Musical Instrument

Taylor Guitars & The Future of Ebony

In this video, Taylor Guitars co-founder Bob Taylor talks about the world’s dwindling supply of ebony, the realities of ebony sourcing in Cameroon, and Taylor’s efforts to preserve a sustainable supply for the entire musical instrument community. With the co-purchase of Crelicam, an ebony mill in Cameroon in 2011, Taylor began to develop a fresh framework for sustainable sourcing, one that blends socially responsible forestry with job training that will help Cameroonian communities support themselves and improve their living standards.

From the Taylor website: “We need to use the ebony that the forest gives us,” emphasizes Bob, who has personally met with a number of other prominent guitar manufacturers since the Crelicam purchase to spread awareness of the new realities regarding ebony sourcing. While the current conditions don’t mean that the days of all-black ebony are entirely gone, they do mean that if we want to ensure a sustainable ebony supply for future generations of instruments and players, we must embrace greater cosmetic diversity.

The story was recently picked up by the Los Angeles Times. In the article, but Ron White, Taylor was also quoted as saying, regarding the workers at the mill:

“We are going to start doing a lot of the processing and that will provide more jobs and more higher-paying jobs and triple the value of what they can sell, instead of just the raw material,” Taylor said. “There is money in the ebony, and they deserve to have more of that.”

Click these links for more info:

Taylor Guitar’s Commitment to Sustainability

Taylor Guitar’s page on Sustainable Ebony

LA Time’s Article about Talyor Guitar’s purchase of the Crelicam Mill

Owl project

Arts Council England and London 2012 announced that artists’ collective Owl Project, and north east based producer and musicianEd Carter have been selected as the north east winner of a £500,000 commission for Artists taking the lead, one of the major projects for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

FLOW is an environmentally sustainable floating water-wheel and interactive artspace on the River Tyne. A floating millhouse alongside the water-wheel will contain a range of sensors, combining traditional and new technologies to monitor key environmental details, including water temperature and speed, salinity, and pollution. FLOW is in effect a musical instrument, powered by the tidal river and manipulated by the audience.

Flow can be thought of as a ‘water organ’, in both the musical and biological sense: an instrument that processes water into useful energy, information and sound. The piece will generate its own power, and use sustainably-sourced materials throughout its construction. The project will highlight the importance of the waterways and their industry to the region.

Artists taking the lead, London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
Owl Project and Ed Carter’s ‘Flow’ was selected by an independent panel of artists and producers from the five projects shortlisted in August from a total of 83 regional entries.
Flow is an environmentally sustainable floating water-wheel and interactive artspace on the River Tyne.

Flow is one of 12 commissions that will be realised across the UK over the next three years, each inspired by their location and celebrating the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. There is one commission for each of the nine English regions and the nations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.