Guitar as an heirloom

I continually examine about the notion of the eco-friendly guitar. I have spent many years on this as eco product design is my background. There are certain objects that should be easily recyclable or be biodegradable. The longer the useful life of an object the less that is true, particularly if those eco-credentials are at the expense of longevity. To clarify, a paper napkin is on one end of the continuum and a musical instrument is on the other. I think most people agree that 300 year old violins are objects that should stay out of the landfill while we certainly wouldn't want a Strad napkin so to speak. What other objects have useful life of a few hundred years? The only things I could come up with is antique furniture, perhaps books and works of art (though they are not functional objects per-se).

One of the more compelling arguments folks repeat for the use of Amazonian hardwoods and other old-growth wood in guitars- which I agree with by the way- is that at least the material is being used for an 'elevated' purpose. Given that these trees, like strads, are often 300 years old, one would hope the instruments made from them would last as long but they generally do not. That said, the steel string guitar as we know it is only about 100 years old, and guitars from the early years are very rare because they do not last. So people have to buy new ones and then they have to replace them when they break. It is my goal to make Blackbird guitars last for hundreds of years and in doing so replace six or so wooden ones. I don't think you need to be a scientist to see the logic in that- it represents the dematerialization of old growth trees.