| dc.description.abstract | Shrinking global supplies of over-harvested and increasingly protected hardwoods used for acoustic guitar fretboards have led to some manufacturers exploring the use of alternative fretboard materials. In particular, Richlite—a paper composite manufactured using a thermosetting resin—has seen increased use in recent decades and has its enthusiastic adopters and vehement detractors among the guitar-playing community. In this thesis, internet forum postings concerning Richlite and made on the Acoustic Guitar Forum in the period 2011-2021 are cataloged and sorted via poster outlook and reasoning. This analysis is then interpreted using a selection of established frameworks informed by social construction of technology (SCOT) perspectives and the larger Science and Technology Studies (STS) field. Examination of the forum data via these frameworks indicates that adoption of the Richlite fretboard among users is best understood as ongoing, with closure and stabilization—as defined in SCOT methodologies—still potentially forthcoming. Conflicting pragmatic and traditionalist perspectives are driven by a host of factors that continue to support the plasticity of the artifact. Use and non-use perspectives vary, with use perspectives arising from primarily qualitative aspects of the artifact and non-use perspectives deriving from context and a narrower social and historical construction of acceptable guitar manufacturing norms. | |
