lawsuit seeking

$261,000 in damages incurred during the investigation.

I argue that the following survey responses trivialize (Festinger 1957) the 2011

Gibson raid therefore placing in jeopardy future support of environmental protections

29 high profile musicians who have the means and ability to reach a much broader audience than non-high-profile individuals.

In February and March of 2013 twenty five participants were asked, “Do you support laws designed to protect the environment?” to which all replied “Yes” but conversely when asked the question “Do you feel the United States Government went too far by raiding the Gibson Guitar plant in 2011?” almost all answered ‘yes, I think the government went too far’.

Many of those who felt the 2011 government raid at the Gibson plant in Nashville was out of line also expressed disdain for Gibson’s CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, some went as far as claiming that he (Gibson’s CEO) deserved to be raided for other reasons like horrible working conditions and for producing poor quality, over priced guitars (Rosen, de Beauport, Elliot 2013). When asked if they thought the government went too far by raiding Gibson he responded with “Not at all...they suck, Henry J is asshole #1, he owns

Gibson, I am biased (de Beauport 2013)”. Common amongst the group was a sense of ridicule and amazement that the raid was conducted with guns drawn. Photos of armed federal marshals hit online news sources NPR and Fox news shortly after the raid.

Gibson’s CEO Henry Juskiewicz was quoted as saying "We had a raid," he said, "with federal marshals that were armed, that came in, evacuated our factory, shut down production, sent our employees home and confiscated wood" (NPR.org).

Conversely, of the twenty-five musicians and luthiers interviewed, three answered

“No” they did not think the government went too far by raiding Gibson. Instead they responded with answers such as “if they (Gibson) did have illegal wood they should have

30 been raided, so no, I don’t think the United States Government went too far” (Valenta,

Boutin and Ludmer 2013).

One high profile interview candidate who “had the honor to be involved with shaping the 2008 Farmbill” (Leavell 2011), declined to participate in the study because he “was not in any way connected to the Gibson situation and therefore not qualified or inclined to comment of this except to say that he has the highest respect for both Gibson

Guitars and the laws that govern illegal logging” (Rose Leavell 2013).

Festinger clarifies the nature of ‘dissonance’ by pointing out that, in place of dissonance one can substitute other notions similar in nature, such as ‘hunger,’

‘frustration,’ or disequilibrium.’ In the case of legal protection of endangered tonewood, I argue that in this case it is fair to replace ‘dissonance’ with ‘frustration’. Several candidates when interviewed for this study shared frustrations over the fact that the

Lacey Act unfairly penalizes musicians and luthiers for trading, selling and or transporting guitars (or parts for guitars) made from endangered tonewoods, regardless of the fact that thousands of guitars were crafted long before the law was revised in 2008 to include protection of endangered trees. For example, when high profile, touring blues musician Joe Bonamassa was interviewed for this study and asked the question, ‘do you support laws designed to protect the environment?’ he answered, “Not if it means that I have to rip the Brazilian rosewood fretboard off of my $200,000 Les Paul to ship it to

Germany, it’s not like I can shove it into the ground and grow a tree, but yes, in general I am in support of protecting the environment” (Bonamassa 2013). In this case Mr.

Bonamassa does not trivialize the Gibson raid, but rather the Lacey Act itself.

31 The following is a statement Joe Bonamassa posted on his website regarding his experience traveling with a very expensive, vintage guitar made in part of Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra).

“1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard. My first of the four original sunburst Les Pauls that I own. This guitar serial #9-0829 is named “Magellan”. I named this guitar after the great explorer because I managed to circumnavigate the globe with it on a world tour in 2011 battling airlines (especially in Australia) all to get the guitar to London to do a show filling in for the late great Gary Moore with the legendary Jack Bruce at Royal Festival Hall. Unfortunately I will never do that again as it is too dangerous to do so. I love this guitar and will always treasure it and will always be grateful to my friend Eliot Michael at Rumbleseat Music for his trust and generosity.” (jbonamassa.com)

- Joe B

Figure 3: ‘Magellan’ Joe Bonamassa's 1959 Les Paul Standard w/ Brazilian rosewood fretboard

The Role of Cognitive Dissonance in political ecology:

If a person is ‘in support of laws designed to protect the environment’ but not in support of enforcing those laws, is that not dissonance? I argue that in accordance with

Festinger’s hypothesis it is and may place the cause of ‘political ecology’ at risk of losing some high profile advocates. Festinger (1957) claims that ‘when dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, a person will actively avoid situations and information’. In the case of the 2008 revision to the Lacey Act, by not exempting guitars constructed with endangered species of wood prior to the 2008 revision, well-informed environmental advocates were placed on wrong side of the law and prone to trivialization. Legal revision to the Lacey Act deigned to exempt guitars built prior to 2008 can eliminate dissonance increasing the odds in favor of protecting and maintaining ecological biodiversity.

Tuan (1974) asked; what are our views on the physical environment, natural and man-made? How do economy, life style, and the physical setting itself affect environmental attitudes and values? And what are the links between environment and worldview? Tuan (1974) also writes “without self-understanding we cannot hope for enduring solutions to environmental problems, which are fundamentally human problems. And human problems, whether they be economic, political, or social, hinge on the psychological pole of motivation, on the values and attitudes that direct energies to goals.”

It should be noted that Joe Bonamassa expressed his full support for environmental issues at the end of his interview for this study Joe Bonamassa and agreed

33 that the Lacey Act needs to be amended, not overturned. However he made it is clear that his experiences in 2011 (the same year Gibson Guitars was raided) with boarding international flights with his 1959 Les Paul Standard with Brazilian rosewood fretboard changed his views on support of laws designed to protect the environment. Hence he answered, “No, I’m not in support of laws designed to protect the environment if it means

I have to rip the Brazilian rosewood fretboard off of my Les Paul”. The second half of

Joe Bonasmassa’s answer, “It’s not like I can rip the neck off of my guitar and shove it in the ground and grow a Brazilian rosewood tree” was not only true, it reflects a rationale shared by other musicians interviewed for this study, that the law is ‘ridiculous’ and was poorly thought out in way can save the existing Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) forests of Brazil.

Figure 4: Joe Bonamassa's Guitar Collection

34 2.5 - Luthiery

A luthier is an artisan who uses tonewood to make stringed musical instruments such as violins or guitars (Merriam-Webster). Tonewoods are called such because they literally produce tone, compared to more other woods which are useful for making things like buildings, boats or furniture. Tonewoods, when cut properly, can ring when you strike them, just like a bell or a piece of glass (Somogyi 2010). Musical instrument manufacturers like Gibson Guitars have used tonewoods to mass-produce guitars for over a hundred years. Aggregately the United States musical instruments manufacturing industry includes nearly 600 companies with combined annual revenue of approximately

$2 billion (Main Stream 2010). Manufacturing musical instruments is one of America’s oldest industries. The U.S. musical instruments manufacturing industry includes nearly

600 companies with combined annual revenue of approximately $2 billion (Main Stream

2010). C.F. Martin & Co. and The Gibson Guitar Corporation have both manufactured guitars for well over 100 years and are amongst the most highly revered guitar makers in the world. Both companies have used Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), ebony, tortoiseshell and ivory to manufacture guitars long before the 2008 amendment to the

Lacey Act. All of these and other common raw materials used in luthiery are now listed as CITES Appendix I-endangered species (Thomas 2008). Some of this paragraph would seem to go in the next section on tonewood.

2.6 - Tonewood

The term ‘tonewood’ generally refers to any wood, which may be used in the construction of a musical instrument. Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) known amongst musicians and luthiers as the holy grail of tonewood, possesses the most desired

35 acoustic properties amongst the several species of tonewoods commonly used in luthiery.

Common tonewoods are Spruce and Cedar, Rosewood, Mahogany and Koa and Maple

(Hunter 2008) all are old-growth specimens. Of each, several species within each genus may be used as tonewood, for example East Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) is also used in luthiery “but none compares to the tonal quality and resonance of Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) (Eric Garcia 2013).” Tonewoods, such as Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) and Macassar ebony (Diospyrus celebica) are both very dense woods (Gore 2011) and provide some of the most valuable timber in the forest.

Violins produced by Antonio Stradivari during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, for example, are reputed to have superior tonal qualities. Dendrochronological studies show that Stradivari used Norway spruce that had grown mostly during the

Maunder Minimum, a period of reduced solar activity when relatively low temperatures caused trees to lay down wood with narrow annual rings, resulting in a high modulus of elasticity and low density (Schwarze 2008). Tonewoods are called such because they literally can produce tone, compared to more other woods which are useful for making things like buildings, boats or furniture. Tonewoods, when cut properly, can ring when you strike them, just like a bell or a piece of glass (Somogyi 2010). Some guitarists are tempted to dismiss the issue of vanishing wood as hysteria and marketing hype. “That would be a mistake,” says Bob Taylor, founder of Taylor Guitars. “In our generation, we’ll see the disappearance of some well-loved species. Even if they don’t become extinct, they’ll become extinct commercially (Ellis 2008).”

36 2.6.1 - Brazilian rosewood, The ‘Holy Grail’

Musicians and luthiers commonly refer to Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) as the ‘holy grail’ of tonewood (Garcia 2013, PRS 2010) as it is the coveted hardwood by which all other tonewoods in the world are judged (Sloane 1989). Brazilian rosewood

(Dalbergia nigra) is an endangered species of timber restricted to the Brazilian Atlantic

Forest (Renata Ribeiro et al., 2008). This tree produces dense, high quality timber, which was widely used as a source for the manufacturing of fine furniture, perfumes, essential oils and musical instruments. In 1833 C.F. Martin & Co., one of the most highly revered guitar makers worldwide established the mass manufacture of American made acoustic guitars made from Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) (martinguitar.com). As a result

Martin’s long-standing reputation for tone was closely connected to the historical use of this wood. The 1835 style 2 1/2-17 Martin parlor guitar owned and played by Mark

Twain was appraised in the late 1990’s at $15 million dollars; the original retail price was

$10.00 (Johnston 2011). Twain obtained his Martin guitar shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. It was built by C.F. Martin Sr. in 1835, the same year that Mark

Twain was born and the year that Haley's comet returned (amazingly, Twain died the next time the comet appeared, 75 years later). The guitar has Brazilian rosewood back and sides, a spruce top, and an ebonized ice cream-cone cedar neck with a slim, modern feel. It features fan-braced construction, an ebony pyramid bridge, and a herringbone rosette. The instrument's finish and ornately engraved tuners with ivory buttons are still in great shape (momi 1999).

In the 1960’s Brazil placed an embargo on Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) logs that guitar manufacturing companies such as C.F. Martin & Co. required. The

37 purpose was to attract to Brazil by demanding that the logs be sawn in Brazilian mills.

This was unsatisfactory to companies like C.F. Martin & Co. and they switched to rosewood from India. In addition to the Brazilian embargo there was another problem, the available supply of large rosewood trees, in which the processed wood is wide enough for two-piece backs was depleted. Martin began using Brazilian rosewood

(Dalbergia nigra) again in 1965 with a three piece backed D-35 model and ceased using

Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) in standard production for complete sets of back and sides in 1969. Today Martin must first have a “General Permit” from the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, and secondly they must have a “Pre-Convention Certificate” documenting that the Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) was harvested before June

11th, 1992 (martinguitar.com).

A few days before June 11th 1992, the effective inclusion date of Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) into CITES, the United States government began receiving communications from manufacturers and owners of musical instruments about the listing.

The government was now aware that there were hundreds of thousands of musical instruments that contain Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). The Gibson Guitar

Company alone, for example, has sold more than three quarters of a million guitars made of rosewood parts (CITES 1992). That does not include numerous other guitar manufacturers like Fender, Martin, Paul Reed Smith and literally hundreds of smaller guitar companies who have collectively manufactured hundreds of thousands of stringed instruments that also contain old growth Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). Until

Chanel No. 5 perfume went on the market in 1921, Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) was just another tree that grew in abundance in the Amazon. But the enduring popularity

38 of the fragrance, which includes rosewood oil as a key ingredient, began a process that has led, in part, to both a black market in the oil and the tree itself being designated as an endangered species (Rohter 2005). Deforestation of Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nirga) forests for the purpose of furniture and musical instrument manufacturing or to clear land for farming is said to have peaked in decades long before conservation efforts were in place. Little or no planning was made to deal with the consequences deforestation would have upon the land (Johnston 2011).

