AUG. 14 I ESP GUITARS, FENDER I SOURCING
ESP Guitars, Fender Move to Sustainable Materials

To remain compliant with new CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulations, Fender and ESP Guitars have announced they will be transitioning into sustainable wood sourcing for design and manufacturing in various models.

ESP will implement changes to several of its LTD series guitars, including the LTD Deluxe 1000 Series, the LTD acoustic models, the LTD 10 Series and more. On a series-by-series basis, ESP will replace its rosewood fingerboards and bridges with jatoba, black walnut, Macassar ebony and pau ferro, respectively.

Fender has also selected pau ferro as an alternate wood option to rosewood.

Fender CEO Andy Mooney has issued a statement regarding the transition:

"Fender is committed to the continued use of Rosewood in American-made solid body guitars, such as our American Professional Series. After actively exploring alternate wood options to Rosewood for selective use on a few U.S. models, we will be transitioning most of our Mexico-made product away from rosewood to pau ferro, a fantastic alternate we currently use on the SRV signature strat. The American Elite series is transitioning to ebony fretboards with dealers and our inventories. Rosewood is still used on many series of instruments, as it is a historically accurate tone wood. The changeover will be somewhat fluid in the market, there is no set date at this time.

"We are still currently evaluating options for Squier and the acoustics category. FMIC's specialty brands, Gretsch, Jackson, Charvel and EVH will continue to use Rosewood in both solid body and acoustic models, from all source countries."

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