Pop Series by RKS Guitars
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 09. 9.05
The Pop Series from RKS Guitar is an innovative, versatile instrument designed with sustainability in mind. The design strategy at RKS focused on addressing two main issues: their perceived lack of recent innovation in the guitar industry and the consumption of irreplaceable natural resources in the production of guitars. We noted that companies like Gibson have been using Smartwood-certified tone woods in their guitars for some time now; RKS decided to take a different tack, and cut out the imported woods all together. Most guitars contain between eight and ten pounds of tone woods, which are usually hardwoods that come from the rainforests of Central and South America. The RKS Pop series uses less than two pounds of the all-important tone woods, which are obtained from domestic tree farms. All this, while maintaining high performance and sound output qualities, which is something RKS co-founder Dave Mason might know about; he's a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is best known for his work with the band Traffic. The Pop Series is available in colors as loud as the guitars themselves, like Rockwork Orange, Pink Lipstick and Fine Lime, and garnered a Silver at the 2005 IDEA Awards. ::RKS Guitars via ::Land+Living
The bodywood for most solid electric guitars (and the main part of the wood in a guitar) comes from domestic species in Europe and USA. The woods most used are alder, ash, swamp ash and basswood (look at Fender, Jackson etc.) The neck in the above guitars are often American maple, so no exotic hardwood there either. Then there is only the fingerboard left, which often is an exotic hardwood (at the most 1 pound).
Gibson have mainly used mahogany (exotic wood) in their necks and bodies, so it's easy to understand why they have changed to using certified woods, if they want to stay in business.