M E E T T O N EWO O D S U P P L I E R C Y R I L J A C O B
Cyril Jacob of C Jacob Woods is always on the lookout for a piece of old-growth wood that has a story to tell. “Each piece is entirely unique. It’s unique to where it grew, how long it’s been down,” he says. The individuality and backstory of a piece of wood make it perfect for guitar making. “It’s an ideal use for this kind of a resource. I think it’s pretty cool to be able to salvage it and turn it into heritage quality instruments,” he says.
That kind of wood isn’t easy to come by. It’s much harder to find a log that comes from an ancient forest or has been buried in a riverbank since before the first logging than it is to acquire a piece of wood from a more recent supply. But Jacob has made it his mission to make sure that those quality tonewoods make their way into guitars since opening his mill in the mid-1990s. He explains, “There’s not a lot of it really available and it’s hard for untrained people to recognize for what it is, so I spend a lot of time educating.”
“I get excited about finding stuff that other people have overlooked and knowing what it really is, and being able to move it into the right markets for it to have utilization,” he says. The payoff is getting to see the final product, which, quite often, comes in the form of a Breedlove or Bedell guitar. “These guitars are being built with quality and a standard that they’re not just for one person. They’re generational instruments. They have longevity, they’re going to last, they can be passed on.”
