JAVS Fall 2022

Example 7: Ebony on the left and Neo-ebene on the right .

Nowadays, any imported wood from other countries must be accompanied by a Lacey Form. 1 The Lacey form states the country of origin, the wood species, and the weight. If a wood is on the protected species list or illegally harvested (poached), it will be confiscated. The instrument making firm Gibson made headlines in 2012 when an investigation revealed they were importing illegally harvested wood; subsequently, a lot of wood was confiscated during a raid. Gibson trusted the seller of the wood to have provided proper paperwork proving the country of origin, but unbeknownst to them, the wood was actually illegally harvested in a different country and violated international and local laws. Violin and bow makers have been actively involved in replanting and protecting these valuable resources, and donating to organizations designed to protect them. IPCI (International Pernambuco Initiative) and Ebenholz! (Ebony! in German) are two initiatives that are providing funds from donations from instrument makers and musicians to support educational and growth programs in Brazil (pernambuco) and Madagascar (ebony).

beautiful black wood. Only 1 in 10 ebony trees harvested in Cameroon is actually black. The other trees have brown streaks. Recently, more companies have successfully invested research in new materials, ready to replace ebony as a resource. Neo-ebene and Sonowood, both located in Switzerland are already manufacturing a good alternative to ebony for fingerboard and fittings (pegs and tailpieces). Another ebony-like material is Sucseno by Paulus Bows in Germany. Another wood used for fittings—pegs, tailpiece, and chinrest—is rosewood; unfortunately, it also increasingly a limited resource and some variants of rosewood are now on the protected species list. English boxwood, mountain mahogany, and certain tropical woods such as Pernambuco have been used in the past for fittings as well. All natural resources are becoming more scarce and harder to find. The primary challenge is climate change, especially in the Alpine region where usual weather patterns are increasingly disrupted. Due to Scarcity, more Governments are now protecting wood species, such as maple and spruce, that used to be available in abundance from logging. Old growth trees are just not as easily available anymore as they were in the past.

Footnotes 1 The Lacey Act, initially enacted in 1900, is a United States law that bans trafficking in fish, wildlife, or plants that are illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold.)

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 2, Fall 2022