Plastic guitars may help rare trees out of the woods

[tangle]

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/...mg18624996.900

Quote:

Gordon Giltrap, one of the world's leading guitarists, will next month give a free concert at Loughborough University in the UK. But this will be a concert with a difference, for Giltrap will be playing a plastic guitar.

Developed at the university, the guitar is designed to reproduce the sound and feel of a wooden acoustic guitar. The soundboard is made of a polycarbonate foam rather than the traditional spruce. "If you inject different quantities of hydrogen into it you can replicate the densities of different woods. And it is not inert like plastic; it resonates," says Alan Greensall, who is in charge of licensing the technology for Loughborough University Enterprises. The instrument could ease the pressure on endangered tree species. Guitar bodies are also often made of Brazilian rosewood, which is so rare that it cannot be traded.

Jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman famously played a plastic instrument in the 1960s, but they never caught on.

[SteveS]

Play plastic if you want, I don't. Trees are not becoming extinct beacause of guitar building.

Guitar bodies are also often made of Brazilian rosewood...

Often???

[ljguitar]

My first Uke was made of plastic, and the way I played it was probably a good thing that I saved some tree by playing plastic till I got better.

...you can replicate the densities of different woods. And it is not inert like plastic; it resonates,

Ovation used PR like this at one time...

[brianf]

Originally Posted by SteveS

Play plastic if you want, I don't. Trees are not becoming extinct beacause of guitar building.
Often???

TRUE TRUE TRUE. There was a very interesting article on another forum about wood consumption. For mahogony and rosewood the largest commercial use is CASKETS!!!! ***

A box that goes in the ground?????


Guitars were not even on the list in this article. I will do my best to find it.

brianf

No vulgarity on the AGF, please.

[tangle]

We just report the news here.

Have you seen the videos of catapiller chain logging for charcol in Brazil? I always wonder how many tons of tone woods are lost this way.

[tac5]

And then these plastic guitars will end up in the landfills where they will never decompose, providing a solid bedrock (plastic) where tall buildings will be constructed, and they will block out the light and eventually kill the remaining trees. And the oxygen will be depleted from the air while we drill for more petroleum to produce the polycarbonates to bulid the guitars, and continue to pollute the earth we call home.
Sorry. I think my medication just kicked in.

[Taylorplayer]

REVISED just a few mostly simple (& not so very well received thoughts) removed from here folks.

[Jeff M]

Originally Posted by tac5

And then these plastic guitars will end up in the landfills where they will never decompose, providing a solid bedrock (plastic) where tall buildings will be constructed, and they will block out the light and eventually kill the remaining trees. And the oxygen will be depleted from the air while we drill for more petroleum to produce the polycarbonates to bulid the guitars, and continue to pollute the earth we call home.
Sorry. I think my medication just kicked in.

Don't worry. I had the same thoughts.

You would have thought they would have had somebody write the article who knew something about acoustic guitars.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Jeff M

...You would have thought they would have had somebody write the article who knew something about acoustic guitars.

Why would you think that?

[mike_g]

Originally Posted by brianf

TRUE TRUE TRUE. There was a very interesting article on another forum about wood consumption. For mahogony and rosewood the largest commercial use is CASKETS!!!! WTF.

Wow, talk about a newly found wood source! I'm all for diggin them up and reclaiming all that lost lumber. Face it, the people inside could care less what they are in.

Talk about the goth sales factor!

-m

[muzz76]

My guitars should last me a lifetime so as far as having to play a plastic guitar...i'll let the future generations bare the burden of that shame

[Spieler]

Originally Posted by Jeff M
...You would have thought they would have had somebody write the article who knew something about acoustic guitars.

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Why would you think that?

A friend of mine often ponders something along the lines of,
__
When I read a newspaper article about a subject I know nothing about, I think: "Hey, this is interesting; I learned something." When I read an article in the same newspaper about a subject I know a lot about, I think: "This article is filled with lies and misconceptions, and the reporter doesn't know what he's
talking about."
So... why do I still tend to believe the media regarding subjects I know nothing about?
__

- Sarah

[Mismo]

Even if they're able to simulate the sound of a solid wood guitar, I probably still won't even entertain the thought of buying it. Well for reasons other than what SteveS has precisely mentioned that "trees are not becoming extinct because of guitar building."

I feel its pretty much like buying a coffe table made of plywood or plastic simulated to look and feel like solid wood. Even if your guests don't know it, I bet there will be hesitation on your part to even make it a "conversation piece." It instantly takes away the pride of ownership.

[Manzanita]

Those guitar could be classified as antiflatulants.

Guaranteed to cure even the worst case of GAS.

[Arm&Hammer]

Now if I could just convince my wife that a pressed carbon C.Z. was as real as any diamond - I would have a lot more GAS money.