Beautiful Taylor guitars made from koa 

 
 Bob Taylor personally expresses how rare koa is and the value of koa when used for instriments in this short video.

Taylor Guitars: Hawaiian Koa

All-Koa Tenor Ukulele and GS with Solid Lining.

Taylor's design group has crafted a tandem ukulele/guitar release that celebrates our love of koa wood and honors the traditions, heritage and music of Hawaii, koa's home. Inspired in part by a new design aesthetic for Taylor's 2012 Koa Series, this Builder's Reserve package also draws from the ukulele-building expertise of Taylor luthier Andy Powers, whose high-end ukes are played by the likes of Elvis Costello, Taylor Swift, and singer-songwriter Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek). 

The solid koa ukuleles embody a handcrafted approach to instrument making, since Taylor hasn't yet developed all the tooling that would be required to make the uke as a production model. Our reserves of koa include beautifully figured sets that are too small for a guitar but perfect for ukes. The appointments mirror those of the Koa Series, featuring a beautiful plumeria fretboard inlay that was scaled down to accommodate the uke's more diminutive size.  

The tenor-style design features a body length of just over 12 inches, with a scale length of 17.25 inches. The neck meets the body at the 14th fret. "It's more of a guitar player's uke," says Bob Taylor. "Anyone who plays guitar can just have fun instantly with this."  

The ukulele is made to be tuned GCEA, with a low-wound G string, although the design also will work well with a traditional high-strung G. For players who might want to try it with a more guitar-like voicing, the design can accommodate baritone uke strings, tuned as a low baritone uke, which are the same as the four high strings on a guitar: DGBE. 

The companion guitar for this series is an all-koa cutaway GS. The appointments are identical to the actual Koa Series, with one premium tone enhancement: solid lining and side braces inside the guitar rather than the typically-used kerfing. While far more difficult to execute, the thinner solid lining and side braces together add more torsional strength to the sides. As a result, less string energy is wasted, more of the top and back are free to move, and the guitar produces a livelier, more responsive, and more dynamic sound. 

Only 30 of this ukulele/guitar pairing have been produced, and each is offered as a matched set.

The Entrepreneurs Foundation of Hawai'i is pleased to announce that Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods has become a member company. HLH's for-profit arm offers lots of 100 tropical hardwood trees for purchase; the trees are harvested over a period of 25 years and provide returns to investors. HLH also has a nonprofit initiative in which donors support the planting of trees for permanent reforestation.

HLH has strengthened its commitment to corporate philanthropy and community involvement by donating a lot of 100 Big Island koa trees to EF Hawai'i. Over time, as the trees are harvested, income will be generated for EF Hawai'i and its programs.

EF Hawai'i thanks HLH co-founder and CEO Jeffrey Dunster for this generous grant and commends HLH for its innovative use of for-profit and nonprofit initiatives to grow hardwood forests in Hawai'i.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods

HLH (www.hawaiianlegacyhardwoods.com) was founded in 2008 to bring the tropical hardwood forest back to America. HLH's for-profit arm offers investors the opportunity to purchase lots of 100 tropical hardwood trees for planting on the slopes of Mauna Kea on Hawai'i island. The trees provide returns to investors through sustainable harvesting over a period of 25 years. HLH also established the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation initiative (www.legacytrees.org) to restore a historic koa forest once owned by King Kamehameha 1 on the Hamakua coast. For a contribution of $60. donors support the planting of a koa tree that will never be harvested; the tree can be planted in memory of or in honor of a loved one. All HLH trees will be equipped with RFID tags that will allow owners to locate and monitor their trees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About EF Hawai'i

The Entrepreneurs Foundation of Hawai'i, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, engages entrepreneurial companies in community

service and philanthropy.

•  Community service: EF Hawai'i provides community service opportunities to its member companies.
• Philanthropy: EF Hawai'i encourages its member companies to build new sources of corporate philanthropy through donations of equity or other assets.

For more information, visit www.efhawaii.org

or e-mail info@efhawaii.org.