Dalbergia nigra is endemic to Brazil and grows in the Atlantic forest, primarily from southern Bahia to northern Espírito Santo, but also on the coast of São Paulo state and inland in Minas Gerais, specimens on the coast may reach approximately 125 ft (38 m) in height. In 1992 Brazil listed Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) in ‘Appendix I’ of CITES, threatened with extinction. Since 1998 Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) has been listed as vulnerable on the Red List of the International Union for the

Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the oldest and largest global environmental network

(Varty 1998).

Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) is preferred by guitar makers due its denseness and consequent ability to resonate and sustain pitch. Most of its advantages stem from rich overtones often compared to natural reverb. Few experts dispute the difference between a guitar built with Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) back and sides compared to a similar instrument built with mahogany, maple, or less-frequently used woods such as California walnut (ilovewood 2012). Other rosewoods used in guitar making that compare in density to Brazilian rosewood are Honduras rosewood, Amazon rosewood and the most exotic of them African Blackwood, which is also the hardest of

39 the rosewoods. Other rosewoods used to make guitars are Indian rosewood, Southeast

Asian rosewood, and Cocobolo rosewood from Mexico (Harrod 2004). Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) stump wood is now sought after for two reasons; it is post

CITES compliant because the wood it taken from trees which are no longer living and secondly because reclaimed stumps comes from the bottom of the tree, where the tremendous weight often results in amazing curls and compression figures not found in the kind of Brazilian rosewood used in the good old days (Johnston 2011).

The Atlantic forest is one of the most diverse and biologically rich forests in the world and also one of the most threatened, with only eight percent of its original land cover remaining. Also known as the Atlantic rainforest or Mata Atlântica, it combines a series of South American forest ecosystems, isolated from the Atlantic forest’s larger neighbor, the Amazon rainforest (Galindo and Camara 2003). All Dalbergia species, of which there are approximately 159 (ILDIS 2012), are nitrogen fixers and members of the legume family Fabaceae. They and are able to survive in soils poor or limiting in nutrients by forming associations and with rhibozial bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi that reside in root nodules (Santiago et al 2002). Dalbergia nigra are semi- deciduous and can grow up 40 m high (131 feet) with a maximum diameter breast height of 1-1.5 m (4 ft in diameter). Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) flowers between

November and December and is pollinated by mainly bees (ARKIVE website). The fruiting period of this tree is very long, lasting from January until September. It produces flat seedpods, which are wind dispersed (Ribeiro et al 2005).

Figure 6: C.F. Martin and Co., price list from 1931

Figure 5: Mark Twain’s 1835 Martin Guitar Appraised at $15,000,000 in 1991 Prices today range from $2,000 to well over $200,000. Known as ‘house $’

Figure 7: Map of Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) collection and occurrence

Figure 8: Mature Brazilian rosewood Tree (Dalbergia nigra)

Figure 9: Man standing on rosewood stump (Photo: Kevin Schafer 2013)

Figure 10: MARTIN 0-28 Guitar (1894) with Spruce top, Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) back and sides, Spanish cedar neck, ebony fretboard, ivory bound body

Chapter 3 – Data and Methodology

3.1 - Introduction

This chapter discusses the research methodology utilized in the study. In the qualitative portion of the study; analyzing perceptions and belief systems, I used the ethnographic methods of participant survey and qualitative interviewing to obtain empirical materials. In the quantitative portion of the study, tonewood database, previously recorded data from on online community of luthiers was adopted. All species in the database were analyzed for conservation status. The qualitative approach was adopted to explore, understand and theorize the perceptions and opinions of people most affected by legal restrictions placed on Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). The quantitative approach was used to assess the likely hood of those in luthiery utilizing a viable tonewood replacement to Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), given the trade restrictions placed on it by the Lacey Act.

3.2 - Ethnographic and Qualitative Research

Qualitative research attempts to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them (Parsell 2010, p. 88). The relationship this group of people has with guitars speaks volumes. Guitars are seen as cultural artifacts.

Individual types of guitars are commonly associated with periods of history, musical styles, individual artists or whole genres of music and can have immeasurable sentimental value (Harrod 2004). I sought to identify whether ‘trivialization’ (Festinger

1957) of the Gibson raid was present amongst ‘the group’ by asking opposing questions within in a survey. Two of the nine questions were similar in nature yet held opposing

46 value. Question number 4. ‘Do you support laws designed to protect the environment?’

And question number 7. ‘Do you think the United States government went too far by raiding the Nashville Gibson Guitar plant in 2011? All Twenty-five people surveyed enhanced question number 7 with discussion. For the sake of this study, I refer to these discussions as ‘interviews’. Some of these interviews were recorded with on an iPhone, other interviews were not recorded due to circumstances and were later transcribed and documented as empirical material or data.

3.3 - Tonewood Database-Quantitative Research

Legal restrictions on the trade of Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) have affected musicians and luthiers. Alternate species of tonewoods will be needed in the future.

Current efforts to conserve the remaining stands of Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) are controversial; nonetheless alternates to the species must be sought. A database of 126 tonewoods was constructed placing the status of Brazilian rosewood (Dalberia nigra) in context to other tonewoods used in luthiery.

3.4 - Research Methods

Participation in the qualitative study occurred between the dates of January 26th, 2013 and April 7th, 2013. Twenty-nine people, seven females, twenty-two males were asked to discuss their opinions and belief systems regarding environmental protection of tonewood. Twenty-five participants completed a nine question ‘yes or no’ survey, two people did not complete the survey. Seven people participated in discussions during interview portions of the surveys. Participation was conducted either in person, remotely via email, remotely over the phone or remotely via Facebook messaging, screen shots

47 were made and stored as data. Some interviews were recorded on an iPhone and transcribed. Some interviews were not recorded but were later transcribed from memory as data. Twelve people completed a ranking chart aimed at evaluating attributes and characteristics of the rhetorical purchase of a musical instrument. All participants were requested to give consent to participate in the study, all agreed. No compensation was offered. Surveys and interviewed ranged in time from 20 minutes to one hour. One candidate respectively declined to participate because of his professional association with

Gibson guitars, one candidate participated ‘anonymously’ due to an association with

Gibson guitars, one candidate participated ‘anonymously’ due to an association with The

Guitar Center corporate office.

Between the dates of March 15th, 2013 and April 3rd, 2013 data from the

Tonewood Data Source (http://tonewooddatasource.weebly.com/) was adopted to build a tonewood database for the study. From 2005 to present (April 2013) various anonymous luthiers contributed to the Tonewood Data Source, an online luthiery forum to create the original database. The 126 species of tonewood were than searched on the CITES website

(cites.org) to determine which if any are restricted from trade by law. Tonewoods listed in CITES were totaled and the percentage in relation to the entire list was calculated.

Each species entry is accompanied by a brief description from the anonymous participating luthier. All descriptions were reviewed to determine which of the 126 were considered viable tonewood alternates to Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra).

Tonewoods deemed viable tonewood alternates were totaled and the percentage in relation to the entire list was calculated.

The following questions drafted into a survey questionnaire (Appendix), printed and presented to twenty-five participants.

1. Please describe your primary association with musical instruments.

Musician, Luthier, Technician, Broker, No Association

2. Do you frequently board aircraft with a guitar?

3. Have you ever donated time or money to an environmental cause?

4. Are you in support of laws designed to protect the environment?

5. Do you own or have you ever worked on or sold an instrument made with Brazilian rosewood or ebony?

6. Are you aware that several species of timber used to build guitars like Brazilian rosewood and Ebony from Madagascar are now endangered and threatened by extinction?

7. Do you feel the United States Government went too far by raiding the Nashville Gibson

Guitar plant in 2011?

8. In a rare collision of music and environmental regulation, American musical instrument manufacturers like Gibson Guitars and traveling musicians may suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the law under the Lacey Act. Do you feel that it is possible for someone to be ‘pro-environment’ and play an instrument that was constructed with materials that are now endangered?

9. Do you believe that the Lacey Act should be re-written to exempt instruments built prior to 2008 when the law was passed?

49 Chapter 4 – Results and Conclusion

4.1 - Introduction

Of the twenty-five musicians surveyed for this study, 100% declared support for laws designed to protect the environment yet 52% of those felt the government went too far by enforcing the law by raiding the Gibson Guitar plant in 2011. Only 3% of those surveyed felt that Gibson was wrong for contributing to the illegal logging trade. Based on these results there is a chance that the group’s anger at the Lacey Act could weaken their commitment to future environmental causes. Loss of support begins with trivialized, angry responses. 96% of the group agrees that the Lacey Act should be amended to exempt from all trade and travel restrictions guitars made with endangered woods built prior to 2008 when the broad far-reaching restrictions were put in place. None from the group were in favor of cutting down endangered trees to build guitars in the future.

For over a century the Gibson brand has been held dear to many musicians.

However in recent years the tides have shifted amongst some professional musicians due to the business practice of Gibson’s CEO Henry Juskiewicz. Anger over restrictions put in place by the Lacey Act on the transport of endangered wood were not the only source of contention and trivialization within the group. Simply put “He (Henry Juskiewicz) is a hated man because he has cheapened the brand we hold so dear (de Beauport 2013)”.

Postulate reasons for the Gibson raid ranged from “I heard the reason they were raided was because he (Henry Juskiewicz) contributed money to the GOP (Ellis 2013)” or “He deserved it, I’m torn about the validity of the raid because I hate Henry so much

(Coulson)”.

50 4.2 - Qualitative Results

In total twenty-five people were surveyed, seven (28%) female, twenty are musicians, three are instrument brokers, and two are luthiers.

Survey Results:

• 96% support laws designed to protect the environment, one participant was

undecided.

• 44% had donated time or money to an environmental cause.

• 44% frequently board aircraft with guitars.

• 80% own an instrument made in part from Brazilian rosewood.

• 52% felt the United States government went too far by raiding Gibson in 2011.

• 72% believe that one can play a guitar made with endangered wood and still be

‘pro-environment’.

• 96% feel the Lacey Act should be revised to exempt restrictions on guitars made

with endangered wood built prior to 2008.

Within the female population 57% believe that the United States government did not go too far by raiding the Gibson plant in 2011. Two of the women had never heard of the raid and only one thought the government went too far. 72% of those surveyed were males. Of the male participants, 48% believe the government went too far by raiding

Gibson, 20% thought they did not go too far and one participant was un-decided.

Interviews varied in length ranging from 10 minutes to one and a half hours. Most comments noted the Gibson raid and sentiments about Gibson’s CEO Henry Juszkiewicz.

51 Gibson’s alleged possession of ‘endangered’ rosewood was not the majority reason most musicians hold Gibson CEO to such low regard, but rather a myriad of other reasons like poor quality, horrid labor conditions and inflated prices of new guitars (Richardson

2013). Pierre de Beauport, Keith Richards’ guitar technician since 1986, stated he feels

“endangered tonewoods should no longer be used by the industry- not because of low supply due to deforestation, rather because of environmental restrictions like the one put in place by Cal OSHA banning the use of varnish on guitars, Taylor, for example now uses a clear finish coating on their guitars that chokes the wood, canceling all the superior qualities found in woods like Brazilian rosewood”. He also made it clear the reason he

‘hates’ Henry (Juszkiewicz) so passionately is because he ‘cheapened the brand they all hold so dear’. He also stated that he feels “the Lacey Act should have restricted use of

Brazilian rosewood in 1964”.

Marty Rifkin, Bruce Springteen’s pedal steel guitar player, when asked if he travels with guitars made from Brazilian rosewood answered “No, but if I had a guitar that I owned before the Lacey Act and flew with it, it would definitely make flying a hundred times more stressful than it already is.”

