OT Swamp Ash wood shortage and Fender guitars-OT

lousubcap

Thought many of you may find this to be of interest:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-hits-rock-and-roll-as-prized-guitar-wood-shortage-looms1/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email 

I was well acquainted with the Emerald Ash Borer side of this story in a prior life.

SciAggie

fascinating

dbCooper

Informative read, thanks for sharing.

My back yard faces west and a White Ash provides shade to the patio/house in the afternoon and evening.   Although its been getting treated for the emerald borer pest it's on the short side of the odds.  Would really hate to lose it.  Wind storm a few weeks back also did it no favors.

@lousubcap what was your involvement with the beetle?

nolaegghead

Groot grew up?

dbCooper

nolaegghead said:

Groot grew up?

Curiously, a number of women (50% I'd guess) when seeing him for the first time, remark that the nose is something other than a nose.

nolaegghead

Did they guess "Morning Wood"?

lousubcap

@dbCooper - In a previous life I worked for Louisville Slugger and their wood bat division.  At that time the great majority of the wood bats were made from northern white ash.  Our supply was along the border between NY and PA along the Southern Tier.  I was in daily or more frequent contact with our timber mill manager regarding the EAB and tracking it upon identification in Michigan.  There are no known predators in North America-tried importing wasps from China but that didn't work.  As far as know it is still unchecked.  

nolaegghead

Oh, so YOU'RE the ones that brought in the Murder Hornets!!!

HeavyG

Interesting read.

Then I read this...

"But many aficionados think ash wood’s blond finish and open grain make for a prettier-looking instrument—and for nuanced differences in sound tonality that sets it apart from alderwood. “Ash has a very fast attack. Think of a bright clap,” says Brian Swerdfeger, vice president of Fender’s guitar-research-and-development wing. “Alder has a warmer, softer attack. Still a clap, but it’s rounder.”

Really? Sounds to me (no pun intended) like those folks that preach the importance of $300/ft audio speaker wire vs  $1/ft Monster cables.

I'm not understanding why the type of wood is of anything other than aesthetic interest in an electric guitar. Given the paint/decoration seen on many electric guitars I'm not even sure about the aesthetic importance.

Anyway, sucks about the spread of the bugs.

nolaegghead

HeavyG said:

Interesting read.

Then I read this...

"But many aficionados think ash wood’s blond finish and open grain make for a prettier-looking instrument—and for nuanced differences in sound tonality that sets it apart from alderwood. “Ash has a very fast attack. Think of a bright clap,” says Brian Swerdfeger, vice president of Fender’s guitar-research-and-development wing. “Alder has a warmer, softer attack. Still a clap, but it’s rounder.”

Really? Sounds to me (no pun intended) like those folks that preach the importance of $300/ft audio speaker wire vs  $1/ft Monster cables.

I'm not understanding why the type of wood is of anything other than aesthetic interest in an electric guitar. Given the paint/decoration seen on many electric guitars I'm not even sure about the aesthetic importance.

Anyway, sucks about the spread of the bugs.

It does make a difference.  If you thump on the body there's an effect on strings.  Density of the wood, cut-outs, hollow body, semi-acoustic, etc all have different characteristics.  The Gibson Les Paul has a very dense mahogany body that has more sustain than a strat with a swamp ash.

kl8ton

I heard you can dump baby powder in your drawers to help with chaffing from swamp ash. 

YukonRon

Got a Strat, there is a reason it is used for the blues.