             From The Field          

Darrell Fox, COO        

The month of January was focused on supplemental planting of koa and the first establishment of sandalwood. Now we are getting to the real fun of building an ecosystem. In any natural system you don't find a complete ecology appearing all at once. The same thing is true when you plant a forest. Koa makes a great pioneer species. It grows rapidly and outgrows the non-native pasture grasses. Additionally, it's nitrogen fixing abilities improve soil fertility for the entire forest. Sandalwood is considered a hemiparasitic tree. During its first year it has a more traditional root structure. Afterward, it draws the bulk of its nutrients and water from a host plant. In the nursery all the sandalwood seedlings are paired up with native understory shrubs. These native shrubs serve as establishment hosts and as intermediate hosts. Sandalwood trees are planted only in Legacy areas so they will not be disturbed by harvesting activities. When the sandalwood trees are planted in the field with their host plants, they start to extend their roots. Since they are planted among already established koa trees, the koa trees can become the long term host trees that allow the sandalwood to thrive. There is speculation that sandalwood may be a more important component of a native Hawaiian forest than was previously realized. By creating a network among the root systems it may allow the plants to share resources and possibly resistances to fungal diseases. We anticipate planting 2000-3000 sandalwood trees paired up with other native plants during the next few months. There are two main species of sandalwood native to the Big Island of Hawaii. Santalum paniculatum is usually found at higher altitude than Santalum elipticum. We are testing both species at different altitudes within our planting range.

Our nursery has been emptying out all through the month. This has freed our nursery space to stock for the main planting during the spring rainy season.   Currently we are adding about 2000 seedlings a day to the nursery. This will continue until we get from 60,000 to 80,000 seedlings in the nursery. Our hybrid nursery technique is generating field ready trees in 4-5 weeks. By stocking the nursery on a continuous basis we have a continuous flow of field ready trees during the main rainy season. This allows us to hold the trees in the nursery for the optimal length of time. We have found that the faster you can germinate a seed and the quicker it moves through the nursery to field ready, the more vigor it shows in the in the field.

Rainfall levels have picked up recently and the nursery catchment is almost at capacity. The catchment tanks at our expansion nursery are being plumbed into the roof drain system and even the dehumidifier drains in the expansion nursery office are being plumbed into this system. Water management has been a design feature of our nurseries from the beginning. Planting trees is one of the best ways to improve watershed health. Water conservation practices in the nursery are not only an economically wise practice, but a way to extend this commitment throughout the enterprise.

By the time the next installment of this newsletter is released the 2012-2013 fields will be ready for trees. Many of our employees have been with us long enough to feel the rhythm of the seasons and are looking forward to watching hundreds of acres of former forest become forest again.

Nine years ago, it was the tallest known plant in the world, two times as tall as the Statue of Liberty. (See if you can spot the three people, blue shirted, hanging at different points on the trunk). 

 Photo credit James Balog 

Growth 

In any investment, investors always look for the potential of "growth". Growth is actually a misnomer. Stocks and bonds don't actually grow, they appreciate. Unfortunately, as we all know, they can depreciate as well. I don't know of anyone who has not taken losses in the stock and bond markets. The market goes up, the market goes down, but trees are one-directional. Bonds and interest rates fluctuate as well. Even safe haven investments like real estate, oil and precious metals all have had their cycles, but trees are biological and they don't stop growing because of a change in some government policy or a shift in economic circumstances. Trees are one of the few places an investor can experience both appreciate and growth. It gives the tree owner two bites at the same apple. We get the benefits of continually climbing prices (more than a century of steadily rising prices) while adding to the volume of our holdings as well. This makes timber the ideal asset class for long-term investors who want consistent reliable growth. Perfect for IRAs or even educational IRA's to pay for a child's college.

If you have a moment, review the two articles below. Pay particular attention to the historical graphs.

 "The Ultimate Commodity Hedge?"

An interview with founder and editor of True Wealth. Launched in 2001 and now one of America's best-followed newsletters for private investors.
http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/ultimate_timber_050920113

"Timber and Forestry Investments - A new Alternative Asset Class Opens up for Individuals"

Independent Advisor Network

http://independentinvestornetwork.com/archives/336

We want to thank you for your trust and support in HLH. You tree owners are a special breed. You are not only creating a safe haven for your family's financial security, but healing the planet at the same time. You are living proof that when it comes to investing, it is possible to do well while doing good...

jdunser@hawaiianlegacyhardwoods.com