Rebecca Apodaca, a certified vintage guitar appraiser of over 20 years and restorer of guitars, believes “the use of these endangered woods to construct things like cabinets or planks for beautiful outdoor decks is unnecessary” she goes to explain that these woods possess certain tonality that makes a difference in a guitar, and have purpose beyond aesthetics. She also declared that she was biased. She believes the government went “way

52 too far, these are musicians, I don’t know the point of having weapons, but if the law states, that if you are not allowed to do this, why allow Gibson? If there are laws in the

U.S. there shouldn’t be a favoritism.” She went to explain “the trade restrictions placed on endangered tonewoods will only serve to increase their value and demand due to their increased rarity”.

Dave Ellis, holds a Masters degree in music from USC and teaches classical guitar at

McCabes in Santa Monica, he stated in a brief comment that believes “Gibson was raided because they contributed money to the GOP”, and believes the government, went too far by raiding Gibson.

Larry Rosen, an accomplished guitarist who played with Peter Tork of the Monkees, commented “It was a good message, to get them on the up and up, some of the things they do is not on the up, I don’t like the corporation, the fact that he (Henry Juszkiewicz) sat with John Boehner when Obama talked about jobs. I know Gibson had to pay

$300,000 in fines, I do not think the government went too far by raiding Gibson, but I don’t think they should not have confiscated any wood, they should have just been warned. I understand Gibson circumvents laws that are in place to buy woods, I have read a lot from the media about the raid.”

4.3 - Quantitative Results

A tonewood database of 126 species of tonewood used by luthiers was made for this study. Data were collected from the Tonewood Data Source on online blog set up by luthiers. Of the 126 tonewoods listed, as of April 2013, 3.96% are listed in CITES; one is

53 listed Appendix I, Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction. Trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances (cites.org).

Three are listed Appendix II, Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival (cites.org). Two are listed Appendix III, this Appendix contains species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES

Parties for assistance in controlling the trade. Changes to Appendix III follow a distinct procedure from changes to Appendices I and II, as each Party’s is entitled to make unilateral amendments to it (cites.org). One tonewood species is listed in both Appendix

II and Appendix III by different countries.

15% (19 out of 126) of the listed tonewoods species were deemed (VABR) viable alternatives to Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) by virtue of tonal quality and Janka

(hardness test) rating by the contributing anonymous luthiers who contributed to this database. This interview material is very good. But can you relate it more explicitly to the key issues: trivialization, the probability that it will weaken their support of environmental laws, etc.

4.4 - Conclusion

Unsustainable logging practices have negative impacts on forests as a whole and yield few benefits for local people (GTC 2008). According to “The World List of

Threatened Trees” in 1998 over 8,753-tree species, 10% of the world's totals were threatened with extinction (BGCI 2012). The Lacey Act was designed to help protect our environment by combating trade of illegally obtained plant and wildlife. I argue that, in

54 regards to luthiers and touring musicians, under the current Lacey Act structure, the environmental movement stands to lose support of musicians who continue to trivialize enforcement of laws designed to protect the environment if changes are not made. The majority of people surveyed and interviewed for the study trivialized the 2011 raid on

Gibson guitars by not focusing on the heart of the matter, legal protection of endangered wood, in this case tonewood. This is not because these people are un-ethical, but rather because their environmental and musical sentiments were placed at odds by a poorly written amendment to the Lacey Act in 2008. It is too broad in scope, difficult to abide by and leads to trivialization and apathy.

Everyone American contributes to environmental problems; the fact is that some are more concerned about it than others. I maintain my belief that musicians, in general, are people who support laws designed to protect the environment. I also argue that the

2008 amendment to the Lacey Act, while designed with good intentions to preserve endangered species of plants and trees like Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), was poorly written and unduly penalizes a small minority group of people for playing instruments made, in some cases over a hundred years ago. It is senseless.

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APPENDIX - A - Survey Lisa Rae Black Department of Geography Spring 2013

The Geography of Tonewood-An Environmental Study Policy Questionnaire

Thank you very much in advance for your assistance.

1. Gender

Female Male

2. Please describe your association with musical instruments.

Musician

Luthier

Technician

Broker

No Association

3. Have you ever donated time or money to an environmental cause?

Yes No

4. Are you in support of laws designed to protect the environment?

Yes No I didn’t know there where any

5. Do you own or have you ever worked on or sold an instrument made with Brazilian rosewood or ebony?

Yes No

6. Are you aware that several species of timber used to build guitars like Brazilian rosewood and Ebony from Madagascar are now endangered and threatened by extinction?

Yes No

7. Do you feel the United States Government went too far by raiding the Nashville Gibson Guitar plant in 2011?

Yes

What Raid?

Do you feel that it is possible for someone to be “pro-environment” and play an instrument that was constructed with materials that are now “endangered”?

Yes No

9. Do you believe the Lacey Act should be re-written to exempt instruments built prior to 2008 when the law was passed?

Yes No

10. Please rank the following attributes or characteristics by what comes first to your mind considering the purchase of a musical instrument.

1 is the attribute that comes first to your mind, 6 the one that least occurs to you. Each number can only be used once, so that an order is formed.

Environmental Awareness

High Quality Product Price

Type of Woods Used

Travel Considerations Age of Instrument

Signature:

Date:

Location:

63 APPENDIX - B - Tonewood Database

A database of 126 tonewoods used to build guitars was complied to analyze the percentage of tonewoods listed and restricted from trade by CITES. Descriptions of the species tonal qualities were noted. References to Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), were noted, an alternate species with similar qualities is of interest to the trade.

Tonewood Data Base

Adirondack (Red) Spruce (Picea rubens)

Distribution: Eastern North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Eastern red or Appalachian spruce, Adirondack defined guitars of the pre- WWII era. Its availability is beginning to increase slightly, as another generation of trees matures, although they’re still considerably smaller than their old growth forebears. Current supplies of Adirondack tend to lack a certain aesthetic purity of look (they tend to be wider-grained and more irregular in color and grain patterns). Tonally, Adirondack is even more dynamic than Sitka spruce, with a higher ceiling for volume. It has lots of headroom to strum the guitar aggressively without distorting. It also has high overtone content. Adirondack is “an undeniable sweetness in every note, especially in the mids” (Bob Taylor).

Adirondack Spruce was popularized by Martin on many of their “prewar” guitars and remains a revered tonewood by players and collectors alike. Its use was all but discontinued due to over-harvesting of the resource but has recently been reintroduced, due to 50 years of regeneration and to the legendary status that this traditional tonewood has attained. The small size of most logs and a shortage of wood conforming to market preference for even color and regularity of grain conspire to keep the price of red spruce extremely high.

64 African Blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon)

Distribution: Africa from Senegal to South Africa

CITES: Not listed, not restricted A true rosewood. Strikingly different from other rosewoods in that it is black in color, and often with sapwood showing up in the guitar pattern, African Blackwood trees are quickly becoming harder and harder to find large enough to make two-piece backs. It has a tight, but robust sound. Not as deep as Brazilian rosewood but not as tight as Mahogany. The heartwood is dark brown to purplish black and is sharply demarcated from the yellowish white sapwood. It has a straight grain, and very fine texture with an oily surface. It has a high tolerance to climate fluctuations.

It has been championed as a substitute to Brazilian rosewood although it’s rarity and pricing is similar to Brazilian rosewood. It holds a finish very well but is difficult to work with, hard but brittle. Traditionally, it has been the choice for woodwind instruments where it’s ease of turning and stability are fully utilized. It provides a dark and bell-like overtone content with a slow response.

Afzelia (Afzelia xylocarpa)

Distribution: Southeast Asia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Afzelia is a relatively dense wood that ranges in color between yellow, orange, and brown. It is often compared to Koa in appearance. Tonally, Afzelia has an even tone with rich basses, clear mid-tones and crisp trebles. It is known for a very punchy, hard, low end and clear highs. Also known as Makamong, it is known as a complete sounding tonewood.

Alder (Alnus glutinosa)

Distribution: Europe

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

65 Alder is a rather plain, light-colored wood, tending into red. It is very stiff in comparison to its weight and is also very resistant against twisting and warping. Because of these qualities it is a very good alternative wood for necks, especially for maple-instruments, whose color it closely matches. Used in solid bodies and for necks and interior parts, it has a rich and full sound, good warmth and sustain, cutting mids, good bass, but lacking in trebles.

Angelique (Dicorynia guianensis)

Distribution: Atlantic Coast Brazil

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

Angelique is medium brown colored wood, which has been widely used as a teak substitute outdoors and for flooring. It is used in parquet patterns where it uniquely reveals an almost 3D depth, yielding a brown color when viewed with the grain and a lighter tan color when viewed across the grain. Angelique has a medium range of color varying from a tan nut-brown color through to medium browns, some of which, when freshly milled reveal a purplish cast. Angelique exhibits a medium degree of color change with the muting of the varied browns to a medium/dark brown over time. Stability is average, similar to Red Oak.

Angelique has been known to cause both contact dermatitis and respiratory allergic reactions so care must be taken when coming into contact with Angelique sawdust. In the green condition Angelique is similar to teak in most strength properties and clearly superior to white oak. In the air-dried state, Angelique is superior to teak in most mechanical properties. Although Angelique is a moderately difficult timber to season, it does dry rapidly.

Ash (Fraxinus spp.)

Distribution: North America, Europe, North Africa, Southwest Asia, Central and East

Asia

66 CITES: Not listed, not restricted White Ash Was utilized on a limited but extremely popular run of D-16A Martin guitars made between 1987 and 1990. It provides a surprisingly loud and bright tonal character, with a strong midrange and a crisp and warm bass. White ash from swamps varies in weight. Luthiers primarily use ash for electric guitar bodies. The sapwood of ash is light brown, while the heartwood is brown to grayish brown. White and Oregon ash have lighter heartwood than the other commercial species. It has no characteristic odor or taste.

Ash is straight grained, heavy, hard, strong, stiff and wears smooth with high shock resistance. It machines well and is better than average in nail and screw holding capacity. It glues moderately well. Black, green, Pumpkin and Blue ashes have lower specific gravities and lower strength properties, but are still moderately strong, hard, and stiff compared to other native hardwoods. They also split easier, shrink more, are average in workability and perform less well in service.

Australian Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon)

Distribution: Eastern Austrailian

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Black Acacia is one of the most highly valued tonewoods. A distant cousin of Hawaiin Koa. But in the words of a lot of luthiers Tasmanian Blackwood has more density and has a better tap tone than Koa. Really good alternative to Rosewood with a punchy bottom end, but the mid and high ends of a mahogany. Blackwood produces a beautiful lustre, fiddleback and quilted available on a small scale, the variety of tonings range from light golden browns to deep browns, sometimes a reddish tint and occasionally showing black streaks. Stable and easy to work, acoustically it has warm woody tones similar to that of Mahogany and the brightness of Rosewood. Blackwood is an all around excellent tonewood well suited for various playing styles. Blackwood also makes an excellent Soundboard.

67 Balsamo (Myroxylon balsamo)

Distribution: Central and South America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Santos rosewood. A southern American wood sometimes used as a substitute for Brazilian Rosewood.

Basswood (Tilia americana)

Distribution: North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

A light wood used in Japan. It is easy to use because it is so soft, which leads to less lows, mids and highs. Therefore it gets used on electrics where you use a mike to get the sound. The sapwood of basswood is white to cream, while the heartwood is pale to reddish brown, with darker streaks. When dry, the wood has no characteristic odor or taste. The wood is soft and light, with a fine, even texture.

Bastogne Walnut (Juglans hindsii)

Distribution: California

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Perhaps the rarest Walnut in the world, a cross between English and Claro Walnut which occurs less than 1 % of the time. Only a few of these trees exist. The colors and figuring are stunning. It's substantially harder than other Walnut varieties, similar to Rock Maple or old growth Brazilian Rosewood. Bastogne Walnut is highly prized for tonewood, gunstocks, and fine furniture. Known to make very good guitars, and the figured material is as beautiful as any wood, almost all of the United States hand builders and factories offer some sort of a walnut line of guitars. Bastogne is fairly heavy, it's hard and it's stiff.

68 Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) Distribution: Western North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Cream in color this domestic hardwood gives a very tight and quick sound. It has sharp midranges and high ends but lacks the depth of Rosewood. A dense hardwood. Often described as having a bright sound, maple has fewer overtones than other medium- density woods, resulting in quicker note decay. This makes it a preferred guitar wood for live performance settings with a band especially with bass, drums and electric guitar because it cuts through a mix well, allows the acoustic sound to be heard, and is less prone to feedback issues. It has some midrange, and a lot more treble sparkle than rosewood. Maple's tap tone is rarely a ringing one, but it can't be denied that plenty of wonderful sounding guitars have been made from it, and even a few violins! In fact, many choose the wood as a first choice for creating the sound they seek.

Birch (Betula sp.) Distribution: Northern Hemisphere CITES: Not listed, not restricted Long ago, makers used a lot of birch, especially in smaller instruments such as fiddles and mandolins. It was the cheapest hardwood available at the local lumberyard. It works, acts, and looks much like maple, though curly birch normally has a much larger curl than curly maple. Tear-out may be a problem. Not so popular any more. Yellow birch would be the best.

Black Acacia (Acacia melanoxylon)

Distribution: Eastern Austrailia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted An excellent alternative to the rosewoods, it has a luminescence and depth similar to mahogany. Known as Australian Blackwood to many because of the tree’s bark, this not- to-distant cousin of the koa tree (Koa is itself another acacia) offers many of the features

69 of the popular Hawaiian wood. The tap tone is roughly the same as Koa, and some say it makes a better sounding guitar.

Black Ebony (Diospyros malabarica)

Distribution: India, Southeast Asia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted It makes a striking guitar. In the late 1990’s it was popular among the classic makers of Spain, when it was easier to get, and the price was not so dear. This is Indian ebony, not so brittle as the African ebonies, and it bends quite well. Excellent sustain, clear and articulate. There are so many subspecies that the various ebonies are often confused. True ebony is getting harder to find and the trees grow slowly.

Black Hearted Sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum)

Distribution: Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales in Australia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Few woods on the market match the striking color contrasts found in this species. A native Tasmanian timber, the dark, variegated colors in the center of the log are caused by a fungus, which fortunately, does not disturb the stability of the wood. The wood is light in weight, easy to work, bend and to finish. Tonally it falls into a category that might also include Myrtle, Walnut and Maple, so expect an open sound with nice separation and sparkling highs. It is not related to the timbers known as sassafras that grow on mainland Australia. Tonally in the range of mahoganies and walnuts, with the characteristics of both, good balance across the range with a slightly pronounced high end, the figuring is caused by a fungus.

Black Limba (Terminalia superba)

Distribution: Tropical West Africa

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

70 Also known as Korina. Korina is the wood that went into the '50's Flying V's and Explorers made by Gibson. Both were made from white limba, which Gibson referred to instead as Korina. It produces a beautiful, warm rich tone, similar to mahogany, but with maybe just a touch more resonance. It’s a personal favorite for guitar bodies and necks. The tone is great and it’s lightweight. Black Limba is generally from older trees. There are opposing opinions as to which sounds better Black or White Limba, but in a blind tone test, it’s doubtful anyone could recognize any difference. It is used for back and sides for guitars, where it’s light weight allows it to compare to mahogany. Generally known in the US as afara, korina, white limba, and black limba. It is all the same tree.

Well-defined basses, clear trebles, balanced sound throughout the scale and a very lively sound. It produces bright penetrating trebles. Top-notch separation of voices. Black limba is not always available. The figure of most cuts is very beautiful and dramatic in character.

Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Distribution: Southeastern United States

CITES: Not listed, not restricted The wood is a pale yellowish brown to yellowish green. It is native to the eastern United States, but has been to other parts of North America, Europe, and Asia. It is among the hardest and heaviest of the North American hardwoods, very stiff, splits easily, and sharp tools are a necessity. Black locust responds well to ebonizing, and does, in fact turn almost completely black. In the ground, the stuff never seems to rot. The tap tone is similar to rosewood. The sapwood of Black Locust is a creamy white, while the heartwood varies from a greenish yellow to dark brown. It turns a reddish brown when exposed to the air. It is very strong in bending and is one of the hardest woods in America.

71 Bloodwood (Brosimum rubescens)

Distribution: Tropical South America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Bloodwood is a bolder red color then either Paduak or Bois d’ Rose, but has the advantage of not oxidizing to a warmer color over time. For this reason it is often used as decorative binding and inlay by luthiers. It is remarkably dense (about as dense as the harder rosewoods such as Honduran and Brazilian) and tight-grained so it is well suited for fingerboards, bridge blanks and backs and sides. Very balanced sound, ideal for Baroque music, great volume and very nice quick response, great balance and separation of voices. The guitar makes for terrific looking instruments. Matches marvelously well with Alpine spruce and the looks are simply stunning. It makes for excellent Flamenco guitars as well. Oxidizes deeper as it ages. Not listed on CITES, but limited availability.

Blue Spruce (Picea pungens)

Distribution: Rocky Mountains of United States

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Blue spruce is a rare item but has been used with great success as a top wood by luthiers. It is very similar to Engelmann though a bit brighter.

Bocate (Cordia spp.)

Distribution: Northern Florida, West Indies, Central America, and southward to Brazil and Argentina

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Bocote comes from the same family as Ziricote (Cordia) and is found in the same region, Central America to Northern Amazon. Less brittle than Ziricote, it is a popular wood with wood turners and has had success as a guitar tonewood, though few builders have created stock models from it yet. It features a tobacco/reddish brown color with distinct, parallel black lines (it does not show the spider-webbing figure that the best grade of Ziricote

72 does). It has fine potential use in both steel string and classical guitars because of its attractive, dark color and rosewood-like tap tone.

Deep sounding basses and an overall big sound. Similar to African Blackwood. Terrific tap tone and a very wide palette of mid ranges that make it one of the best tonewoods. The looks are also quite spectacular with all shades of yellow, orange and dark brown. Construction wise, it is far more stable than Brazilian rosewood because unlike the Brazilian species, it never fissures.

Bois D’Rose (Dalbergia maritima)

Distribution: Madagascar

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Pallisander Bois D' Rose (pronounced bwah - duh - rose) is a true rosewood from Madagascar (not to be confused with Dalbergia baroni). This is a dense heavy tonewood that enjoys many of the tonal properties of cocobolo. The color ranges from deep plum purple to eggplant shades. Dark purple when cut but fades to a nearly ebony-like color over the course of a year. Can be used for fingerboards.

The wood has an incredibly fine grain and is suitable for musical instrument making, including guitar backs and woodwinds. It polishes almost like glass if sanded finely enough. The pattern of the lines varies greatly from one piece to the next and no two are exactly alike. It is one of the rarest and most beautiful types of true rosewood. Supplies are limited. Current conditions in Madagascar mean that this wood will become unavailable, as all exports have apparently stopped permanently for those that only buy legal wood.

Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra)

Distribution: Atlantic Coast of Brazil

CITES: Appdenix I

73 Brazilian rosewood is sought after for its (usually) dark brown color that ranges from chocolate brown, to rust or a warm burnt orange. Finer examples feature fine black line figuring and spider webbing (where the black lines make web-like shapes). It is considered by most to be the premier tonewood for steel string guitars. It offers a loud, warm, and rich tone. Brazilian rosewood is exceptionally prone to severe warping, cracking, and splitting; and at some time over the life of a Brazilian rosewood guitar, a crack will likely develop and need to be repaired – something that is costly for both the guitar owner and the luthier.

Brazilian rosewood will make an excellent-sounding guitar, however it is believed by many luthiers that there are woods available that are every bit as beautiful and sound every bit as good for considerably less money. East Indian Rosewood can produce an absolutely amazing guitar, and Madagascar Rosewood, Cocobolo and Honduran Rosewood are all suitable alternatives. All of these woods will produce much of the same look and sound as Brazilian rosewood.

Bubinga (Guibourtia demeusei)

Distribution: Cameroon, Gabon and Zaire

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Often called “African rosewood”, but not a true rosewood. Bubinga is quickly becoming a favorite wood with custom builders, and may soon find its way into large production shops. This wood, which comes from Africa, has a tremendously rich sound replete with warm even tones, a glassy ring, and a brilliant sparkle across the entire spectrum. It provides a slightly dark and woody overtone content with a low to mid end predominance- much like Indian rosewood. It is plentiful and available in a wide variety of cosmetic appearances. Typically Bubinga has a mottled "bees-wing" appearance under finish and also can be acquired with strong ropey curl.

74 Bunya (Araucaria bilwillii)

Distribution: Queensland Austrailia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Australian Bunya is a large evergreen conifer native to southeast Queensland and New South Wales. Heights of up to 50 m have been documented. A. bidwillii was a sacred tree for the Aboriginal people. Maton guitars pioneered the use of this tonewood in the mid 1990's and have made some of their finest guitars from Bunya. This timber has an earthy, wild, evocative tone, a change from the conventional - but with the volume, tone and beauty to stand up in its own right. Bunya is also a sustainable guitar making soundboard, reaching maturity in 80 years. Compare that to the 300 plus years it takes to grow Spruce.

Butternut (Juglans cinera)

Distribution: Eastern United States, Southern Canada

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as white walnut, butternut is softer and less likely to be figured than black walnut. It's not really white, but a creamy light brown. Butternut is considerably softer and lighter than black walnut. Butternut has a coarser texture than black walnut. The dust can be dangerous, worse than walnut, which is not good either. It has been used in solid body electric guitars.

Camatillo (Dalbergia congestiflora)

Distribution: Central America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Central America Related to Brazilian Kingwood (Dalbergia caerensis), this beautiful rosewood is rich with vivid purple & violet colors. Though related to Kingwood, the colors in this wood are more intense and the grain more demarcated. No two sets are alike; this is a very diverse and unique wood. Camatillo comes from Central America where it is selectively

75 logged by hand and harvested from the forest by mules in an environmentally friendly manner. The grain in this wood is rarely straight and generally is figured on backs & sides. There are sapwood centers in most as the tree is relatively small, producing less heartwood than many Rosewoods. This extremely rare Rosewood species holds its purple color better than any other Rosewood.

Cedro (Cedrela odorata)

Distribution: Forests of South America

CITES: Appendix III Cedro is a medium-lightweight wood. It is very stiff in comparison to its weight and is also very resistant against twisting and warping. It has a brown-red color without a very characteristic structure. Cedro looks similar to several Mahogany species. Normally used for necks and for interior parts.

Chachem (Metopium brownei)

Distribution: Central America, West Indes

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Caribbean Rosewood Cha Chen is not a true rosewood. Beautiful color, fine and consistent, tight grain, heavy and dense, adds projection and volume. Deep, humming tap tone, good sustain, like a lot of rosewoods have.

Cherry (Prunnus serotina)

Distribution: Eastern North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Cherry has a density and reflectivity approaching that of maple, producing a rich, projective midrange and balance without favoring the bass or treble frequencies. Similar to maple but less dry-sounding, clean and articulate, with more sustain and clarity than maple, also more bass and mid-range. Better clarity and balance than Honduran.

76 Claro Walnut (Juglans hindsii)

Distribution: Central California

CITES: Not listed, not restricted As a tonewood, guitars built from claro walnut retain the wood’s natural color & figure and has the bonus of being stable in service. Many luthiers and factories offer Claro Walnut as an option, a testament to its beauty, wood working properties and sustainability. Warm and earthy with the overtone depth of rosewood and clarity comparable to mahogany guitar, it also tends to impart less color to the bass and treble.

Cocobolo (Dalbergia restusa)

Distribution: Central Mexico

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Cocobolo is probably closer in tone, color and figure to the finest-grade Brazilian rosewood used on the classic guitars of yesteryear than any tone wood available today, and for far less money than the inferior-quality Brazilian currently available. Cocobolo offers everything Brazilian rosewood offers and more: increased power, increased sustains, increased volume, along with beauty of color and figure not available in Brazilian rosewood for years.

Cocobolo grows on a thin band along the Pacific Coast of Mexico down through Central America. It is selectively cut and logged by hand in Mexico, squared by chainsaw, and drug out of the forest by Mules. This is a very environmentally low impact procedure. Cocobolo is a true Rosewood, similar in color & tap tone to Brazilian Rosewood and considered to be a good substitute. It is denser than most Rosewoods and oilier.

