Wandering thoughts

[telleutelleme]

I was reading through Taylor's guitar Wood and Strings magazine this morning. It is the last paper copy, as they will now go to online format only. The magazine has pushed the issue of tone woods and how difficult it is to source them and what they are doing to try other types and sources. This issue focused on what they call Urban Ash or trees that have run their course existing inside cities; in parks, on medians and in yards and easements. Taylor is picking through them in certain cities selecting those that can be used for guitar bodies.

I think this is a good idea and yet I wonder how much CO2 sequestration has been substituted with fumes, garbage smells, dog urine etc.

I said my mind wanders.

So now come the question, do these things affect tone? Say the street had 15 years of visits from Great Danes, whereas on the next block it is Chihuahuas. Is there a urine difference in tone, probably at a minimum it changes the stain in the grain? What about the tree in the backyard of a guy who BBQ's year round, what would all that charcoal smoke do or what if he only uses Hickory? Is there a difference in the Urban Ash?

Then all of a sudden my thoughts changed to general wood use and what trees might think about how they were used. Big beautiful tree selected for housing builds, or maybe by a cabinet maker or luthier. Pretty cool. But what about the ones picked for pressboard, plywood or toothpicks. Not as cool. Then finally Toilet paper. That has to be the ultimate low right?

After that I finished the magazine, thought about writing to Bob, nixed it, used the least happy tree, got up and left the reading room. Perhaps it was just an Urban myth.

 

[ChicknPickn]

I am thinking of an article I read a couple of years ago regarding blind sound tests of modern violins versus the great, aged classics. The judges were virtuosos. Not only could they not distinguish reliably between the two groups, they also in some cases chose the "new" instruments as being superior. So much for the superiority of "old growth" wood?

 

[effzee]

I was reading through Taylor's guitar Wood and Strings magazine this morning. It is the last paper copy, as they will now go to online format only. The magazine has pushed the issue of tone woods and how difficult it is to source them and what they are doing to try other types and sources. This issue focused on what they call Urban Ash or trees that have run their course existing inside cities; in parks, on medians and in yards and easements. Taylor is picking through them in certain cities selecting those that can be used for guitar bodies.

I think this is a good idea and yet I wonder how much CO2 sequestration has been substituted with fumes, garbage smells, dog urine etc.

I said my mind wanders.

So now come the question, do these things affect tone? Say the street had 15 years of visits from Great Danes, whereas on the next block it is Chihuahuas. Is there a urine difference in tone, probably at a minimum it changes the stain in the grain? What about the tree in the backyard of a guy who BBQ's year round, what would all that charcoal smoke do or what if he only uses Hickory? Is there a difference in the Urban Ash?

Then all of a sudden my thoughts changed to general wood use and what trees might think about how they were used. Big beautiful tree selected for housing builds, or maybe by a cabinet maker or luthier. Pretty cool. But what about the ones picked for pressboard, plywood or toothpicks. Not as cool. Then finally Toilet paper. That has to be the ultimate low right?

After that I finished the magazine, thought about writing to Bob, nixed it, used the least happy tree, got up and left the reading room. Perhaps it was just an Urban myth.

My mind wanders like that, too, but the only time anyone hears what I'm thinking about is when I'm talking out loud to myself. Then my wife inevitably asks who am I talking to and I answer it's private, stop eavesdropping, and she really doesn't like that, it really P's her off, but I guess it's better than being turned into toilet paper after you die, in the sense of it's better to be P'd off than P'd on, or at least that's what I'm going to say next time she doesn't like my reply. That could be an urban myth, too.

 

[effzee]

I am thinking of an article I read a couple of years ago regarding blind sound tests of modern violins versus the great, aged classics. The judges were virtuosos. Not only could they not distinguish reliably between the two groups, they also in some cases chose the "new" instruments as being superior. So much for the superiority of "old growth" wood?

I saw a live demonstration of exactly that on a German television show many years ago. One of the classics was a Strad. One of the modern violins was a composite, maybe carbon fiber or something. They all sounded heavenly and any perceived superiority was purely subjective. Even more than guitars, way way more, the tone comes mostly from the violin artist's fingers.

 

[imwjl]

I am thinking of an article I read a couple of years ago regarding blind sound tests of modern violins versus the great, aged classics. The judges were virtuosos. Not only could they not distinguish reliably between the two groups, they also in some cases chose the "new" instruments as being superior. So much for the superiority of "old growth" wood?

Something neat about many visits to Dave's Guitar Shop and the time when I participated in an area old time and bluegrass music association was comparing old and new instruments via hear, touch and feel. It helped get my strong feeling that we are in a new golden age.

That said, some instruments and now rare woods are special. From youth now into my 60s I see and understand the sagacity in all sorts of better resource management. I'm such a news and data nerd that it has been easy to see lots of benefits to managing our footprint beyond guitars. There's been no suffering in our family trying to live a little smarter.

 

[ChicknPickn]

Something neat about many visits to Dave's Guitar Shop and the time when I participated in an area old time and bluegrass music association was comparing old and new instruments via hear, touch and feel. It helped get my strong feeling that we are in a new golden age.

That said, some instruments and now rare woods are special. From youth now into my 60s I see and understand the sagacity in all sorts of better resource management. I'm such a news and data nerd that it has been easy to see lots of benefits to managing our footprint beyond guitars. There's been no suffering in our family trying to live a little smarter.

The rapaciousness of our species does trouble me at times. Often, even. I am in Colorado today, spoke with a native yesterday who calls himself Buffalo. We talked about the Great Spirit who is available to all and the original peoples’ attitudes about the land. How very far we find ourselves from that place as a civilization. Of course, any hope of a return starts with me.

 

[posttoastie]

Next time use a tree !!!!!!!!!

 

[Tonetele]

I was lucky. I got a Taylor a few years back with bear claw Spruce and Indian Rosewood B&S

 

[getbent]

I used to backpack deep into the sierra and rockies. my main goal was to get some time alone, to find genuine quiet and to see things I'd not seen. (in kinda that order)

Sometimes I would think, man, I am so far from the trail, maybe no person has ever been here... and that would be kind of a cool feeling... then... I'd find something that suggested otherwise.

When you are on the trail, I find that I'm mostly thinking about the work of that, what I need to get to the destination and being aware of my surroundings. When I would stop, I'd drift all over the place... trying to picture what it was like before and what it will be in a thousand years.

 

[schmee]

Wood and Strings magazine. Trying to figure out how I will be reading it in the bathtub. That's the only place I read much.

Next Taylor move: Selling you access to their "air acoustic" guitar. No trees are damaged! You dont have to play at all, just select the songs, style, and tones you want and push "play"!