not to make trouble

[unclrob]

BUT with all this tariff talk,will it include the import of wood for guitars and the import of guitars from over seas?

this is not about politic so please don't go there.

[B0WIE]

Hopefully! We have so many great, responsibly harvested domestic woods that people overlook because they mistakenly think there's only a few woods that are suitable for acoustic guitars. My personal favorite guitars have mostly domestic woods and I would love to see US makers start using more of them. I think they've been scared because it's hard to market "new" woods to acoustic players.

An interesting one to watch will be mahogany as it's the most common acoustic neck wood. But, maple, sycamore, walnut, etc make necks that are every bit as good as mahogany. I wonder if makers will pay the extra to import mahogany or go with domestic options.

 As far as I understand, there will be greater import duties on musical instruments and woods. However, given what took place before, these tariffs may be utilized for leverage so they may or may not stick around. 

[Silence Dogood]

Maple necks are standard for electric guitars and I've never understood why acoustic makers don't use them.  I doubt the neck wood changes or improves tone?  Aesthetics?  I agree that mahogany is prettier than maple but I love my maple electric guitar neck. 

[unclrob]

I owned maple necks on my Guilds.I've played sycamore bodies,I don't remember the tone but do remember that it was a nice guitar.I've played Spanish ceder neck.

[Queequeg]

The first decent acoustic guitar I owned was a Hofner, made in Germany.
Had a beautiful maple neck.
With the price of imported guitars going up, I look for domestic instruments to increase as well.

[B0WIE]

Necks do affect tone in that they are holding one end of the string. It's less of a bright/dark thing and more about resonance and sustain. The fingerboard itself can affect tone.

We all know maple is great.
Walnut is like mahogany, sometimes a little harder. I have a walnut banjo and that neck is sooo good. Really resonant and I find myself just tapping on it sometimes.
Sycamore can vary a lot but falls in maple/mahogany/walnut territory. My current favorite guitar has a sycamore neck and back.
Cherry is another but I don't recall playing a cherry neck. Makes a good back though.

Myrtle, koa, elm, ash, etc can probably make necks.

One of the cool things about maple, walnut, and sycamore is that they often have gorgeous figuring and you can get some awesome looking necks.

I don't know if cedar is reliable for steel string tension. I love how light it is. But, it feels like steel string makers actively avoid it for necks.

[Queequeg]

I don't know if cedar is reliable for steel string tension. I love how light it is. But, it feels like steel string makers actively avoid it for necks.

I have a Godin Multiac Mundial nylon string with a Spanish cedar neck.

[Silence Dogood]

Necks do affect tone in that they are holding one end of the string. It's less of a bright/dark thing and more about resonance and sustain. The fingerboard itself can affect tone.

We all know maple is great.
Walnut is like mahogany, sometimes a little harder. I have a walnut banjo and that neck is sooo good. Really resonant and I find myself just tapping on it sometimes.
Sycamore can vary a lot but falls in maple/mahogany/walnut territory. My current favorite guitar has a sycamore neck and back.
Cherry is another but I don't recall playing a cherry neck. Makes a good back though.

Myrtle, koa, elm, ash, etc can probably make necks.

One of the cool things about maple, walnut, and sycamore is that they often have gorgeous figuring and you can get some awesome looking necks.

I don't know if cedar is reliable for steel string tension. I love how light it is. But, it feels like steel string makers actively avoid it for necks.

Wow, good info.  Thanks!

[teh]

A few months ago on another thread, I raised a question about the potential impact of tariffs on materials, parts and guitars imported and/or made outside the U.S. on future guitar prices. The Without exception, every one of my guitars has raw materials and parts made outside of the U.S. Six of my guitars were built in the U.S., two were built in Canada, one in Mexico and one in China. There will most likely be some lag time for U.S. guitar companies to ramp up production while finding alternative sources of wood, parts and developing a skilled labor force. This will undoubtedly raise prices for both new and used guitars.

Recent examples of companies using alternate wood sources include Taylor using Urban Ash and numerous companies using submerged logs (I.E. Sinker Mahogany) or Lutz Spruce instead of Sitka. I watched a great video with Matt Larrivee talking about the development of the Baker T Pro and the source of Swamp Ash that they use on this model, something I would have never thought about.

