Ethical Guitars, Is the "tone" worth it? Options

[Mith]

As many of you know I'm getting in the business of making very custom guitars. One thing that has come to light to me while researching and building my skills is the sustainability of woods used for instrument making.

While the volume of wood used for instrument making isn't all that high the woods that are chosen for certain application are getting to the point that some of them are very vunrable.

Take ebony to example. It is to the point that its being poached like ivory was. Worse of all alot of ebony that isn't pure black gets dumped (Taylor guitars are working on ways to fix this).

Is having a ebony fingerboard really that important to people? Do you really feel it improves the tone that much? do you feel it improves you playing that much? Even tho instrument use a small portion of this ebony is it morally right we continue to ask for it or even exspect it? I find that alot of high end builders seem to use all these woods that are rare, expensive and some almost endagered. Is it the consumers fault? (supply and demand and all that? or the builders fault for allowing it to be an option?

There are no right answers to these questions and it is something I really only learnt how serious it really is. Alot of these woods could not be gone in our childrens lifetime but in our lifetime.

I for one as someone that is just getting into the business has to decide on how I want to approch this. I personally think a eithically made and sustainable instrument should be high on the priority list for me. I personally love the smoothness and blackness of a great peice of ebony but I'm personnally think I might find a suitable replacement for it.

So the real question is. How important is it to you the consumer? is perfection the only goal and you want it at all costs? or do you want something more sustainable and ethical? The costs of instruments probably wouldn't change. as a matter of fact they would probably go down.

Also if anyone has in information on alternative woods or materials please let me know

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