Before there was Guitar Hero, there were guitars…

This is the third or fourth draft of this post. I have decided that I am NOT going to try to convince parents that they should get their kids a nice, wooden guitar instead of Guitar Hero. It just seems futile and silly.

I got a guitar when I was 16. My friends played them and I got the chance to mess around with one (can you say Smoke on the Water?) during a weekend camping trip. I was hooked.

It may just be a coincidence that I have never been a gamer. Making music is one my favorite pastimes. I often play guitar and sing in the kitchen when Catherine is preparing a meal. If you want to make the most environmentally responsible guitar purchase, a good used instrument is probably the best choice. You can avoid plastic packaging and those cheap plastic ‘gig bags’ that they include with many new entry level guitars.

Some manufacturers in the US have recently joined an initiative with GreenPeace that may result in Forest Stewardship Council certified wood being used for their guitars. These include Martin, Gibson, Fender, Taylor and Yamaha.

But, wait a moment… many of these wooden guitars are coated with plastic (polyester). One of the best guitars that I ever played belonged to a guy that was on my tree planting crew back in 1988. It was a Norman guitar and it was lacquered. Here is a quote from the Norman Guitar website:

The thick polyester finishes typically found in all but the most expensive guitars negates all of the potential benefit of a solid top instrument. This is why we spend several days applying a very special lacquer finish to every Norman guitar. This special finish encourages maximum vibration and therefore, excellent sound. Perhaps even more compelling than the great sound of a solid top guitar with a lacquer finish is its capacity to get even better sounding. This is called ageing.

This lacquer could also be a plastic (acrylic). Lacquer is a term that is applied to many finishing compounds both old and new. All I know for sure is that the Norman guitar had a great sound and it was very playable. It was accidentally left behind in White River in a broken down bus by its owner. I wonder where it is now.