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The Luthier Forum Members.
Some luthiers are traveling on very thin ice in this business of building musical instruments in that they do not understand the route that our business is taking and the individualistic selfish minds that is taking us all there.
Let us look at where the best tonewood for Flat Top, Arch Top, Violins, Mandolins, Cello, Double Bass (just to name a few) is coming from if you like Sitka Spruce. Ask yourself what part of the globe that is. I know! Its right here specifically in SE Alaska from Juneau to Prince Rupert. That specific color and line definition that all GOOD luthiers look for. If you go any further North or South then this you run into a reddish or pinkish color and the trees are not as big and the line count is not as straight and tight. I know this because I have made my living in these woods on the Pacific Coast for 60 years and have been in the wood products business for over 50 years.
What is going on in this our business? It's simple! Gas prices are killing off the small luthiers and the small business people involved in the business because they cannot afford the trucking costs from here in SE Alaska to the lower 48. Think about this a minute. A year ago it cost the buyer in Northern California $400 to have a half cord of my wood delivered to him. Now one year later that cost is near $1500. I can deliver a half cord of wood to Australia for $400. Think about that a little bit. I have orders to Sweden, three to Australia, one to Holland, two to Spain, and one to Viet-Nam and two to England. That will keep me busy for six months. They are all half cord to full cord orders. When I left for Viet-Nam in 1966 the cost of gas was 17 cents a gallon and when I returned in 1967 it was $1.10. In the last year gas has went from $1.80 a gallon to $4.00 a gallon. What the heck is going on. We are paying for the wars.
I have tried to keep you small luthiers in business so that you did not have to deal with the middle man and pay the 700%-1200% cost raise from my business to his. You get my bolt or bolts and saw the tops yourself. My prices are the lowest on the West Coast bar none. I ship these packaged bolts in the mail through parcel post and guess what is taking place inside the Post Office now? ALL small businesses that were able to afford trucking before are shipping their products in the mail because the prices are still affordable. So the mail system is chocked with this shift of small business products. Thus slowing down delivery. Now guess what happens. Some people get on the Luthier forum and belittle my business and I will not name names. They call me a cheater, a liar, a fake and this goes all over the Luthiers Forum only because their $50 bolt is stuck in the mail. This is not fair or lawful to my business or any other business.
If you are going to form these Unions that is fine
(this would help with your ordering power) but you had better monitor your forums individuals language because some of it teeders on lawsuits towards the people who started this Luthiers Forum and the individuals who slander tonewood companies. You cannot go on TV, Radio, News Papers or in a public forum and talk about a business the way some of these luthiers do without bringing in Judges and Lawyers. That is just the American way of life.
I have found myself getting caught up in this negative display for each other. I have never been involved in any faction of life where so many people had the normal standard that lying and cheating was the normal. We all know who these people are. If you are a logger you have scalers to grade the timber before it reaches the mills and if you are involved in sawmills you have graders that grade the wood before it reaches the buyer. In this business we have no checks and balance system as this to weed out these individuals who are bent on destroying the business. Most often they are nickel dime Luthiers.
I have talked to my State Legislature Jim Elkins, who I have known personally for over 20 years and my wife who is personal friends with, and he has discussed this with Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator Ted Stevens in Washington D.C. about this problem. Don't be surprised that we in Alaska have government or State intervention here soon who will be grading this fast growing wood product industry. No product will leave this State without Union graders grading this wood. Guess who will pay for that service. You.
The whole of the wood products business in South East Alaska has become very aware over the last three to four years of the value of this tonewood in SE Alaska and it is becoming increasingly monitored by all interests groups. Especially the Forest Service. We must have outside graders in the business that could care less about who buys this wood. Don't be surprised that no wood will leave this State unless it is graded to its finality by a State of Alaska grader and the final product that leaves this state will be in a cant form. Thank you all for your time and I hope this idea will come into effect so that our business will thrive instead of going backwards as now. John in Ketchikan, Alaska of www.alaskatonewood.com.
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