A quiet but meaningful shift is happening in the world of acoustic guitar making, and it’s taking root right in the streets, parks, and neighborhoods of California. Leading guitar manufacturers like Taylor Guitars and Gryphon Stringed Instruments have begun crafting their next generation of instruments from native urban trees—those marked for removal in California cities.
The idea is as much about preserving the memory of these condemned trees as it is about offering a sustainable, affordable alternative to the increasingly scarce exotic woods traditionally used in guitar making.
Anyone browsing through the catalog of a guitar shop will come across familiar names like rosewood, mahogany, and ebony—woods long celebrated for their rich tonal qualities and durability. However, these same names now often appear in headlines about deforestation in the Amazon and Congo Basin. As global demand for acoustic guitars continues to climb, so too does pressure on these endangered forests.
In response, some forward-thinking luthiers and urban forestry groups are challenging the assumption that prized rainforest hardwoods are the only suitable materials for fine instruments. Could the shamel ash, black acacia, or red ironbark trees lining California’s streets hold the same musical promise?
Taking the lead in this effort is West Coast Arborists (WCA), a family-owned business responsible for managing urban trees for over 320 municipalities, public agencies, and private communities across four states. For WCA, city trees are more than scenery or shade—they’re vital living connections to nature amidst paved streets and city blocks. And when a tree must come down, WCA plants two in its place.
A little over 25 years ago, the company launched an initiative called Street Tree Revival, an urban wood recycling program dedicated to repurposing felled trees into lumber for craftspeople and artists. Whenever a city marks a tree for removal, its measurements and location are uploaded into a central database accessible to local woodworkers and instrument makers.
“We developed a system where our IT department could use any time [sic] a list comes out with trees that are going to be removed. And they see a shamal ash is identified, it automatically sends a notification to me at area manager and to our Street Revival people that, ‘Hey, here’s a possible tree we can send to Taylor,’” said Tim Patterson, a WCA manager.
Bob Taylor, co-founder of Taylor Guitars, has spent decades studying the acoustic properties of different woods, and recently he’s turned his attention to these urban-grown species. Surprisingly, trees like shamel ash and red ironbark have proven to possess the tonal characteristics necessary for high-quality guitar making.
But Taylor’s ambitions extend beyond simply finding substitutes. On a visit to the Congo Basin, Taylor discovered a deeply troubling practice surrounding ebony, one of the traditional woods used for guitar bridges and fretboards. There, loggers routinely cut down six to ten ebony trees to find a single one with jet-black wood inside, discarding the others.
“But they said ‘Sir you can’t sell that wood!’ They’re used to decades—a century, of only black wood, and so are the consumers,” Taylor recounted to CBS.
Not one to be deterred, Taylor insisted on buying the streaked ebony, whose beautiful natural striations were once viewed as imperfections. In a twist of irony, this very wood—dismissed for generations—is now sought after for its distinctive grain and character.
“Now, if you buy a Taylor guitar, that’s the wood you’re going to get,” Taylor added.
CBS San Francisco documented the journey of one such tree: a 30-foot-tall shamel ash, growing perilously close to utility lines, was carefully pruned, cut, and lowered by crane before making its way to WCA’s milling facility. From there, the lumber would find new life in the hands of luthiers at Taylor and Gryphon.
“The topic does not even come up, you know ‘what this wood is and where did it come from.’ Instead, it’s like ‘Wow, this sounds great, and it looks beautiful,’” remarked Richard Johnson, one of Gryphon’s founders.
This local wood program not only breathes new life into California’s native trees but also addresses a pressing issue in the guitar industry: the environmental and ethical costs of exotic timber. Moreover, it reconnects musicians and consumers with a sense of place, history, and ecology through their instruments.
The success of this urban wood initiative represents a hopeful new chapter for the guitar world. It’s a model of how sustainable practices can be both environmentally and economically viable. By embracing locally sourced wood, guitar makers like Taylor and Gryphon are demonstrating that beautiful, high-performance instruments don’t have to come at the expense of vulnerable tropical forests.
WCA’s forward-looking strategy, in which every tree removed is replaced with two, ensures that California’s urban landscapes remain leafy and vibrant while transforming what was once seen as waste into objects of craftsmanship and artistry.
As the movement grows, it challenges old ideas about which woods are “worthy” and reminds us that some of the most resonant, meaningful sounds might just come from the trees we pass by every day.
Watch the story unfold on CBS in the video below:
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