Actually, I think a lot of redwood soundboards are cut from trees that were either felled by natural causes, or are reclaimed from old boards, as in the case with the Rick Turner's Stanford fence. I'm sure it's not the case for all makers, especially the larger production companies. But it is possible to find non-sinker redwood that has minimal environmental impact, which I bet most . Sort of like the milo that gets used for ukes, and to another extreme, fossil ivories.
As a side note, when I sold my custom concert that had a giant sequoia redwood top, I had one person email me and demand that I remove the listing because I was selling "an illegal uke made from illegally harvested wood from a protected species." It took a lot of explaining to make the guy realize that the wood was reclaim, and that there are environmentally friendly ways to obtain wood like this.
No arguments there, Steve. Reclaimed is, of course, also a great way to go :agree:
