EL CAJON, Calif. — I'm a tree hugger and so are the folks at Taylor Guitars. Employees are taking the sounds of chain saws and wood chippers when a tree is cut down and turning them into music.
Scott Paul is the Director of Natural Resource Sustainability with Taylor Guitars and he finds wood in a responsible way.
"So we have this cornucopia of species of trees to choose from," said Paul. "It's an urban wood enthusiast's fantasy."
What they found was lumber up to their standard.
"Taylor Guitars looked at the woods and found several species that were planted across Southern California, which made it possible for them to make guitars from urban lumber," said Paul.
A few of them are exquisite tonewood and one, in particular, is Shamel Ash.
Only trees that are at the end of their life cycle are felled and that's handled by their partner.
"West Coast Arborist, they're the arborist for some 300 municipalities," said Paul. "They've proven to be the perfect partner for us."
By re-purposing the tree, the carbon stays stored in the wood.
"We're doing something that's never been done before and that's producing a dedicated line of guitars made from city trees," said Paul.
By using urban lumber and not depleting natural resources, Taylor Guitars is showing it can be done.
"We want to do this because it's sustainable. We're on pace to build 10,000 of the first edition, the 324CE with Shamel Ash. The quality of these guitars has met the Taylor Guitar standard. "
So for Taylor Guitars, the urban lumber guitar is the perfect storm.
"Because it's the right thing to do," said Paul. "We need to do more things like this."