This Devon based company needs your help to breath new life into the way that we enjoy guitars.

In this article, I am going to tell you about how a small UK-based guitar company is looking to challenge the way that we purchase guitars from buying bright and shiny newly built guitars to purchasing beautifully restored, delightfully-aged, pre-loved guitars that reduce the environmental impact of guitarists on our planet.  

Let me tell you about Life Guitars Co. and their exciting crowdfunding campaign to produce ethical repurposed electric guitars.

According to the Cosmos website, approximately 2.6 million new guitars are produced annually amounting to a total business in the region of $1Bn.

Another source, states that the following popular guitar brands are making the following revenue per year:

• PRS Guitars - approx $30m / year,
• Fender Musical Instruments - approx $174m / year,
• Gibson - approx $990m/ year

There is literally an army of guitar manufacturers big and small making beautiful guitars that impact on music making as well as giving joy to millions across the world.

Guitars are beautiful instruments that are exciting and provides many with an infectious feeling of euphoria when played on stage or for that matter in one's own bedroom at home.

Over the years, songwriters and musicians have used their craft to express their concerns about the impact that mankind is having on our planet whilst using guitars that have undeniably contributed to that impact as a result of deforestation as well as over using sources of rare woods.

Is our appetite for 'NGD' (New Guitar Day) making the guitar industry unsustainable?

The way that tone woods are sourced and cut to produce instruments that provide great tone have at times lead to very old and rare trees being destroyed.

Sika Spruce is used on soundboards for guitars and comes from trees that are 400 years old.  The availability of African Ebony is being restricted as it becomes over used as a source.  Habitat destruction for agriculture and urbanisation in South America lead to the use of Brazilian Rosewood being banned in 1992 that then had a knock on effect of the over use of alternatives.

Some guitar companies have indeed been raided for their stocks of illegally sourced tonewoods such as Madagascan ebony and rosewood. 

One of my favourite brands, PRS Guitars, share videos of how they build their guitars and it is easy to see how the selection and cut of various types of tone woods for their tone and aesthetic qualities can lead to a lot of wastage for sources of wood not to mention the level of energy used in order to dry tone woods.

So what can we as guitarists do to improve the environmental impact of our craft when the thrill of NGD often leads to purchase choices that do not consider environmental impact?

Enter Life Guitar Co and their aim to reduce guitarist's environmental impact.

Life Guitar Co Ltd was set up by family members Joff Alexander-Frye and Dan Frye.  With a background in publishing and marketing as well as many years of collecting and tinkering with guitars, both Joff and Dan started the company with the aim to breathe new life into used guitars, amps and pedals.

Choosing only to sell second hand products, they operate independently with a passion to reuse, upcycle and restore used guitars to become the very best that they can be – resulting in great guitars with the added benefit of wood aging and being 'played in' first.

More recently Joff and Dan have taken their concept to a new level with the launch of their crowdfunding campaign to produce ethical repurposed guitars.

The video below lets Joff and Dan explain their vision for the LG Repurposed Guitar and why you should get involved in supporting them:

By supporting their crowd funding campaign, supporters can get a range of perks leading up to getting a version of the electric guitar itself in either a T or S style with various finishes and refinements.

All the guitars are sourced from high quality parts and repurposed to exacting standards however due to the nature of this endeavour, each guitar will inevitably be unique thus making them much more appealing for the lucky guitarists who get one of these instruments.

Want to support Life Guitars mission to produce ethical repurposed guitars?

Life Guitar Co already has already gained support from influential musicians such as former Dire Straits guitarist, David Knopfler and you could make a huge difference by getting involved too.

 

Click the link below to find out more and get involved on their Crowd Funder page.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/lifeguitarsco

Transparency - None of the links in this article are affiliate links, nor do I have a commercial link with Life Guitars Co Ltd, I simply love what they are doing and want to get the word out there!