Harmonizing with Nature: Unearthing Musical Wonders in Mushrooms

When you think about guitars, what do you envision? Is it a simple acoustic guitar made of maple, often played by singer-songwriters? Or perhaps it's a double-necked electric guitar made of mahogany, favored by rock legends. While these timeless guitars will always hold a special place in our music playlists, there are some innovative designs emerging that utilize unique materials.

Renowned guitar maker and skilled luthier, Rachel Rosenkrantz, believes she has discovered the perfect harmony by crafting custom instruments from biomaterials. Her collection includes fascinating creations such as ukuleles made from mushrooms, guitars constructed from beehives, and banjos crafted with kombucha leather. These instruments not only captivate with their originality, but they are also environmentally friendly, as they are completely biodegradable.

In the early 2000s, Rosenkrantz found herself at a crossroads in Paris as a 21-year-old student. Her dilemma was choosing between pursuing a career as a musician or a visual artist. Combining her two passions, she discovered guitar-making. However, local luthiers discouraged her, claiming she was too old to begin at such a young age. Despite this setback, she decided to pursue design.

A decade later, Rosenkrantz's life took a turn when she relocated to Rhode Island in the US. She reignited her passion for music, resumed her training, and has dedicated the past 13 years to crafting guitars.

Rosenkrantz, age 42, confirmed to CNN that although it may not have occurred when she was 21, she is currently engaged in the pursuit, proving that it is never too late. Her interest in biomaterials arose as she contemplated the ecological consequences of guitar production on specific tree types.

In the United States alone, approximately 2.6 million guitars are manufactured each year. However, in contrast to the construction and furniture sectors that prefer fast-growing trees, the guitar industry commonly opts for scarcer and more mature woods like mahogany, ebony, and rosewood.

Cutting trees perpendicular to their growth rings is done to enhance the sound, but using larger logs to cover the entire front, back, and sides of guitars necessitates old-growth trees, which are not always sustainable. The Brazilian rosewood, once highly valued for guitars, is now threatened due to illegal logging for agricultural and other purposes. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has banned its use since 1992. Although Sitka spruce has been commonly utilized for acoustic guitars, its extraction from Alaska's Tongass National Forest, which undergoes extensive logging for various industries, has prompted some guitar makers to advocate for more sustainable alternatives. According to Rosenkrantz, practicing ethical approaches and doing what is right can make a significant difference.

Rachel Rosenkrantz incorporated real honeycomb in this guitar.

Rachel Rosenkrantz

The muse

In the early stages of her guitar-making journey, Rosenkrantz pondered the possibilities that lie beyond wood and plastics. Drawing inspiration from her design background, she observed the growing utilization of biomaterials in various industries, ranging from BMW cars to sneakers.

To embark on her innovative path, she decided to replace plastic with fish skin. She procures this unique material from a supplier in Brazil, who creates tilapia leather by repurposing fish farm waste. Rosenkrantz explained, "Fish skin surpasses plastic in terms of strength and flexibility. When used for the pick guard, which safeguards the instrument from scratches, it flawlessly mimics the natural motion of wood."

Scientists have utilized mushrooms to develop computer chips that are biodegradable. The attention of Rosenkrantz was drawn to mycelium, which is a network of thread-like structures created by fungi, when she witnessed its utilization as a substitute for polystyrene in packaging. Noticing that polystyrene is highly proficient in conducting sound due to its air-filled composition, she pondered the possibility of the natural equivalent possessing the same quality.

Once the material has dried, it tightly compacts a multitude of hollow fibers, resembling a spaghetti bundle. This unique composition allows it to resonate similarly to wood, as explained by Rosenkrantz, who is also a faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design. To create her creations, she acquires mycelium from a supplier in upstate New York. One advantage of working with mycelium is its versatility in shaping, thus minimizing waste. For example, her innovative "Mycocaster" electric guitar combines mycelium and paper, enriched with dried fibers like corn husk, resulting in a more robust guitar body.

Rachel Rosenkrantz playing a mycelium ukulele .

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

The sound

She procures mycelium from a vendor located in upstate New York. This remarkable material holds the remarkable capability of being cultivated into any desired shape, ensuring that while working with it, no leftover pieces are left to waste. The awe-inspiring "Mycocaster" electric guitar, crafted from mycelium and paper, is further fortified with dried fibers such as corn husk to enhance the guitar body's stability.

Rosenkrantz's unique creations exhibit a distinct sound compared to traditional guitars, which varies based on the biomaterial used. The "Mycocaster" produces a twangy and nasal tone, surprising Rosenkrantz herself. This revelation prompted her to consider the potential for these instruments to cater to niche and unconventional genres of music.

According to Rosenkrantz, exploring new materials could be the key to creating innovative sounds.

The faux-leather jacket is crafted using bacteria. With the Mycocaster, she took it a notch higher by incorporating pickups and microphones into the mycelium body, allowing users to customize the desired level of "mushroom sound."

A variety of her clients have unique demands. Among them, a composer of film soundtracks requested an instrument capable of producing the sounds of multiple instruments. In response, Rosenkrantz skillfully crafted a nine-string baritone electro-acoustic guitar, utilizing waste fish skin as one of its distinctive features.

This Rosenkrantz creation features a four-string bass neck, and six-string guitar neck.

Rachel Rosenkrantz

A different musician requested a guitar composed of two necks, constructed entirely from repurposed materials. The outcome combines elements of both a guitar and a bass and incorporates the client's 40-year-old pickups, a vintage cigar humidor box for the body, an old suitcase handle, and kitchen backsplash tiles as fingerboard markers.

However, these custom-made guitars come at a high price. The current price for Rosenkrantz's Mycocaster stands at $4,000, and she already has three pending orders. While she aspires to reduce the costs further, she recognizes that obtaining assistance from a larger manufacturer would be necessary.

Rosenkrantz expressed her desire for the cost to be around $50, encompassing affordability for all children. She suggested that creating a mushroom guitar could potentially make this dream a reality.