Wood Wars! Gibson again.

http://tinyurl.com/3tlbr53

Makes me really want to build a Tele with an all ebony body, solid rosewood neck, ivory inlays, encrusted with blood diamonds and topped off with a baby seal strap.:twisted:

Dont forget some picks made out of bald eagle claws.

Makes me really want to build a Tele with an all ebony body, solid rosewood neck, ivory inlays, encrusted with blood diamonds and topped off with a baby seal strap.:twisted:

...are the only good use for those scrubby -a$$#% little trees anyway.

Dont forget some picks made out of bald eagle claws.

Real tortoise shell not good enough for yah?

Am I the only one that thinks this is all going a little too far?

I think it's ridiculous that people are having instruments taken away from them. I don't condone unsustainable logging and I agree newly built instruments should have documentation to track their woods. On the other hand it shouldn't be expected that every old guitar should have a full provenance and documentation to inform the uninitiated of it's authenticity. Especially when it's blindly obvious without paperwork that a guitar is pre-CITES. I think the burden should be on the authorities to prove illegal wood is part of an instrument rather then musicians having to carry around proof all the time of the legality of their gear.

Lets face it they aren't raiding peoples' homes and removing all the antique furniture that doesn't have a piece of paper giving provenance to it's origins.

So why single out musicians?

Am I the only one that thinks this is all going a little too far?

I think it's ridiculous that people are having instruments taken away from them. I don't condone unsustainable logging and I agree newly built instruments should have documentation to track their woods. On the other hand it shouldn't be expected that every old guitar should have a full provenance and documentation to inform the uninitiated of it's authenticity. Especially when it's blindly obvious without paperwork that a guitar is pre-CITES. I think the burden should be on the authorities to prove illegal wood is part of an instrument rather then musicians having to carry around proof all the time of the legality of their gear.

Lets face it they aren't raiding peoples' homes and removing all the antique furniture that doesn't have a piece of paper giving provenance to it's origins.

So why single out musicians?

It is those folks who are making the fake "road worn" instruments who are ruining it for the rest of us... can't tell an old eagle claw from a newly harvested one.:twisted:

Am I the only one that thinks this is all going a little too far?

No.

...Ah!!!!


...I love the smell of MDF in the morning...

As long as the steel in my S&W is legal, they won't get the wood in my tele.

I think it's ridiculous that people are having instruments taken away from them.

Can anyone document that this is happening in the U.S.? I don't think so....... Take one out of the country and you take your own risks.

All major guitar makers still make exotic guitars out of pre ban CITIES certified wood and materials and legal exotic wood continues to be exported from its home countries.

http://www.hanoverbrazil.com/rosewood-guitars.shtml

Gibson is tied up with the government on an earlier case involving importing illegal Madagascar ebony. We will have to see if the government is bullying them or if they got caught again.

Details from the first Gibson case:

Gibson had placed the order via Nagel GMBH and Co KG of Hamburg, Germany, which exported the ebony through its affiliate Hunter Trading Corp. of Westport, Conn.

When the wood entered the U.S. en route to Gibson, it was missing the plant products declaration required by the Lacey Act. This looks like it's where Gibson got caught.

When the declaration was made a day later, it was listed as ebony harvested from Madagascar.

Madagascar has had rules in place restricting the harvest and export of ebony and rosewood since 2000. From what I've read, it does authorize some shipments of fallen timber. But mostly, that ebony is illegal timber.

http://www.furnituretoday.com/blog/The_Writer_s_Bureau/37515-Details_come_to_light_on_Gibson_s_Lacey_Act_Raid.p hp

Hmmm...

..and there I was, getting interested in bringing an after market ebony-board Strat (sorry, Folks!) neck out to Oz .... maybe I should just ask a few well-founded questions before I pull the trigger....


:shock: