“It’s just amazing. I’ve never heard anything like it,” said musician Scott Perez as he played the first Gibson Les Paul American Rosewood Guitar.
The Grind Coffee Bar and Café in Tampa hosted “Guitars and Coffee” on Jan. 30, with special guests of Viable Lumber.
Owner of Viable Lumber, Pete Richardson, takes one man’s trash and makes it treasure by salvaging wood that would otherwise be taken to the dump.
Viable Lumber supplied the wood used to make the tables and barstools at The Grind. Viable Lumber also supplied Gibson with the rosewood used to make the Gibson Les Paul American Rosewood Guitar.
“The wood does not belong in the dumpster. It belongs in things like that,” Richardson said about the Les Paul guitar.
In 2009 and again in 2011 the Gibson Guitar Corporation in Nashville was raided by agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services for ebony and rosewood imported from India in violation of the Lacey Act of 1900, according to Forbes.
The century-old law protects endangered species. It was amended in 2008 to include a wider variety of prohibited plants and plant products.
The lawsuit was settled in 2012. Gibson agreed to pay $300,000 to avoid criminal charges and to make a “community service payment” of $50,000 to U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation according to CNN.
Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, quoted by CNN, said agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents confiscated about $1 million in Indian ebony as well as guitars and electronic data.
Richardson began salvaging wood after he created a table from the branches of a tree outside his house, to prevent damage from stormy weather. However, he says it is not a “get-rich-quick” type of job. The wood goes through three to five and sometimes a ten year cycle to dry and cure.
After hearing about the raid and inventory confiscation, Richardson sent a Cuban mahogany ukulele made by artist Andy Gibson to the Gibson Guitar president. Richardson calls it “the Queen’s wood.”
The craftsmanship and the wood impressed the Gibson president and Viable Lumber began supplying rosewood to the Gibson Guitar Corporation.
“Not your typical tree huggers,” he said as he shows photos the artists hugging the trees before they are salvaged.
Richardson said the rosewood’s Chain of Custody is “bullet-proof”.
“We got it all documented. It’s as American as you can get,” said Richardson, “American as apple pie.”
The Grind displayed bowls, instruments and artwork made with wood supplied by Viable Lumber and crafted by various artists, including ukuleles made by Andy Gibson. Nick Brown displayed his handcrafted dulcimer. Unique hollow formed wood vessels, made by artistic woodturner John Mascoll, looked as if wood were turned to stone.
“There are so many talented people and it’s made a difference in their life and it’s part of the reason I do it,” Richardson said.
