Green Ghetto stringed instrument making

 

The Green Ghetto

"Do we get crushed by the green wave, or do we surf it?"

Okay, so here we are. 2021. Whether by malicious design or by "never let a pandemic crisis go to waste" political agenda opportunity (or not), we are seeing social wrangling and economic upheaval on a global scale never seen before. Regardless of your position, we all (collectively) get to bathe in the full suck of the consequences (good or bad - the jury will be out for a while - time will reveal more). At present, it is a frightening time for those of us who simply want to get on with making an otherwise happy living, loving our art, serving you, our fellow musicians, and shipping our state of the art all over the world. Our entire petit bourgeois independent craftsman/artist class is confronted by a leveraged push into a utopian (dystopian) "Green Ghetto" agenda where fossil fuels are bad and all things carbon neutral (dead) are good. Cluster all (who walk or crawl) into carbon neutral urban stack n pack housing and ride your bike to your "social equity job" down the block. This is a loaded topic and I will avoid that particular rabbit hole to cover the Green Ghetto Monster as it applies to the craft industry of instrument making. There are things beyond our control and it begs the question: "Do we get crushed by the green wave, or do we surf it?" That's some tough tofu to chew on! On the other hand, I see an engineering opportunity for the instrument building trade! Know what? It's compelling and even fun! (Follow me for a few).

Hybrid wood veneer Carbon Fiber acoustic GuitarViol

I reluctantly started offering my personal dream instrument (GuitarViols, modern Arpeggiones) to the market in 2002 after some fits n starts spanning forward from the late 80's. A cobbled together "HTML for dummies" book website, dialup internet, a first order, and a dose of "What did I just agree to?" followed by two decades of a most wonderful form of overwhelm. Sudden demand for an instrument not nearly ready for prime time was being devoured in real time by prime time (evidenced by many film/TV soundtracks of the last two decades). Turns out, I am allergic to most tropical oily woods and there were other reasons that I migrated to alternatives such as composites. Typically fret-wire/wood fingerboards were a practical nightmare (for this particular application) and not nearly as optimal as my current composite (graphite/CF) boards that won't chew up $500 sets of cello strings for lunch like steel frets do. Anyway, I had engineering problems that typical approaches could not solve. Also, when working with said materials on a daily basis, it is of interest to work with the least toxic materials. Many in our trade have shortened lives because of constant exposure to toxins. For the last decade, I migrated over to North American woods exclusively (not to mention the legal CITES red tape associated with more and more exotic woods; many of which do not fare well in all climates - another topic!). For that reason, I have been exploring some "greener" plant based alternatives. For the last few years, We have been using Livos plant based oil finish with wonderful results on our Spartan Models . As alternatives (or structural damping layers), I may opt for flax, hemp, or balsa core. For vacuum infusion and Epoxies, I use Greenpoxy (France) and Enthropy (USA). Am I certified "Green?". NO. But, I have been drifting in that direction in recent years; even for personal reasons. Might as well blaze a new trail in green pastures!

Note: I am not by any stretch a vegan though I have been leaning in a more plant based direction as I get older. My morning bullet shake is usually oat milk, banana, kale/spinach/blueberries (one of them) and a stack of B complex, C, D, Curcumin. Otherwise I am a genuine coffee achiever.

Back to the Green Ghetto (as far as instrument building is concerned). We have centuries to draw from. Composites, though not widely associated with classical violins/guitars, are nothing new. We know them today as synthetics, molded plastics, fiberglass, carbon fiber, epoxy based resins. However, linen and hide glue laminates in the field of instrument making have happened for centuries! (Medieval armor was made from flax and hide glue). For the last several years, I have been adapting to hybrid approaches to construction. In some cases I am blending deliberate mixtures of Carbon Fiber with Flax/Balsa/Nomex with upcycled resins I described. It is a mixture also of wooden parts and stunning wood veneers mixed in various modern laminate approaches. Here's the thing: Like crafting from all wood, we can engineer/craft the other materials to arrive at a compelling sound. Will it equal wood? Maybe not in the short term but that does not make it bad. (May we exceed it?) In fact, wood is a baseline we jump from and we may drive ourselves crazy with alternative material trials. On the other hand, new discoveries are to be made! (Electric guitars were invented to solve a volume problem in big bands and wound up becoming an entirely different instrument altogether. Rock n roll...). Remember: Tradition is somebody's successful experiment that was repeated for generations. Even refined. But, some need to go off path to discover what the other possibilities are! (These are living people to support and not the dead luthier societies). By going into metaphorical green pastures, we restore the soul. Otherwise, we chew the common cud and walk in circles stepping in what the herd leaves behind. Will we scale to the higher state of the art summit or dwell in the valley of low hanging fruit? Chew on that raw spinach!   

Will we scale to the higher state of the art summit or dwell in the valley of low hanging fruit?

I'll leave you to ponder and hope you will join me on this journey of adapting to the present and future caveats. Might as well take on the challenge! In upcoming blogs, I'll cover some of the discoveries I am making! Perhaps this will lead to a solar wind powered coffee roasting composites fueled laboratory in Texas down the street from Elon? Stay tuned! 

For those interested in supporting the green acoustics laboratory of the future, Texas expansion,  please reach out! For the rest who are interested in initiating a GuitarViol build, reach me through TogaMan GuitarViols. 

Have an exceedingly awesome day and be inspired! Reach out with any upward multiplying humanity enriching ideas!

Jonathan