Take Bedell Guitars of Bend, Oregon for example. Makers of fine acoustic guitars, Tom Bedell has this to say about his company:
"The reverence I felt for the beauty and tonal brilliance of the exotic tonewoods I was sourcing demanded appreciation and respect… respect for the centuries of life and the organic growth of these extraordinary trees. Whether or not the small quantity of tonewood sets we are using significantly impacts the sustainability of our hardwood and rain forests, the choices we make at Bedell Guitars leaves an imprint on the planet. These choices reflect what we stand for and underline our connectivity between the woods of our forests and our music."His website continues to outline their approach to making guitars:
- All 2014 guitars are made in Bend, Oregon
- No clear-cut trees will ever be used in a Bedell Guitar
- All workshop-installed electronics are made in the U.S.A. by K&K Sound of Coos Bay, Oregon.
- All tonewoods are sourced in a manner consistent with the principles of the Bedell Tonewood Certification Project.
That in itself is quite promising, but what really caught my attention was that last part; "Bedell Tonewood Certification Project."
"Many of you share this respect and reverence for the connection between the woods of our forests and our music, and to honor this reverence, we will share the story of each tonewood set in the Bedell Seed-to-Song Journals that accompany every guitar we make. We will also include the registrations and certifications that assure full compliance with all international regulations and treaties, including CITES and the Lacey Act."What exactly does this mean? Again from their new website:
1 Individual trees salvaged from the forest as dead/fallen or at the end of their lifecycle.
2 Trees individually harvested in a manner that leaves the rest of the forest and ecological system as undisturbed as possible.
3 Tonewood from a collection of “treasured tonewood,” fully compliant with all international regulations, and harvested either before the CITES convention of 1992 or before the wood species was listed under CITES.
Additionally, the Bedell Wood Library code system tracks chain-of-custody and legal documentation for every piece of wood in our library.
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Due to import/export restrictions imposed by CITES and the Lacey Act, (both designed to protect endangered woods) valid concerns have developed about traveling with your favorite guitars. In some cases instruments have been confiscated for containing protected woods-- even if they were built long before the restrictions. For instance, Carlos Santana has two versions of his favorite guitars-- one that stays in the US, and another that travels overseas (check out this Rig Rundown for details). Bedell addresses these concerns as well:
"With every Bedell Guitar we provide a list of all of the woods used to craft it and their county of origin. This way, when you travel with your Bedell, customs officials will know your Bedell is in complete compliance with all international laws and regulations.
In the case of Brazilian rosewood, it is necessary to have a U.S. Guitar Passport issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As all of our Brazilian rosewood is 100% CITES compliant with full chain of custody documentation meeting Lacey Act requirements, it is no problem to obtain this Guitar Passport. Please contact us at permits@bedellguitars.com or call us at (888) 234-2210 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time."It is exciting to find makers of musical instruments becoming more in tune with the world around them. Implementing initiatives like these is a major undertaking, but it will decrease our impact on our resources and hopefully inspire other makers to follow.
Be sure to check back often as I will be posting more about companies who are changing their business paradigms-- those building on environmental awareness and taking action to insure these precious tone-woods will remain for generations to come.
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| Tom Bedell visiting the source |
