It’s exciting to contemplate a custom build and we all have our own reasons to go down that path. For me it’s about tone and responsiveness. Picking up on Juston’s comment, think about the top as well as the back and sides. The choice of top and the way it is carved and braced can have more influence on your guitar than the tonewood. Talk to Lakewood about this and tell them what you want. For example a guitar that responds well to a light touch (like me) or heavy strumming. They can then recommend the top for you. Do they custom carve and brace each top? If not it may help you understand the pricing difference between a Lakewood and a Lowden.
Back and sides – there are good foresters and bad foresters and the latter get most of the media attention. Put another way, the issue for you is not whether a type of wood has been overharvested by some, it is about whether your builders have sourced their wood sustainably (replanting regime, fair pricing, care for surrounding biodiversity, health and safety practices etc). Don’t let your fear of bad foresters cloud your support for the good foresters out there and the people that buy their wood.
Rosewood can give your guitar a great sound and EIR (and mahogany) can be bought from plantations, so you could ask Lakewood where they get theirs from. And you don’t need to think of EIR as the “poor man’s” rosewood. If James Olson builds with it, it must be ok!
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