P.S. About 6 years ago, I read an article about the Jefferson Edition 00-SP limited edition 12 fret guitar made by Huss & Dalton using materials sourced locally. The body was built from a Tulip Poplar tree that was acquired at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate along with Adirondack Spruce (tops), Persimmon and Black Walnut. Attached is a link to the story. The cost of one of these guitars was around $20,000 and a portion of the proceeds went to the Thomas Jefferson Society.

https://www.google.com/search?q=jefferson+00-sp&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

I'm glad I am nearing the end of my "acquisition" phase and now entering my "enjoy playing and pass them onto the next generation" phase.

[Pilgrim]

Materials and parts for guitars are grown and produced all over the world, and the guitar market is worldwide as well.  The long-term effect on guitar prices from changes in tariffs is difficult to predict.  In the near-term, panic may drive the prices of certain guitars up significantly due to increased demand.

[Silence Dogood]

The talk of tariffs was enough of a nudge to get me to buy an imported electric I'd had my eye on for a while.  I'm sure there were many others who've done the same.

[StringPicker6]

I have no idea where wood stands in the tariffs, but I do know that Epiphones, Mexican fenders and Yamahas are going to get crushed. Maybe seagulls and godins from Canada as well, and duesenbergs from Germany. All tariff victims, I imagine.

[jpmist]

teh - I'm glad I am nearing the end of my "acquisition" phase and now entering my "enjoy playing and pass them onto the next generation" phase.

This resonates as I've found myself thinking the exact same thing, but then I just pulled the trigger on a Fender Acoustasonic model made in Indonesia. My holy grail is to own something as easy to play as my strat that sound like an acoustic thru a small amp so I can play along with recordings I enjoy. Still, my acoustic GAS is done and I find myself looking askance at my OO-44 spruce rosewood before I put a dent in it.

Indonesia has a 32% tariff and represents Fender's recent low end model strategy to replace the MIM made as their low end low price offerings. I once got an Indonesia made Recording King parlor that had comic construction flaws, but I imaging they've improved quite a bit since.

[Darkwave]

Small and possibly irrelevant bit of info related to the conversation here...  When I was a clay sculptor at GM the patterns used to trace the wheel well openings used blocks of mahogany because it was a very dimensionally stable wood.  maple had a reputation of being more unstable and likely to move or warp.  pattern makers always seemed to defer to mahogany in my limited experience.  In guitars this may or not be relevant, but I do know that there are many that feel it is a significant tone issue...

- Douglas C.

Wow, good info.  Thanks!

[B0WIE]

Small and possibly irrelevant bit of info related to the conversation here...  When I was a clay sculptor at GM the patterns used to trace the wheel well openings used blocks of mahogany because it was a very dimensionally stable wood.  maple had a reputation of being more unstable and likely to move or warp.  pattern makers always seemed to defer to mahogany in my limited experience.  In guitars this may or not be relevant, but I do know that there are many that feel it is a significant tone issue...

- Douglas C.

Definitely an interesting point to bring up. There's more than one type of maple and the maple family in general varies widely in density, stiffness, etc. That confused me for the longest time because some will say maple is hard, other say it's not so hard. Both are true. In the clay sculpting application, I imagine a big factor may be how the wood responds to moisture (sucking up moisture from the actual clay). Maybe that's why maple fails there? But, I'm just throwing out ideas. I don't actually know. My experience in clay turning/sculpting is limited to a couple years as a child when my mom took up the hobby.

[unclrob]

I've owned enough maple necked guitars then most,those being many Guild acoastics  guitars and bass's,electric guitars and bass's,Fender guitars and bass's,a few Gibsons even a maple neck Les Paul,Gretch's.I'm sure there wear are more!!!!! made in Japan law suite models.

[Silence Dogood]

I (somehow) got on MacKenzie and Marr's mailing list (some here might be unfamiliar with the brand, typical designed-here-made-there guitar). They had the current prices and the new ones about the take effect.  It was hundreds of dollars on each model and quite a hike. 

It made me think of Zager, who always strike me as pretty shady and lead folks to believe their guitars are not imported.  It will be pretty easy to figure it out when their prices go up too.

I'm glad I bought my new electric guitar before all this happens.  I'd not have paid the new price for it. 

[B0WIE]

It made me think of Zager, who always strike me as pretty shady and lead folks to believe their guitars are not imported.  It will be pretty easy to figure it out when their prices go up too.

Funny you mention that. I've also been noticing that with a few things. Some have prices set to magically go up with the next batch (reasons being obvious). On the other hand, there's a band I like that sells their own pedals and claims they are made in Kentucky. They just announced a new pedal and, I'll be damned, it's actually cheaper than their last ones. I was impressed.