Fender Guitars, Altadena nonprofit repurposing trees damaged during Eaton Fire
By Kara Finnstrom
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ALTADENA, California (KCAL, KCBS) — Thousands of Altadena’s cherished trees were lost during and after the Eaton Fire, but there are efforts underway to salvage and repurpose them, and it has attracted one of the world’s top guitar makers, Fender Guitars.
A towering Deodar Cedar once grew near the historic Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena, but it fell after the Jan. 7 hurricane-force winds.
For the last decade, Jeff Perry has been swooping in when trees come down and rescuing, preserving and repurposing them.
He says salvaged trees can provide the same precious lumber as the healthy ones that are chopped down.
“Los Angeles County consumes less wood in a given year than we mulch,” Perry said.
When Perry heard woodchippers in Altadena, he secured a lot, which now looks like a tree graveyard and approached the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“I said, ‘Please, can we divert those logs here and we’ll take all of them,'” Perry said.
Perry now has about 1,000 trees, some of which are badly scarred. He said that even though a tree was burned or damaged during the fire, the inside of the log is still good for lumber.
But it’s a race against time, since the trees are organic material and will begin to decompose.
Perry’s nonprofit is working to get the permits and donations needed to build a temporary mill, along with a wood bank for fire survivors.
“This is a flagship project of Angel City Reciprocity,” Perry said.
He’s recruited local carpenters to craft the wood into items needed for rebuilding, like flooring and tables. Fire survivors will then be able to buy them at reduced cost, preserving part of what was.
“His [Perry] goal was to make sure that those trees that grew up in Altadena would remain in Altadena,” said Michael Bridges with the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity.
Bridges is part of the rebuilding force and is also a guitar player. He sparked the idea of creating guitars from reclaimed wood from Altadena.
Fender’s John Dreyer and Bridges met at a fundraiser and, with Perry’s support, began giving one of his salvaged Altadena trees a new shape.
The guitars are being created in Fender’s custom shop and will be auctioned off to support the rebuilding effort.
Musicians at one of Altadena’s benefit concerts played the instruments.
“The neckplate on the back of the guitar has artwork that says, ‘We are all Altadena,'” Dreyer said. “Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes, he ultimately ended up playing the guitar on stage.”
The guitar, the first powerful gift from Altadena’s magnificent trees. Perry hopes to create thousands more as reminders of the beauty that last year’s fire could not destroy.
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