As we progress into the 21st century, it’s clear that many exotic wood species are not sustainable, and their use as guitar tonewoods will be reduced. There are a few people tackling this area, and it’s good to see that there are a few alternatives out there and people thinking about this problem. One entrant is a company called Blackwood Tek.
It’s basically a sustainable New Zealand Pine that has been subjected to organics and pressure/temp to form a dense hardwood similar to Rosewood or Ebony. Here’s a more defined description from Madinter:
Blackwood Tek is a technologically modified wood that exhibits the properties and appearance of African Ebony or Indian Rosewood. It is obtained by taking Pinus radiata through a technological process that uses natural products, without plastics or other petroleum derivatives.
Its high density, hardness and stability, in addition to its colour (black or brown depending on the variety) make it ideal for fingerboards and other parts of musical instruments. Moreover, Blackwood Tek is suitable for immediate use, with a stable moisture content of 5%, and is resistant to changes in humidity and temperature with minimal fluctuation.
There’s a large factory in China that takes this NZ Pine and processes it for use in guitars and other industries. This gives a good economy of scale and a very affordable price.
The physical properties look quite good compared to traditional hardwoods used for guitars. MOR is Modulus of Elasticity and MOR is Modulus of Rupture. You can see both of these are on par or exceed the traditional hardwoods used for fingerboards and also guitar back/sides.
A few guitar makers are starting to use these actively in their guitars:
- https://www.macmarr.com
- http://www.hutchinsguitars.com
- https://www.reverendguitars.com
- http://www.lagguitars.com
Note that Blackwood Tek is very affordable, so you can get it on inexpensive guitars as well, and even DIY kits. It is very even and uniform in color, with a natural wood grain look. It’s quite impressive to look at, and is a very good substitute for Rosewood fingerboards. Only time will tell if this can be a true substitute. The tone snobs will no doubt want to use exotic woods, though I bet few can really tell the difference in any double-blind test.
It’s great that people are serious about this and are progressing with alternatives. Deforestation is a big problem, and with the CITES for Rosewood, there’s finally large incentives to come up with solutions. Richlite, Rocklite, Blackwood Tek, and even roasted Maple are the many options now for musical instruments.