Ebony & Economics

No.137: December 9, 2022

Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This publication is free for now, but please consider clicking on the button at the bottom to become a paid subscriber to enjoy this along with Monday’s “Off The Shelf” feature about books and Wednesday’s “The Quarter Inch,” a quick(er) commentary on current events.

West African Ebony

Dear Friends,

It is so good to be home. We finally made it back yesterday from our weeklong west coast road trip to CCL’s 22nd Annual Symposium in San Francisco. It was, yet again, our best symposium yet (this happens, by God’s grace, year after year), and it was such a delight to see dear friends I seldom see.

So today I’d like to give a debrief of our trip, and then to close with an amazing story I learned along the way—a story of stewardship, responsibility, economics, markets, and beauty.

But before I get into that, I need to give a profound thank you to my paid subscribers. This morning I got an email telling me that The Square Inch is now a “Bestselling” Substack. That means, I guess, that I have passed some sort of internal threshold to be considered a “success.” It certainly won’t buy me a Ferrari (okay: that’s not the goal), but it is a great help to us and we are so thankful for each of you.

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This is a huge country. If you look at a map of the United States and trace the route I took over the last week, you would see a tiny little triangle in the upper left-hand corner. Looks like such a quick little trip. But if you spread the line out horizontally, I basically drove the equivalent of a cross-continent trip. Here’s a some quick hits:

• The Beemer performed like a champ. That inline 6-cylinder M54 engine (one of the best BMW ever made) purred along just as designed. I am still getting occasional check engine codes related to a fuel trim issue, but that’s a “ghost” I’ll be chasing down for a while yet. Our actual gas mileage was just fine.

• You know what is vastly underrated for its natural beauty? Northern Nevada. If you’ve never driven I-80 from Elko to Reno, you’re missing out. Extraordinarily beautiful, especially when the mountains are tufted with snow, as they were this week.

• You know what is overrated—if rated at all—for its natural beauty? In my opinion, southern Idaho. Sorry, Idahoans. But that whole stretch between Pocatello and Boise is forgettable. The most uninteresting drive in America.

• I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is a shame what horrible governance has done to it, but it is a jewel. I was pleased to hit the Bay Bridge just at sunset. The bridge comes down essentially right on top of the city. Skyscrapers spill and tumble down the hill to the bay, and when it sparkles in the golden afternoon sunlight, there’s just no vista quite like it. Awe-inspiring. Humans, man.

• On Sunday we made our way to Napa Valley. The vineyards are all dormant, but in the fog and mist they are still so very beautiful. We lunched at Pacifico Restaurante Mexicano in Calistoga—a family-run establishment with the greatest fresh salsa on the planet, and a supreme burrito the size of a football. We didn’t really need to eat the rest of the day.

• Bend, Oregon was our next stop, and that little city is a gem, too. It is as if they built it into the landscape. It’s high desert with lots of beautiful conifer trees and high grasses and stone, and the buildings and neighborhoods are just seamlessly planted into the natural surroundings. Lovely to look at.

• We visited quite a few thrift shops and bookstores. In fact, Big Story Books is probably the best bookstore I’ve seen in a very long while. Usually when a shop is a mix of both new and used, the “used” ones are priced pretty high; but I found them to be quite reasonable!

• And, finally, the real purpose of our visit to Bend. A couple of hours with Rebecca Urlacher, a world-class guitar luthier. She is almost finished making my custom guitar and what a joy to see it for myself! A Lutz Spruce top with Brazilian Rosewood back and sides. Artwork inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I hadn’t seen any pictures of the fret marker yet, and it blew me away.

And the back? Well, you just don’t get Rosewood like this every day of the week, or, er, every lifetime:

She’s finishing up sanding the neck and staining it. Then some frets, a bridge, and tuning pegs and it’ll be shipped off to Vancouver for the process of “finishing” it. I shouldn’t have stopped in Bend because now I’m dreaming about the guitar. Just six or eight weeks away…

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Okay, so stopping in Bend wasn’t just for me to ogle my forthcoming instrument. Daughter #2 managed to get herself on Rebecca’s build schedule next year and is busy saving every one of her dollars to get her own custom guitar. This trip was for her to look through wood supplies and pick the particular tone woods to use on her guitar. And she made a fabulous choice: West African Ebony back and sides with an Adirondack Spruce top.

