Gibson Smartwood Mandolins?

[garthmoore]

I've read about this elusive model that was created around the same time as Gibson's smartwood Les Paul's (click here for article). Then, it died. What happened? Where's this prototype? Does anyone make sustainable-wood mandos?

No politics here, just a concerned mandolin player (besides, renewable cherry sound great). Thanks.

[jmkatcher]

Everyone does. Maples grow like weeds and the various spruces are relatively fast growing natives as well.

[JohnF]

I don't want to get too political either (I keep saying that) but certification also involves wood coming from an area where the logging is done in a sustainable way - i.e. not by mass clearcutting. (less erosion, habitat loss, etc. etc.) So the question, I think, remains.

[grandmainger]

Everyone does. #Maples grow like weeds and the various spruces are relatively fast growing natives as well.

As JohnF points out, the fact that a species is native and grows fast does not necessarily mean it has been harvested in a sustainable fashion. Sustainable forestry involves systematic replanting, habitat management, etc.
This could in theory apply to just about any species, anywhere, though it would obviously take longer to implement for slower-growth species.

Now, to come back to the question, I do remember reading on some luthier websites that they used only certified timber, and certain timber merchants offer some FSC certified timber.

Germain

[sunburst]

If I could only find a good Ebony substitute...

Actually, only old growth spruce/cedar/redwood/other is acceptable for tops, most of the time. I doubt if it is being harvested at a sustainable rate. If you count the lines in the top of most mandolins, you'll find 50 to 100 years of growth, or more. The tree had to be much older in order to saw that top out.
If your mandolin has an "ideal" top, with 18 to 20 lines per inch, the tree it came from was growing at a rate of about 0.1 inch diameter gain per year. That's not fast, or even relatively fast. If replacement trees grow back fast, because of excessive logging and thinning of the stand, the wood is too wide grained to be acceptable for tops, by most standards.
So, sustainablity for instrument wood doesn't just mean you have to grow back the amount of trees you take, it means the old growth must be preserved.

[jim simpson]

If I could only find a good Ebony substitute... - Sunburst

Would the Micarta synthetic fingerboard Martin uses work?

[John Flynn]

If I could only find a good Ebony substitute...

Well, I don't want to get into eco-politics here, but my Old Wave has the fingerboard, the bridge and peghead veneer made from desert ironwood. I found out online that desert ironwood (as opposed to South American ironwood), is not endangered. It is similar to ebony and has even more of the qualities that attact people to ebony. It is naturally waterproof and very hard and dense. It can also have some great-looking grain patterns in it.

Bill Bussman said his wood supplier had a bunch of it at a good price and the thought he would give it a try. I really like it.

[sunburst]

It can also have some great-looking grain patterns in it.

I have no problem with alternative woods. I don't want to use formica, (not too stable, hard to re-fret, etc.) but I like the idea of other woods with other looks for fingerboards and such.

There is a customer base, not all customers, but a significant set of them, who want traditional looking black ebony. Some would gladly settle for a wood that looked and behaved like ebony, but some will want ebony. No substitutes. No great-looking grain patterns, plain black.

You only have to see what has happened to the price of Brazillian Rosewood to see what happens when the market demands traditional, scarce woods. Lots of people will pay "whatever it takes" rather than accept a substitute, even if the substitute is better. Such is the market.

If I'm going to try to make mandolins for a living, that means I have to sell them. That means the customer has to find what he/she wants in them in order to buy them.
I, personally, like alternative woods, and want to use more of them. You're preaching to the choir on that. But, I wish I could find a good ebony substitute, meaning; uniformly black, small pores, hard, dense, takes a high polish; but is abundant and sustainable. There's no other way to get that traditional look, for those who want it.

Yes, I know I could stubbornly use attractive, alternate woods, and "sell" them; try to "educate" the customer; be on the cutting edge of change; and to some extent, I try to do a little of that, but I can't help wishing there was an Ebony substitute growing in the back wood lot here, that I could use for fingerboards.