Cuban Mahogany (Swietenia mahagani)

Distribution: Southern Florida, The Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Virgin Islands, and

Hispaniola

CITES: Appendix II

77 Plantations occasionally yield logs wide enough for guitar sets, although old growth timber is now on the CITES appendix II and although raw timber trade is regulated, finished articles can be traded freely.

Cuban Mahogany is a light pink when fresh oxidizing to deep rich red. Compared to Honduran Mahogany, Cuban is even easier to work with. It has a closer, finer grain and carves beautifully. It is seen in various figures, with curl, quilt and wavy grain although these are now rare. Cuban Mahogany tends to be denser than Honduran and hence has more rosewood like qualities, with a better-developed midrange and low end.

Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens)

Distribution: Eastern Mediterranean

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Clear penetrating sound excellent response and tap tone. It has become the wood of choice for Flamenco construction because it s easy to come by. It is also true that it makes for great classical playing. Cypress allows for a crisp sound with little sustain but very penetrating trebles. The pale coloring of the grain makes the resulting instrument a striking one. Cypress is one of the few coniferous woods, which are suitable for backs and sides for their comparable high density. It is mostly used for Flamenco guitars. Besides its light-yellow color, its appearance is typical for coniferous woods. Remarkable is its intensive, aromatic smell, which lasts for years. The Spanish cypress traditionally used for flamenco guitars (Cupressus macrocarpa) is unlikely to be the same as US woods. Canadian Cypress (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) Canadian Cypress, Yellow Cedar Alaskan Yellow Cedar, aka Canadian cypress, is so closely related to the true cypresses that have been classified with them by botanists in the past.

Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)

Distribution: Western North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

78 This common wood, actually a false hemlock and not a true fir, is often overlooked for musical instruments. Yet, when a major scientific study was conducted on a wide variety of woods for their tonal qualities, old growth Douglas Fir was rated as one the most desirable, rating higher than nearly every other species. It tends to be harder and heavier than spruce. The tone is good.

East Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)

Distribution: India

CITES: Not listed, not restricted It is richly grained with dark purple, red and brown color. It is resinous, stable and generally more consistent than most other rosewood species. It produces a deep warm reverb like projective bass response that is especially marked on large-bodied guitars.

Elm (Ulmus americana)

Distribution: Eastern North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted An underrated wood Elm sounds like maple, but warmer in the highs. This is an amazing tone wood and looks incredible. In terms of musical instruments, Elm isn't as commonly used as other woods but it still produces a sturdy instrument. As a tonewood it tends to sound like maple, but warmer in the highs. Can be a little unstable. It's quite dense.

Engelmann Spruce

(Picea engelmannii) Distribution: Western North America CITES: Not listed, not restricted

(Picea abies) Distribution: Europe CITES: Not listed, not restricted

Engelmann is also known as white, European or German spruce, although they are technically different species. It is usually visually distinguishable from Sitka by its

79 creamier complexion. In low supply. Engelmann trees these days are so small and twisted that there is a fair amount of runout (grain that doesn’t run parallel to the surface) and as a result, mismatched tops. Sonically, Engelmann has a mature tone, and yields a slightly richer midrange than Sitka, which makes a guitar sound a bit older. Old growth Engelmann tends to have a sonic attribute of smoothness or refinement to it, but the days of older growth Engelmann trees are essentially gone for now. Goes well with all styles of guitars and players, but especially favored by fingerpickers.

Flamewood (Dalbergia cochinshinensis)

Distribution: Laos, Thailand, Cambodia,Vietnam

CITES: Not listed, not restricted A true rosewood from Southeast Asia. Similar in color to freshly cut Nicaraguan Cocobol. Tap tone is comparable to Honduran rosewood and rings like a bell.

Franquette Walnut (Juglans regia)

Distribution: Kyrgyzstan

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Carpathian/English Walnut. The Franquette is a very old Walnut variety, originating in Persia. For centuries it was cultivated for nut production, but is now being replaced with more productive hybrids. Franquette Walnut is very dense and hard with spectacular high contrast marbling. It is highly prized for the finest gunstocks and furniture. The tonal qualities are excellent.

Gidgee (Acacia cambagei)

Distribution: Australia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted This timber is chocolate colored with a fine, even grain. Dark chocolate brown to black, occasionally with streaks of purple it occurs in flamed varieties, occasionally called

80 Ringed Gidgee. Unusual to find it large enough for back and sides. Great fingerboards.

Goncalo Alves (Astronium fraxinifolium)

Distribution: Amazon Rainforest

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Goncalo Alves is a wonderful often overlooked tonewood. Also known, as Tigerwood or South American Zebrawood. Has been growing in popularity among builders who favor bold, contrasting figure on the back and sides. The color is an attractive honey-tan with broad reddish brown stripes, which often paint dramatic, symmetrical shapes across the bookmatched guitar back. Although it is lightweight, it is only slightly porous and finishes nicely. The tone is similar to Mahogany. It is a dense wildly colored tropical hardwoods. Also known as tigerwood because of the colors in this species with its orange and black streaks. Tree is Native To: Guyana, Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Trinidad and Brazil.

Granadillo Pittier (Dalbergia granadillo)

Distribution: Southern Mexico

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Granadillo Pittier is a true Rosewood. Dalbergia granadillo is also a form of cocobolo, a closely related cousin in fact. Sometimes called Black Cocobolo. Also known as 'Granadillo Negro". The wood has a beautiful red/purple wine color.

Grenadillo (Platymiscium pinntatum)

Distribution: Columbia, Venezula, and Eduador

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Mexican Rosewood, Macacauba, Macawood. This wood has a nice purple brown color reminiscent of Indian rosewood, except that it does not have the straight lines that Indian has. Grenadillo does have a subtle wavy figure & a bright responsive tap tone. Hard and heavy, good for fingerboards. Used in banjos and recorders as well. In

81 use by a number of prominent Brazilian luthiers, it is quite dense, making it a responsive and lively tonewood. Granadillo is a relatively new wood to American guitar making but is fairly common in South America. It is nonporous, straight grained, very dense. The reddish brown color will darken to a brick color over time, much like Honduran rosewood. Not a true Rosewood, it is commonly used by many in South America for instrument building under the name Macacauba . Dense, straight, and closed grain structure combine to produce bright tap tone with good sustain. Wood darkens to Rosewood colors -beautiful color & character at a good value.

Hickory (Carya spp.)

Distribution: United States

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Hickory has a very high modulus of elasticity compared to most North American woods though some tropical woods have a greater MOE. In plain English the MOE is how wood bends. A higher number means more resistance to bending. It also has a high modulus of rupture. This means an ability to not break whilst bending. It has huge open grain pores that require filling with Zpoxy finishing resin. Hickory has a tendency to become brittle as it ages and it is moderately heavy as well. Hickory has very long fibers. It's "springy", which is why it is a preferred wood for things like ax handles.

Honduran Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)

Distribution: South America

CITES: Appendix II and Appendix III Adequate supply though old growth is CITES listed; threatened, but there are plantations. Pink yellow when sawed, but oxidizes to deep rich red or brown. Works easily, takes a beautiful finish. Honduran Mahogany is lighter in weight than rosewood, koa, or maple. In spite of its weight, it yields a strong loud sound with a quick response and an emphasis on a warm, round midrange.

82 Honduras Rosewood (Dalbergia stevensonii)

Distribution: Belize (British Honduras)

CITES: Not listed, not restricted This wood is the exception that proves the rule that the wood species contributes very little to the tone of an instrument. Honduras rosewood is extremely hard and brittle. Guitars made from it have a cold, glassy sound lacking in depth. It is a wonderful tonewood that is warm, well balanced and exceptionally beautiful (these two sentences were together on purpose). Many sets have a deeply veined spider-web grain similar to premium sets of Brazilian rosewood (without being subjected to all of Brazilian Rosewood’s shortcomings). Honduran Rosewood will produce a guitar of the highest quality. Bright, loud tone .

Honduran is more of a brick red/brown in color and Amazon is similar in color to Brazilian rosewood but is usually found with less figure. Although more light purple in color than other rosewoods, Honduran gives a rich complex sound. It has one of the best tap tones heard in hardwoods.

Hormigo (Platymiscium dimorpandrun)

Distribution: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras

CITES: Not listed, not restricted The Hormigo is a tree that grows in humid forest zones. It is used commonly to make musical instruments, such as the keys of the marimba. Its wood is reddish with clear pigmentation; it is strong and compacted, durable and beautiful sounding when struck. It is sometimes called "the wood that sings". The knife handle business nearly made it extinct. Its appearance is similar to Cuban mahogany, but its density, stiffness, and its tone is more like Brazilian.

83 Huon Pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii) Distribution: Tasmania, Austraila

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Steel string guitars with smaller bodies tend to sound bigger in this wood. The tone of Huon Pine is restrained but with tremendous sustain and great richness and depth in the overtone content over all ranges. It has very similar qualities to New Zealand Kauri in terms of headroom and response. Huon pine has a Golden Yellow hue with fine grain and aromatic rot resistant oils. The oils contain methyl eugenol, which is responsible for the timber’s unique smell and resistance to rot. It is softer and heavier than spruce, requiring a fine balancing act in terms of thickness for strength yet thinness for weight.

Imbuya (Phoebe porosa)

Distribution: Brazil

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also called Brazilian walnut, Imbuya is very similar to walnut in working properties. This species grows in Southern Brazil and is sometimes called Brazilian Walnut (but it is not a true walnut). It is a colorful, fine textured wood, prized by woodworkers. The heartwood is yellow-olive to chocolate brown, sometimes gray-brown, with variegated streaks and stripes. Grain pattern varies widely, with many different figures occurring in individual boards. Imbuia does have occasional wormholes that leave a nice pattern on the wood. Highly figured Imbuia can be very striking and will make a beautiful guitar.

East Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)

Distribution: Eastern India

According to Bob Taylor, tonally East Indian rosewood is the same as Indian rosewood.

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

84 Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia sisso)

Distribution: India, Iran

CITES: Not listed, not restricted This wood grew in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s as it became increasingly difficult to obtain Brazilian Rosewood in instrument grades. Some find East India Rosewood to be one of the best tonewoods on the market, and superior to its much-coveted Brazilian cousin. It has a warm, rich, responsive tone that has clear and tight bass projection without overshadowing sparkling midrange or trebles. As a tonewood, Indian Rosewood has been an industry standard for the past few decades. It’s acceptance over Brazilian rosewood stems from its wider availability and sustainability.

Jacaranda (Dalbergia sp.)

Distribution: Indonesia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Indonesian Rosewood. Jacaranda is a common name used/misused throughout the timber industry for a variety of types of wood. The Jacaranda is a type of Rosewood grown in Indonesia. Its appearance and physical properties are between Brazilian rosewood and Indian rosewood. The wood exhibits beautiful shades of purple, gold, and brown. Tonally, it provides the warm rich tones of most rosewood with a powerful bass and clear midrange and treble.

Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata)

Distribution: South Western Australia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted It s makes a loud instrument, with strong midrange voices. It often has curly grain and makes fine looking and sounding guitars. There are a wide variety of figure types from a curl/fiddleback to a black fleck marking which can be quite bold. Tonally tends to be in the mids to bass range but it would depend on what top you couple it with. Jarrah, in combination with King Billy Pine, makes lovely sounding mandolins. However, the

85 instruments are quite heavy because Jarrah is a very heavy timber, and most musicians do notice this and don't like it. Tonally, Jarrah is very strong in the bass. Mandolins made from Jarrah have a strong rich sounding bass, which imparts an overall fuller tonal quality on the instrument.

Jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril)

Distribution: Caribben, Central and South America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Brazilean Cherry. Between Maple and Rosewood in its hardness & density, as it is tonally. Jatoba is very similar to Ovangkol in its appearance, but generally has a more pronounced figure. Fabulous looking on guitars.This wood will be used as a substitute for now scarce Koa since its grain and color is very similar. The hardness allows for a slightly more ringing tone than Koa.