Isn’t that beautiful? It’s like someone painted it with a soft pastel brush. Now let me tell you an amazing story.

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A mere ten years ago that beautiful wood would never have seen the light of day. The ebony tree would have been cut down, sawed into, and then left to rot in the jungles of Cameroon. This was discovered by none other than Bob Taylor, the legendary luthier and head of Taylor Guitars. Because the U.S. government has tightened regulatory controls on the “sourcing” of exotic woods, Bob began investigating his own supply chains in earnest. And since he has always used ebony for his fretboards, that led him to Cameroon. He and a wood supplier from Europe had an opportunity to purchase their own sawmill in Cameroon, and they were very interested.

Here is what they discovered in their efforts to purchase the business. It was a political and cultural mess. Black markets, underhanded dealing, shady business practices, legal violations, underpaid employees—basically, a huge cloud of unethical behavior that turned Bob and his business parter off. Right when they were about to pull the plug on the whole venture, Bob said to his friend: “You realize that if we don’t do this, then you and I are going to have to refuse to ever use ebony on a guitar again? We know too much.” Bob decided the only way around the mess was through it.

They bought the company and brought it into compliance with local and international laws. But in this process—which included lots of trips into the jungle to see for himself how the wood is harvested, Bob had a realization that almost literally made him cry. Instrument makers in Europe, America, and China have historically wanted their ebony… black. Jet black. (For reference, look at the fretboard on the guitar Rebecca is making for me—which, by the way, she said is the “finest ebony” she’s ever used.) But ebony is not just a “black” wood. It is full of grains and colorful marbling. And guess what? The workers in Cameroon were chopping down trees, and if the wood wasn’t jet black they were leaving the trees to rot on the jungle floor. Why? Because they would not get paid for wood that wasn’t black. Bob said, “That ends, as of this moment.” And so, only in the last ten years have we suddenly started to see this extravagantly beautiful wood used on guitars.

I noticed it myself. One of the things that drew me to my Taylor 818 is that the fretboard wasn’t jet black; it has a beautiful streak of coloration in it! I had never seen that before. Just imagine: for fifty years these trees were being left to rot, when they are perfectly good to use. And so now, for the first time whole trees are being harvested that have the kind of marbling and character you see in my daughter’s guitar.

The lessons here are so, so many. Economically, incentives matter. Workers will not bother with a tree they are not getting paid for. Creativity matters—someone had to finally ask, why aren’t we putting that beautiful wood to use? Production matters: if consumer habits are the only thing worth considering, then “jet black” ebony would continue to have a monopoly. It takes a producer to make something that creates a market—now everyone wants uniquely marbled ebony on their guitars! And Taylor made an inspired decision to first roll it out on their most premium guitars, not the cheaper models—a brilliant way of generating acceptance and demand. Stewardship matters: Bob’s initial interest was to contribute to the sustainability of ebony sourcing for his business (a wise thing for a business reliant on the resource); and in pursuing that sustainability, not only did he do it by re-planting programs and so forth, but he increased the actual productive use of the resource by 100%! Because they are no longer leaving 50% of the trees to rot! And ethical business practices matter: Crelicam (the company) has a new reputation as an ethical business, and it has made them one of the most successful and in-demand tone wood suppliers in West Africa. And globalism matters: yes, we get responsibly sourced ebony from Cameroon, and Cameroon gets an industry with international customers, jobs, and higher wages.

Bob Taylor changed a lot when he started Taylor Guitars—they had a commitment to craftsmanship and quality that was head and shoulders above their competition in the world of mass-production guitars. But he’s done more than that: he’s practically given us a whole new tone wood for our instruments, all the while saving an untold number of trees and making the resource a sustainable one for the future.

And no one made him do it. Free and private enterprise animated by virtue, folks. That is a tree that bears fruit. The West African Ebony on the back of a forthcoming guitar is proof.

You can read all about this story, and enjoy a short 8-part video documentary, at Crelicam’s website.

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Thanks for reading this week’s Square Inch! Have a wonderful weekend.