Backstory: I am a vegan musician. I recently had a conversation with another user on here after I had mentioned musical instruments and how they have historically used animal products. A lot of manufacturers have now switched to all plant based components but it is very very unclear as to who exactly is vegan friendly or not.

I have decided to attempt to create a spreadsheet detailing which instrument manufacturers are vegan-friendly or not.

These are the ones I have found answers to:

Fender - Seemingly yes

Bedell - Yes

Martin - Not vegan, uses animal-derived glue

Taylor - Yes

Moondot - Yes

Fishman - Some models are definitely vegan, have not found a definitive answer for their entire range

Steinway - Yes

Baldwin - Yes

Ludwig - Seemingly yes

Evans - Yes

Remo - Yes

Gibson - Not sure, I have found something about them using oysters(what?) in their guitars but this is about 20 years old so not sure if anything has changed

Incredibow - Yes

Cardiff Violins - Yes

Franz Hoffmann - No

T Sonada - Yes

If anyone has any knowledge of other vegan/non-vegan manufacturers to add to the sheet, preferably with a source, please let me know. If you find that any of the info above is incorrect then again please let me know.

  • loweffortnameEnglish
    8·
    3 months ago

    Gibson may use oysters or other shellfish for fret inlays?

    • Fox [he/him]@vegantheoryclub.orgOPEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      Thanks for adding some additional thoughts to the list. I also came across a source about Gibson using oysters for their guitars, but as I mentioned the source was nearly 20 years old and I have no idea if this is still the case. From what I’ve read, Taylor only switched to synthetic materials a few years ago so anything could have happened. If I’m unable to find any recent sources I will just try and contact the manufacturer themselves. If they are unable to help I’ll just put them down as undetermined/inconclusive for now.