Kauri (Agathis australis)

Distribution: Endemic to northern New Zealand

CITES: Not listed, not restricted The logs are below the surface of what are usually farm fields and ranch lands. When a site is identified, permission is secured and expert operators of heavy equipment carefully expose and lift the logs out of the prehistoric bogs. They are immense, and raising the logs to the surface is just part of the job: moving them to a location to begin the milling process, and the milling itself, has necessitated some innovative equipment designs and plain old lumber man's ingenuity. One notable difference: when finishing Ancient Kauri, special rewards await the woodworker who sands Ancient Kauri to 600 grit and higher. The wood grains and textures seem to come alive when polished to these levels. Radio carbon dating places the age of the Ancient Kauri trees that are being excavated from the northland of New Zealand at 50,000 years old. This is the maximum limit of radio carbon dating, it is probable that this wood is even older. Kauri is a warm wood with tonal qualities similar to Mahogany. It often exhibits spectacular flash under reflected light.

King Billy Pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides)

Distribution: Tasmania

CITES: Not listed, not restricted King Billy Pine is an extremely slow growing species that grows only in the mountains of northwest and southwest Tasmania. King Billy Pine is one of the finest soundboard timbers that grow upon this earth. It makes beautiful sweet clear sounding mandolins that many musicians prefer over the best spruce-topped instruments. It is used for soundboards for guitars and violins although it excels as a mandolin top. The tone of King Billy Pine is sweet in the midrange with a strong bass and open trebles. It has headroom similar to redwood and responds much like cedar.

King Billy Pine is no longer harvested commercially and it is now almost impossible to get clean quarter sawn pieces suitable for soundboards The results are a little variable, probably because the wood is of variable quality.

Koa (Acacia koa)

Distribution: Hawaiian Islands

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Hawaiian Koa is easily one of the most sought after tonewoods available, with colors ranging from brown to gold, with rich and varying grain. Koa is likely to see a dramatic rise in price over the next several years. The wood is native to, and only grows on the islands of Hawaii. Highly figured Koa is a prized tonewood for both its beauty and influence on sound. Koa produces a warm rich sound – somewhere between the darker sounds that Rosewood guitars produce and the clean bright sound of a Maple guitar. Increasingly, Koa is becoming difficult and very expensive to obtain in master-grade sets.

Lacewood (Cardwellia sublimes) (Roupala brasiliense)

Distribution: Queens Island Austraila

87 CITES: Not listed, not restricted The grain has web-like patterns that look almost like snakeskin. The tone falls between walnut and maple. Lacewood has one serious drawback, however, which may be why it has been passed over by just about everybody. It’s extremely difficult to finish.

There are a variety of lacewoods. Roupala brasiliense is from South America and is properly called South American lacewood or Brazilian lacewood. Cardwellia sublimis is native to Northern Australia where it is called silky oak, but in the USA it is called lacewood or Australian lacewood.

It is a dense wood with a loud, sustaining tap tone. Lacewood’s color is a warm cinnamon brown and has bold figure (the name leopard wood is sometimes used). Some builders feel that this wood contributes to a warm tone characteristic of guitars many years older.

Leopardwood (Panopsis rebellens)

Distribution: South America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Pronounced low-mids, clear high-mids, slightly dark, warm and round. Has an appearance similar to Roupala brasiliense (South American lacewood) but can often be distinguished from it with a small amount of experience, it is darker brown in color and is harder and heavier and with a noticeably finer texture. It is sometimes called lacewood just as lacewood is sometimes called leopardwood.

Lutz Spruce (Pinaceae) Distribution: North America, Mexico, Eurasia CITES: Not listed, not restricted It is a hybrid species (Picea lutzii) and one of the newest tonewoods to hit the scene in recent years and it is a great tonewood. Lutz Spruce combines the size, strength and stiffness of Sitka and the texture and lustre of Engelmann/White Spruce. It is both

88 responsive to a light touch for finger style as well as able to handle a good strum.

Macassar Ebony (Diospyros celebica)

Distribution: Celebes and Sulawesi Island in East Indonesia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted A dense hardwood Macassar Ebony is great wood for bridges, fretboards, binding and faceplates. Macassar boasts a lot of presence and is typically clear and loud with a broad dynamic range. It seems to be a wood that is uniquely responsive to different playing styles. It has a strong bass and lower mids; clear and transparent highs that respond like an accelerator pedal as you move your right hand closer to the bridge and dig in a bit; and a slightly scooped midrange. Macassar has a great ‘low-fi,’ old Gibson vibe, dark, dense, and heavy.

Macassar Ebony is one of the most striking woods. By far the best value in Ebony. Many find the striping in this wood to be very beautiful. From East Indonesia, Macassar Ebony glues well and bends fairly easy

Machiche (Lonchocarpus castilloi) Distribution: Central America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Machiche is an excellent hardwood with deep browns, brick reds, and fine grain patterns. This makes the wood look somewhat like old growth Honduras Rosewood. Good sustain and crisp projection make this Central American hardwood a good choice for acoustical properties as well as dollar value.

Madagascan Rosewood (Dalbergia grevaena)

Distribution: Western Madagascar

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

89 As a tonewood, Madgasacan rosewood has been championed as a substitute to Brazilian Rosewood although it’s rarity thou, over-exploitation may push it towards a similar fate. It provides a dark and bell-like overtone content with a slow response. It produces guitars that are evenly responsive across the entire tonal register and have a crisp sound that has been attributed to old-growth Brazilian Rosewood. Madagascar Rosewood is not plagued by the negative flaws of Brazilian Rosewood like cracking, splitting and severe warping. Madagascar Rosewood will produce a beautiful guitar that will last for generations.

The tonal distinctions between Madagascan Rosewood and East Indian rosewood tend to be subtle; if anything, Madagascan may yield more midrange bloom than East Indian, although it’s typically not quite as full as Ovangkol.

Big Leaf Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)

Distribution: Central and South America

CITES: Appendix II and III Mahogany is a good wood to anchor a survey of tones, as a lot of other wood tones can be described in relation to it. Its essential sonic profile is well represented in the midrange frequencies. Acoustic guitars in general tend to live in the midrange portion of the sound spectrum, but mahogany in particular displays a lot of midrange character. As a popular tonewood for many decades, mahogany has been used on scads of old school acoustic recordings and that sonic heritage carries across various strains of roots music, from blues to folk to slack key.

As a back and side wood, mahogany has sometimes been considered a "poor man's choice", but there is now a great appreciation for its unique tonal qualities. It seems that mahogany ages well and its true value may not reveal itself until a few years have passed.

Tonally, it is less projective than spruce, producing a crisp and delicate response with emphasis on the midrange. Genuine Mahogany is yellowish brown to reddish brown in color, exceptionally stable and consistently clear. It is much lighter in weight than

90 rosewood, koa, or maple but yields a surprisingly strong loud sound with an emphasis on clear bright treble.

Makore (Tieghemella heckelii)

Distribution: Western and Middle Africa

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as African Cherry, douka, baku, cherry mahogany Makore is pink to pinkish- brown and oxidizes to a golden brown. Makore has excellent finishing and gluing properties. The sapwood can be up to 4.5 inches thick and is light pink or off-white in color.

Malaysian Blackwood (Diospyros ebonasea)

Distribution: Malaysia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Malaysian Blackwood is a premium tonewood that is well suited for all sorts of guitars. It has become a favorite of several well known high-end luthiers and its popularity is growing. Denser than most rosewoods, the sustaining, glassy tap tone draws comparisons to African Blackwood. It is slightly less brittle though, and unlike African Blackwood, most sets have attractive dark streaks (also, African Blackwood is a true rosewood, Malaysian Blackwood is not). The overall coloring is similar to Ziricote, with black and dark gray colors highlighted by subtle reddish brown and/or green hue. Some say that this wood makes an even better sounding guitar than the old Brazilian.

There are two variants. One is dark-reddish brown to black, and the other is greenish with brown streaks, similar to Macassar ebony (Diospyros celebica). Similar in properties to African Blackwood in many respects including density, tonal quality and workability.

Mango (Mangifera Indica)

Distribution: India

91 CITES: Not listed, not restricted Mango is hard, moderately heavy, works easily and sands beautifully making wonderful furniture and musical instruments. The wood has a good bright tone similar to Hawaiian koa, dry and crisp. It is much harder to find quality wood though, as much is too soft and cannot be cut thin enough.

Maple (Acer sp.)

Distribution: Asia, Europe, Africa and North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Electric guitar necks are commonly made from maple, having a brighter sound than rosewood. The necks of the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster were originally an entirely maple one piece neck, but later were also available with rosewood fingerboards. Maple is the only wood used for backs and sides in the violin family so it is well known to instrument makers, even though just a modest percentage of guitars are made with it. Maple is well known for imparting bright tone to an instrument, with excellent separation

The hard maple harvested in the northeastern part of the United States is dense, moderately stiff, and has low to medium internal dampening. It produces a clear, cutting, bright, and fundamental targeted tone. Sustains slightly better than softer maples. Curly Maple comes in both soft and hard varieties. Soft Curly maple is similar to hard although with a general tendency to be bassier. Soft maple is slightly more responsive than Hard Maple but with less sustain.

European Flamed Maple (Germany) is a particular species of European maple, very hard and reflective, producing a loud powerful projective sound. Uniquely figured American ‘birdseye’ maple displays characteristics and tonal properties similar to European Flamed maple.

The wood of sugar maple and black maple is known as hard maple; that of silver maple, red maple, and boxelder as soft maple. The sapwood of the maples is commonly white

92 with a slight reddish-brown tinge; the heartwood is light reddish brown, but sometimes is considerably darker.

Meranti (Shorea)

Distribution: Southeast Asia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Know as ‘Filipino mahogany’. Wonderful fiddlebacnk. A low cost timber favored more for its stability and structural strength than tonal properties. Allows factories to build low cost guitars that work properly, even if their tone isn't that spectacular. It has a very nice tap tone, light & brittle.

Mesquite (Algarroba)

Distribution: Southwestern United States

CITES: Not listed, not restricted A very strong, heavy and hard wood with medium stiffness. Heartwood is rich dark brown with darker wavy lines. The yellows, pinks and orange/reds appear in marble like grains to make this an exquisite wood. Grain is slightly wavy. Growth rings are defined. Not lustrous, but has a fragrance. Durable and stable wood, with a pleasant sound, its an extremely hard wood. Could turn out very trebly if not carved and tuned correctly.

Monkey Pod (Pithecebium saman)

Distribution: South America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted As a tonewood it is Mellow and balanced, not loud. Monkey-pod originated in Central and South America, but has been successfully transplanted in many tropical countries. It has been used for years for carving and bowls, but has recently found favor with guitar builders. Monkey-pod is a golden amber color with dark streaks sometimes resembling Koa or Acacia. Its’ tonal characteristics are similar to mahogany and it has even been used as soundboard material.

Monteray Cypress (Cuprssus macrocarpa)

Distribution: Central Coast of California

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Central Coast of California Because Monterey Cypress grows in areas subject to strong winds, the trees are often leaning substantially which tends to load the wood with tension. This can make the wood a challenge to work with. If the tree happened to grow vertically the wood is a dream to work with and is exceptionally stable, close to Walnut. Once cut, it will oxidize to a warm orange hue over time. The hues have a pinkish tone, but the overall appearance is one of a creamy luster. It is a stronger and more reasonably priced alternative to Spanish Cypress. It is indistinguishable from Spanish Cypress in terms of sound production. It's stronger than Spanish cypress, works nicely, glues and finishes well.

Marado (Machaerium sp.)

Distribution: Bolivia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted It is also known as Bolivian or Santos rosewood, caviuna, cabiuna, pau ferro. It ranges from a light violet brown to reddish brown in color with occasional olive and black streaks. Finer in texture than most rosewoods, it is a close visual substitute for East Indian rosewood, and has very similar tonal properties. Used for similar purposes of Brazilian rosewood, such as turnery, cabinets, fine furniture, specialty items, and decorative veneers. Heartwood color is brown to dark violet brown, frequently with streaks throughout and a waxy feel. Sapwood is slightly yellow, white or gray. It has a straight to irregular grain with a fine to coarse texture. It is lustrous and produces an occasional walnut fragrance.

Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans)

Distribution: Australia and New Zealand

94 CITES: Not listed, not restricted The timber is bone white and despite a coarse texture, is easy to work. It can exhibit a fiddleback figure, its use has been limited to the Australian builders but it makes a very fine neck and back & sides wood. Its very stable, very strong, and lightweight. Great sound for use as back and sides, as its warm and clear at the same time. Not really the same sound as mahogany, anyone who likes a mahogany Martin 000, might like the sound of Mountain Ash. The tone is something like a cross between Mahogany and Maple.

Movingui (Distemonanthus benthamianus)

Distribution: West Africa

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Known as African Satinwood, the sapwood ranges from white to straw, but the heartwood is brilliant golden yellow and can exhibit a ribbon pattern or curly figure. It has an interlocked grain with a fine texture. It is used for back and sides for guitars, it is frequently compared to mahogany. The tone of Movingui roughly falls between Koa and Honduran Mahogany, it has more balance than Mahogany but slightly less overtones than Koa.

Myrtle (Umbellularia californica)

Distribution: California and Southern Oregon

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Myrtlewood, is a rare evergreen, an exotic hardwood, that grows in a very limited range along the Pacific Coast, from extreme northern California through southern Oregon. Oregon Myrtle, also known as California Bay Laurel or Pepperwood, ranges in color from blonde-yellow to taupe and makes very nice guitars. Tonally it is similar to Maple, clear and bright with nice projection, but it is much easier to bend than Maple.

95 Myrtlewood is probably the most exotic wood growing in North America. It is often highly figured and beautifully burled, with a wide range of grain patterns and colors. Myrtlewood has exceptionally fine tonal qualities and is prized for use in musical instruments. This superior tonewood is perfect for both acoustic and electric guitars. Spalted Myrtlewood is a woodworkers and luthiers’ dream come true. Maple and other woods can provide great visual appeal when spalted, but the wood is usually structurally degraded. Spalted Myrtlewood is structurally solid, so much so that it can be used for acoustic guitars, yielding superior tonal quality and incredible eye appeal.

Narra (Pterocarpus indicus)

Distribution: Oceania

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Narra is a wood that comes from the Solomon Islands. Also known as Amboyna, Angsana, and New Guinea Rosewood, though it is not a rosewood. Its color is similar to Koa; golden tan to cinnamon brown. Sets may have a dazzling bees-wing figure and interlocking grain. It seems to be a little harder than most Koa, a good choice for fingerstyle steel string guitars. Beautiful shades of gold to golden brown with a gorgeous curly figure. More frequently luthiers are looking harvesting alternative woods that are sustainable such as Padauk and Narra.

(Red) Oak (Quercus rubra)

Distribution: Northeast United States and Canada

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Oak has proven to be a top of the line wood when it comes to concert instrument construction. It is not always available. The Tasmanian variety is extremely rare. It produces a full sound full of harmonics and it ranks with the best tonewoods woods on the planet. It looks gorgeous and works perfectly with Spruce, Cedar or redwood. Quartered oak is common at lumberyards. The only thing wrong with oak instruments is

96 that they look like furniture.

Olivewood (Olea europenea)

Distribution: Mediterranean, Africa and Asia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Mediterranean Olive is gold to black in color, can be highly figured, dense, oily, beautiful golden brown lumber with brown and black streaks running through it. These trees are usually only harvested when they are too old to produce olives or are damaged by disease or nature. Olives are usually pruned to keep the olives close to the ground so long lengths in olive are uncommon. Olive can also come with tiger striping and burl.

Wild Olive Wood (Olea capensis macrocarpus)

Distribution: Zambia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted is a rare hardwood/tonewood from Zambia. Beautiful colors, contrast and light figuring combine to yield exquisite beauty.

Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera)

Distribution: Texas

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Bois d' Arc. This beautiful hardwood ages to a golden tan or Russet brown. Several luthiers have stated that Osage Orange was a drop-in replacement of Brazilian Rosewood or even Superior to it. Its tap tone is similar to the rosewoods but it has less bass response. Most trees never reach sufficient size to be used for bodies of guitars.

Ovangkol (Guibortia ehie)

Distribution: Tropical West Africa

97 CITES: Not listed, not restricted Ovangkol is a very attractive wood and is highly sought for musical instruments. Taylor guitars introduced the world to a pair of new tonewoods, the first being Ovangkol. An African relative of rosewood, it’s a great sounding wood that shares many of rosewood’s tonal properties, with a slightly fuller midrange and a top end that’s not quite as bright as maple. Ovangkol, also called Shedua and Amazaqoue. It is from Western Africa near the Ivory Coast. Ovangkol back and sides sit between the warmth and depth of strong Rosewood and the sparkling trebles and highs of Maple. It comes from the same family as Bubinga, sharing many tonal qualities, and has a similar interlocking grain pattern. A great alternative tonewood due to ample supply, the logs are large and the sets are very on quarter and straight.

Paduak (Pterocarpus soyauxii)

Distribution: Central and Tropical west Africa

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

Paduak (Pterocarpus dalbergioides)

Distribution: India

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

Padauk is a unique hardwood from Africa that has a bright Vermillion color when first cut. Over time, it slowly ages to a purple Rosewood color. Slightly harder and heavier than Indian rosewood it is a good back and side wood in all respects - stable, easy to work, with a strong tone. The lumber is readily available in larger planks, so the sets are moderately priced and exhibit good, straight grain throughout most pieces. Huge logs are available, producing well-quartered, straight grain sets. Larger sizes are sometimes available (for basses and baritones).

Palo Escrito (Dalbergia paloescrito)

Distribution: Mexico

98 CITES: Not listed, not restricted Known as Mexican rosewood. Guitars with back and sides made of Palo Escrito are known for a sweet high end and good punch. Palo Escrito is relatively light rosewood with the tone and workability comparable to Indian Rosewood. It shows attractive shades of red and golden brown, and is often figured. Palo Escrito is considered a premier tonewood in Mexico due to its even and lively tone.

Palo Escrito is the premiere native back and side wood used by the luthiers in Paracho, Mexico. It is a true Rosewood, but differs from Indian Rosewood visually with slightly wider grain, more figure, and lighter color. It is also lighter in weight. Palo Escrito is a natural for flamenco and classical guitar builders.

Panama Rosewood (Dalbergia tucerencis)

Distribution: Central America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Bark, leaves, and seeds were sent to the Madison lab, and all they could ascertain was that it was indeed a Dalbergia. It is in appearance very similar to Honduran rosewood, straight and fine grained, but it is lighter in weight, and tends toward brown in color. Most luthiers who have tested this wood say it compares well to Brazilian rosewood, and we believe that it's an excellent replacement wood for the vintage Brazilian look. It's one of the few true rosewoods apart from Indian rosewood that can still be had at a reasonable price.

Pau Ferro (Machaerium scleroxylum)

Distribution: South America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

Also known as Morado, Jacaranda Pardo or Bolivian Rosewood. Pau Ferro is not technically a rosewood and is less dense and less glassy-sounding. The sound more closely resembles Walnut. However, this wood is among the favorites for building an

99 exceptional quality guitar. Cosmetically, Pau Ferro can range from chocolate brown with intense figure to perfectly straight-grained quarter sawn stock that tends to lean more toward tan and gold hues. Heavier that Indian Rosewood, Pau Ferro has a nice tap tone and is tonally similar to Indian Rosewood.

Pau Rosa (Swartzia fistuloides)

Distribution: Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Ghana and Nigeria

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Pau Rosa is a very hard wood. Beautiful salmon color with cream sapwood. Tap tone is very similar to Honduran Rosewood. Also known as African Tulip, this beautiful African hardwood contains beautiful orange, red, pink & golden colors. It is dense and, has bright tap tone, which is similar to Rosewoods, glues well, and takes a high natural polish.

Pear (Pyrus communis)

Distribution: Europe, North America and Austrailia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Pearwood usually gives a more vibrant tone with greater presence than maple. Reddish colored wood of a medium density; flamed pieces can appear rather attractive. Stained black, pear was often used for fingerboards on vintage banjos.

Pernambuco (Caesalpinia echinata)

Distribution: Atlantic Coast of Brazil

CITES: Appendix II

Pernambuco has the highest velocity of sound among the tonewoods. A mahogany neck with Brazilian rosewood fretboard cannot rival the pernambuco. Known as Brazilwood. The tree is also known by other names, as iIirapitanga, Tupi for red wood; or pau de pernambuco, named after the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

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Pernambuco only grows in what remains of the Brazilian Atlantic forest. It is rarely available in guitar sets, and not at all from the usual commercial guitar wood suppliers. Factories have none of it, and only a few hand builders do, so most people may not get to hear a guitar made from it. Listed in CITES as Appendix II, but an exception to CITES has been made for its import and export for use in musical instruments. This came about because of lobbying by classical music organizations, since Pernambuco has been the wood of choice for over two centuries for violin bows. But the exception fortunately applies to all musical instrument use.

Pernambuco is a very rare tone-wood, especially in sizes large enough for 100% quarter sawn 2 piece backs. The trees are very small in diameter, similar in size to Madagascar Rose wood trees. It is a strange looking shade of burnt orange, almost pumpkin in color, the tone and sustain more than makes up for the odd appearance.

Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)

Distribution: North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted The only native American ebony. Has been used on fretboards and bridges. The common persimmon tree yields hard, creamy wood that occasionally has black streaks near the heart. Texas persimmon has more dark heartwood. The wood is not all that common commercially. It would probably have to be dyed to assume the traditional role of ebony as a fingerboard and as peghead veer, although the heartwood is nearly black. It polishes nicely. Persimmon is a gorgeous yellow wood with a striking grain and it is extremely hard which gives it a characteristically clear tone.

Pervuian Walnut (Juglans neotropica)

Distribution: Peru, Colombia and Ecuador

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

101 Peruvian Walnut is a true walnut. It can be a rich dark chocolate brown color, sometimes broad, dark lines. May have awesome figure. Peruvian walnut is slightly denser than Walnuts, which may increase volume and/or projection. Peruvian Walnut acoustic guitar tonewood is denser than other Walnuts. Peruvian Walnut acoustic guitar back and sides may have more volume and projection than other walnut species.

Pistachio (Pistacia vera)

Distribution: Iran, Lyria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Tunisia, California, Italy,

Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Pakistan, Tajikistan

CITES: Not listed, not restricted This is the variety of Pistachio grown commercially for nut production. The wood is very dense and hard, similar to Ebony. The colors include green, red, white, and tan to dark brown, in stunning patterns of contracting bands. Pistachio has excellent tonal qualities and a most unique look. Almost impossible to find in sizes big enough for bodies. Fingerboards can be found.

Port Orford Cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana)

Distribution: Southwest Oregon Coast

CITES: Not listed, not restricted An incredibly lightweight, yet tough wood, it possesses phenomenal tonal qualities. Acoustic and electric guitars made of Port Orford Cedar are light weight and sound magnificent. The tone of Port Orford Cedar could be described as bold and direct throughout the fundamentals with little overtone content. It has slightly better headroom to Sitka spruce and but responds to the touch in the same way. It is a creamy, off-white color with straight, somewhat uneven medium grain and often completely free of knots. In addition to its exceptional beauty, strength, and durability, it has also been used for back and sides as well as necks. Much of the US production is exported to Japan for furniture.

102 Primavera (Tabebuia donnell) (Tabebuia simthii)

Distribution: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as spring or Paradise Wood. Similar in appearance to Mahogany, Primavera has creamy golden white colors with darker variegated lines randomly running through the wood. The iridescence in this species is strong and beautiful, combining with interlocked grain. The tone and volume of Primavera is excellent, with a perfect balance of bass and treble. This gorgeous wood is found in most of Latin America. It is amazingly beautiful, perhaps ideal for light guitar construction. It is far better than Cypress when it comes to the Flamenco sound but the great side to this wood is that it performs fantastically well in Classical music as well making it a top choice for Flamenco/Classical Construction.

Purpleheart (Peltogyne)

Distribution: Central and South America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Purple Heart is a fabulous tonewood with some of the best characteristics for a world class tonewood. It is very dense and projects marvelously. It is in the same league as African Blackwood, Lapacho and Brazilian rosewood without the drawbacks of Brazilian rosewood that is a high maintenance wood. The curly variety is very scarce. Purpleheart is brown when freshly cut but oxidizes to a bright violet purple and eventually to a dark purplish brown. Hard, heavy and finely textured, purpleheart's grain is usually straight, often with a fine, curly figure. There is considerable variation in color, texture and density among the several species that account for commercial supplies of purpleheart. It is moderately hard to work but takes a glossy, lustrous finish.

