Out of the woods: the environmental challenges facing guitar makers

Out of the woods: the environmental challenges facing guitar makers
A clear-cut on Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska, a result of felling for red cedar and Sitka spruce music wood. (Image credit: Sitka Conservation Society)

Where’s your next acoustic tonewood coming from? It’s a question that’s been getting harder to dodge for some years – and especially since the multilateral wildlife treaty CITES moved in 2017 to protect a handful of wood species that happen to be favoured by acoustic guitar makers and players. 

In truth, the trade clampdown was just the latest sign that business as usual is no longer an option for traditional tonewoods – the tropical species such as rosewoods and mahoganies, and mountain-grown softwoods like Sitka spruce. Rising prices, tightening supplies, falling quality, ecological pressures… all have been in play for some time.

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