Brazilian alternatives & what is the future?

[HaphAsSard]

American waxing? Landing strip?

 

[funkymonk13]

I would think eventually the future is going to go more and more towards the artificial surfaces, like ebanol.
I don't know much about it and haven't tried it yet, but I have heard some glowing reviews (a friend tried a Martin guitar with a composite fretboard and raved about it!!)
I know many of us love the look, sound and feel of woods, but with improved technology, and decreasing/more protected natural woods (thus increasing price), I can't help but think that we'll be seeing more & more of these products.
Im sure this will be a lively argument in upcoming years on talkbass and beyond. I like to consider myself open minded, so I'm anxious to try one, to see how far the tech has come to sounding/feeling like the real thing...lucky for us there are still plenty of beautiful basses out there with real wood!

Gibson uses richlite(some recycled paper composite) on their newer les paul customs and other high end guitars; to the dismay of a lot of people who buy those guitars!

I think it makes sense for the future. The generation that grew up with traditional wood will be gone and composite materials will be the norm. I'm not upset about it, I love nice woods like ebony but My modulus is my favorite instrument I've ever owned.

I'm sure wooden instruments will still be available but will be very expensive. Which is fair, imo. If this stuff isn't sustainable we should look for alternatives. If the purists wanna pay thousands of dollars for wood than so be it.

Or who knows, companies might start planting trees to meet the demand of consumers and make harvesting the wood sustainable. But I kinda doubt that. I think electronic music is gonna take off and instruments will be around but the demand will decrease; and most of the people playing them won't care that it's not rosewood or whatever.