Music Wood Initiative Pushes for FSC

Greenpeace International unveiled the Music Wood Initiative at the January 2006 trade show of NAMM, the International Music Products Association. The Music Wood Initiative was created to limit the environmental and social degradation caused in the making of musical instruments. “If you walk through a music store, the instruments are comprised of a virtual who’s who of often exotic species from the four corners of the globe,” according to the program’s website. The Music Wood Initiative encourages instrument manufacturers to use wood certified according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards and encourages musicians to request these products. The campaign is focused on Sitka spruce, which grows only in the North American coastal temperate rainforest and is commonly used to make soundboards for guitars and pianos. Gibson, C. F. Martin & Company, Dave Maize Acoustic Guitars, and the Toyo Piano Manufacturing Company, Ltd., already offer FSC product lines. Details are online at www.musicwood.org.