Stevensville guitar factory donates to reforestation

STEVENSVILLE, Md. -  

You may not know a Paul Reed Smith guitar but you've certainly heard them.

Carlos Santana is just one of hundreds of performers who use PRS Guitars.

But before they play them they are built at the PRS factory in Stevensville.  Jack Higginbotham is the president of PRS Guitars.

”It’s just about the detail” says Higginbotham, “We pay attention to everything that goes on a PRS guitar.”

To make a great guitar they have to use the best material and the best wood for that is Brazilian rosewood.

 Brazilian Rosewood is endangered.  Because of that, the company looks for old Brazilian rosewood in furniture, building material or anywhere it can find it.

“Or every Brazilian Rosewood guitar we make, we make a donation to the reforestation project.” Higginbotham says.

The project hopes to replace the more than 25 hundred acres of the Brazilian Forest that has been cut down.

“We are putting back with no intention to reharvest that again, it's just to recreate an environment for the animals.” Higginbotham explains.

In the 15 years Jeff Marolda has been a technician here he has used up a lot of Brazilian rosewood. He's proud to part of the effort to re-grow the Brazilian rain forest.

“It’s a great idea that what we take from the earth, we can put it back. It's a good thing," Higginbotham said.