Three decades after planting and cultivating an orchard of fast-growing trees, former President Jimmy Carter once personally chopped down one of those same trees in order to help build a unique collection of stringed instruments – which included a custom acoustic guitar.
Carter passed away on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100, leaving behind a legacy of politics, environmentalism, and music.
Much of his time in the White House was defined by sustainability and music, having played host to Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers, and Cher, to name but a few.
A lifelong musician and artist, Carter scored three Grammy wins over the course of his lifetime. His final nomination will see Last Sundays In Plains: A Centennial Celebration go up for the Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording at the 67th Grammy event.
One of Carter’s final projects uniquely combined his love for music and the planet. In the 1990s, he planted an array of Empress (Paulownia) trees to make a case for sustainability and promote a renewable lumber resource. The wood from these trees was then used to create a collection of stringed instruments.
In September, Guitar World reported that 15 billion trees are unsustainably deforested every year, with prized species and tonewoods at risk of extinction as questions about the future of the industry were raised.
Empress trees reach full maturity in 25 to 30 years, and so, at the age of 95, Carter personally cut down one of those trees with a chainsaw, as reported by GPB. His friend, Todd Lundberg, then milled the wood and sent it to revered luthier Jason Kostal – who boasts a patience-testing seven-year waiting list – to transform the self-grown tonewood into an acoustic guitar.
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Kostal had pivoted from a career as a military officer in the United States Army to luthiery after meeting Kent Everett of Everett Guitars. He studied at the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery and undertook a 30-month apprenticeship with renowned guitar maker Ervin Somogyi that, as per his website “changed the way that I view and understand the guitar forever”.
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According to Kostal, he was just one of a handful of parties to received wood from Carter’s orchard. The former President’s trees were provided to various artisans, who were tasked with showcasing what could be done with the home-grown wood.
Given the weight of the project, Kostal let Carter’s commission skip his hefty waiting list and, after dedicating four months to his craft, delivered the completed instrument to Carter’s home in April 2020.
As a nod to Carter’s time in the Navy – Kostal says he felt a connection between their shared military backgrounds – he adorned the instrument with a blue and gold rosette to represent the Navy colors.
A decorative inlay on the guitar’s rear side, meanwhile, is written in Morse code and reads “BEAT NAVY” as a nod to the annual sports competitions between the Army and Navy.
“When the guitar was presented to President Carter, I explained that to him and he thought it was hilarious,” Kostal says.
Kostal’s six-string is part of a wider President Carter Legacy Collection, which comprises 12 stringed instruments that were all created from Carter’s self-grown Empress trees.
The collection was played by musicians across the US for President Carter’s birthday before being auctioned off in 2021. All proceeds went to Farm Aid and the Boys and Girls Club of Georgia.
“I built him a guitar… and I don’t believe that the small moment that I interacted with him on his journey was life-changing for him, but it was for me,” Kostal wrote on Instagram in the wake of Carter’s passing. “It will always remain one of my most cherished life memories.”
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