Purpleheart has creamy white/gray sapwood but like its name suggests, the heartwood is a bright, striking purple when freshly cut, darkening into a deeper purple with age. It has a medium to fine texture with a luster that ranges from medium to high; its grain is usually straight but can be wavy or irregular.

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Red Myrtle (Nothofagus Cunninghamii)

Distribution: Victoria and Tasmania, Austrailia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Tiger Myrtle is a superb tonewood. Also known as Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle, Myrtle Beech, and Southern Beech. It exhibits deep rich colors of red, pink, and orange, occasionally with curly figuring. Tasmanian Red Myrtle is becoming a highly sought after tonewood for its wide tonal range and warm overtones. Myrtle produces beautiful Burl and is becoming a highly sought after tonewood for acoustic and solid body electric guitars. It has a robust tap tone.

Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)

Distribution: Northern Coast of California

CITES: Not listed, not restricted A tonally superior wood from the coastal mountains of Northern California, the only significant alternative to cedar tops is redwood. Redwood has come into its own as a legitimate tonewood. It is richer in color than cedar with darker reds. Though similar tonally to cedar, some say redwood is more robust & brighter. Salvaged old growth Redwood can be found in burl, straight and curly grain. This beautiful tight grain wood provides the finest quality acoustic guitar soundboards, highly resonate solid bodies. Redwood makes very high quality acoustic guitar soundboards, highly resonate solid bodies, and stunning, intensely figured tops for electric guitars.

Sapele (Entandrophragma cylindricum)

Distribution: West Africa

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Sapele is a highly sustainable, relatively fast-growing wood. Sapele is a member of the same family Meliaceae that includes mahogany. Sapele also shares the warm, rich, woody mahogany tone. Premium Sapele sets show a broad range of extraordinary figure

104 that gives it a three-dimensional appearance. This includes quilted, pommele, fiddleback, striped, blistered, and wavy. Sapele has a lustrous appearance with shades of reddish brown. As traditional Honduran Mahogany rises in price and is nearing placement on the CITES treaty, instrument makers have been experimenting more and more with other variations of Mahogany. Sapele is an African tree that is beautiful, plentiful, and produces wonderful guitars.

Silver Oak (Grevillea robusta)

Distribution: Eastern Coastal Australia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Dubbed the most workable wood in the World in the 1800s, Silver Oak was originally from Australia. Beautiful pinks, reds, and golden tones combine with exceptional iridescent qualities to make this an excellent choice for instruments. Unique grain patterns with beautiful rays set this exotic hardwood apart from other woods. It is a relatively inexpensive choice, but is viewed by some Luthiers as preferable due to its great acoustical properties.

Sitka Spruce (Picea Sitchensis)

Distribution: West Coast of North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Sitka spruce is the top wood standard of the modern era. It’s used on 85-90 percent of the guitars that Taylor makes. Its dynamic range is very broad, allowing for everything from aggressive strumming and flatpicking to fingerpicking. Sitka spruce is creamy white with a pink tinge. Tonally, it provides vibrant transmission of sound. Bear Claw Sitka Spruce (Pacific Northwest) a variety of Sitka Spruce that looks like a bear has clawed across the grain of the wood. Highly appreciated for it's unique patterns.

Snakewood (Piratinera guianensis)

Distribution: The Guianas, coastal regions of northeast South America

105 CITES: Not listed, not restricted Tridimensional spots on its entire surface reflect light differently according to the angle at which it is illuminated. The sound of Snakewood is in the same league as Brazilian rosewood, African Blackwood, Cocobolo. It produces extremely clear trebles and deep guttural basses. A top-notch tonewood on all fronts. A hard and strong wood. Also known as letterwood, lacewood, and amourette.

Spanish Cypress (Cupressus sermpervirens)

Distribution: Eastern Mediterranean

CITES: Not listed, not restricted An attractive, close grained blonde timber that is very light and which gives Flamenco Blanca guitars their characteristic brittle sound. They are light and give a clean and bright tone, which is percussive, immediate, rich & earthy with immense character and faster attack. It was much used by early Spanish makers (including Torres) because it was an indigenous wood of low cost and ready availability. Can be used to make a fine- sounding classical guitar too.

Striped Ebony (Diospyros ebenum) (Diospyros crassiflora)

Distribution: India and Sri Lanka

CITES: Not listed, not restricted It is exclusively government controlled, and is not an endangered species. Deeper and richer sounding than East Indian Rosewood, it is very similar to Brazilian rosewood for its reflective properties, and also has a high specific gravity. It has a striking, distinctive vertical stripe pattern, variegated dark brown, black and green. Macassar Ebony is also called Striped Ebony. Lines may swirl or be straight. Lighter lines could be sparse or may cover the entire piece as if it had a black background. There can be any number of variations of this. It works well and handles the same as black ebony.

106 Sycamore (Plantanus occidentalis)

Distribution: North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted As a tonewood, it is moderately easy to work with and produces a striking guitar. In density, stiffness and hardness, is closer to mahogany than to the maples. It can be as soft as cardboard, floppy and generally a terrible wood for anything other than pulp. Some trees seem to produce harder, denser wood and that’s the stuff for guitars. It may be somewhat tighter-grained, but grain alone isn’t indicative of the better wood. This wood is somewhere between mahogany and maple- good clean overtones like maple but with that punch and elasticity of mahogany.

Tasmanian Blackwood (Acacia melanoxion)

Distribution: Southern Australia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Also known as Black Acacia. It ranks high up with African Blackwood only it is scarce and hard to come by. The looks and sound of Tasmanian Blackwood guitars are among the best that can be produced on a classical guitar. Known for deep dark green patterns and a warm mellow tone. The grain varies quite a bit from one tree to the next but the sonorous properties are very consistent and always top of the line.

Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghamii)

Distribution: Tasmania

CITES: Not listed, not restricted A slow growing tree reaching a maximum height of 30 or 40 meters, the Myrtle tree can live for five hundred years. Both Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle and Red Myrtle are quickly becoming highly sought after tonewoods. Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle is without any doubt one of the best looking tonewoods on the planet and when it comes to sound, it ranks with the very best. The wood offers an array of color tones that you will not hear on any

107 other tonewood and this makes her amazingly versatile and complete as a concert instrument.

Tulipwood (Dalbergia variabilis)

Distribution: Northeastern Brazil

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Tulip poplar, Yellow Poplar. Tulipwood is botanically closely related to rosewood, but has a different appearance caused by its pink stripes and its overall lighter appearance, used for bindings.

Brazilian Tulipwood (Dalbergia decipularis)

Distribution: Central America, Latin America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Brazilian tulipwood is a different species from other common tulipwood. A classic high- quality wood, it is very dense with a lovely figure.

Vanuatu Blackwood (Acacia heterophylla)

Distribution: Reunion Island

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Vanuatu Blackwood guitars are rare. The grain and the rays at right angles glisten as for good koa or curly maple. The tone of Vanuatu Blackwood is similar to Australian Blackwood & Koa, with a woody, open tone somewhere between mahogany and rosewood.

Walnut (Juglans regia)(Juglan nigra)

Distribution: Eastern North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Walnut is an excellent tonewood falling sonically between the warm dark sounds of East

108 Indian Rosewood and the bright bell-like ring of Maple. Both Black Walnut and Claro Walnut are used, and many sets contain fantastic flamed figure, occasionally with strongly contrasting sapwood for a beautiful overall look. Walnut is also found in South America, Africa. The looks and characteristics of all of them vary somewhat.

Wenge (Millettia laurentii) Distribution: West Africa

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Wenge (pronounced WHEN-gay) is cut from large straight trees growing in central and west Africa. It is considered amongst several luthiers to be a viable replacement for Brazlian rosewood (Dalbegia nigra), the ‘holy grail’ of tonewoods, which is now endangered and protected from trade. The grain of the Wenge sets is tight and straight across the entire width of backs and sides. The color is chocolate-brown/near black, very similar to Ebony, with evenly spaced black veins. This wood is coarse, quite heavy, heavier than either Indian or Brazilian Rosewood and is stiffer and with large pores. Oily and a bit splintery, but bends well. With quite thin plates, the sound is similar to Indian Rosewood but with the projection of Brazilian, it cuts through and sustains well. Western Larch (Larix occidentalis)

Distribution: United States

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Mostly for solid-bodied guitars or as a top wood. Has clearly marked annual rings and a fine uniform texture. Being harder and stronger than most conifers including spruce, it is an appropriate choice for scalloped braced models providing a projective and crisp response.

Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)

Distribution: Western North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Western Red Cedar has traditionally been used on classical and flamenco guitars.

109 Western red cedar is by far the most popular cedar used in soundboards. Cedar-topped guitars are characteristically lush, dark-toned, and bursting with flavor. They are often less powerful in projection than their spruce cousins, however, and they tend to lose clarity near the top of their dynamic range. Having enough bottom end is never a problem for a cedar guitar, although preventing the sound from getting muddy sometimes is.

Western Sheoak (Casuarina fraserana)

Distribution: Southwest Western Australia

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Guitars with well-quartered sheoak backs have a lot of volume and projection. Color range is golden orange to red-orange to nearly burgundy. Not as heavy and hard as oak (the English settlers declared it weaker than English oak but similar so "She-oak"). Sheoak grows primarily in a small area on the south coast of Southwest Western Australia. Trees with a "lace" appearance are very rare- about 1 in 100 trees. Bird's eye lace is extremely rare less than 25 small pieces came to the United States in three years.

White Pine (Pinus sp.)

Distribution: Eastern North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Abundant. It is the least resinous pine, straight-grained and uniform textured. Creamy white sapwood, ages toward amber.

Yellow Heart (Euxylophora paraensis) (Pau amarello)

Distribution: Brazil

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Yellow Heart is bright yellow in color throughout the wood. Darkens some upon exposure to air. It rings like a bell with great sustain. Sets can exhibit a chatoyance

110 (shimmer) when moved or tilted.

Yellow Cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis)

Distribution: West coast of North America

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Alaskan Yellow Cedar is a cypress. Can be used with flatpick or in classical guitars.Very clear and articulate, great sustain. Very aromatic. Fine and even texture with close grain and cross silking. Tonally, the wood is especially well suited for flatpicking steel string guitars when a strong tone with a bright attack is desired (its specific gravity is close to Sitka and Adirondack Spruces). Some classical and flamenco guitar builders report that it imbues the instrument with a chimey, clear, articulate tone with great sustain.

Yew (Taxus baccata)

Distribution: Western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.

CITES: Not listed, not restricted Yew has Maple like clarity with very sweet, intimate and appealing overtones. It has been traditionally used for lute backs. Yew trees grow very slow and may become extremely old. The species was fairly common some centuries ago, but today, yew is very seldom seen and is now protected. It has a red-brown color with fine annular rings. As a tonewood, Yew has been only infrequently used and predominantly by the United Kingdom luthiers.

Zebrawood (Microberlina brazzavillensis)

Distribution: Central Africa

CITES: Not listed, not restricted

This wood is very similar to Indian Rosewod and Wenge. To some degree, this wood has the appearance of East Indian Rosewood as well as similar tap tone & working

111 properties. One of the most appealing features of Zebra is the exotic appearance of the colorful grain. Black & golden lines make this an appealing choice for backs & sides. Well defined basses and trebles, good volume and excellent distribution of voices, mostly, stunning to look at. Zebrawood double tops make for terrific guitars at very reasonable prices. Zebrawood is a more boldly colored alternative to Indian Rosewood.

Ziricote (Cordia dodecandra)

Distribution: Central America & Mexico

CITES: Not listed, not restricted.

Ziricote is most striking in appearance, much like Brazilian rosewood with ‘spider- webbing’ but in shades of grays and olive greens with black rather than reds with black. Always visually stunning. It is heavier than most rosewood. This wood is sometimes called Mexican Ebony, though it is not really black and is not real ebony.

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