Use and sustainability of wood in acoustic guitars: An overview based on the global market

Since the dawn of humanity, wood has been the material of choice for crafting musical instruments due to its favorable acoustic properties, workability, and aesthetic value. Acoustic guitars are among the most widespread musical instruments worldwide, and today are industrially manufactured by large companies with global markets. This study investigates the use of wood in modern acoustic guitars, with a focus on wood species and sustainability. The websites of the 14 most relevant manufacturers on a global scale were analyzed collecting data on 874 guitars and 4506 components. The purpose of the research is to provide a novel overview of the variety and relevance of woods employed in the sector, of the most common environmental issues associated with their use, and of the strategies adopted by companies to deal with sustainability concerns and to communicate their environmental commitment to the public. The results show that, overall, wood remains the material of choice for acoustic guitars, and a wide number of wood species are used. Sustainability aspects are often highlighted on websites. However, the taxonomy is ambiguous in several cases, and some endangered wood species are used with limited information about preservation. Therefore enhancing the research of alternative wood species and increasing the efforts on environmental commitment and on promoting end consumer sustainability awareness are relevant targets to further enhance the use of wood in a sector that already provides a great valorization of this renewable material.

Determination of chemical changes in heat-treated wood using ATR-FTIR and FT Raman spectrometry

In this study, attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) and Fourier-transform Raman (FT-Raman) spectroscopy techniques were used to determine changes in the chemical structure of heat-treated woods. For this purpose, scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), oriental beech (Fagus orientalis L.), and oriental spruce (Picea orientalis L.) wood species were heat-treated at different temperatures. The effect of chemical changes on the FT-Raman and ATR-FTIR bands or ratios of heat-treated wood was related with the OH association of cellulose, functional groups, and the aromatic system of lignin. The effects of heat treatment on the carbohydrate and lignin peaks varied depending on the wood species. The spectral changes that occurred after heat treatment reflected the progress of the condensation reaction of lignin. Degradation of hemicelluloses led to a decrease in free hydroxyl groups. High temperature caused crystalline cellulose to increase due to the degradation of amorphous cellulose.