Feds RAID Gibson Guitar Co!

[LutherHeggs00]

Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear | Postmodern Times - WSJ.com

[3506string]

[grendle]

What ever happened to the war on drugs? These guys need something better to do. Station them at the port authority where the need to be. Hold on to your butts..... Here comes the NWO....

[topcat2069]

War on Drugs ?!? What about the War on Poverty ??

[darthplagis]

LOL gibsons and their illegal 'blood woods' hahaha

though it is utterly rediculous that you guys have to declare exactly what and where each fibre of wood is from.

good news for status graphite and other CF manufacturers

[Justin Tuskey]

my main beef is what difference does it make now that the guitar is in the players hands? stop the illegal cutting of the trees and the companies sure, but not the guy who bought a guitar from a store ya know? its not like guitar making and manufacturing process is a secret illegal act in which the end product slips onto the shelves of stores. sounds like enforcement agencies are getting way bored. again, stop it at the source if its really that big of an issue.

[superbassman2000]

they likened ebony wood in madagascar to africa's blood diamond? is that a serious thing? is wood no longer a renewable resource that doesn't take centuries to produce?

[stingraysvt]

I'm friends with a guy who worked there and said they obtained all of their wood legally, it's just sad that you can get arrested for having Rosewood and Ebony....

[prd004]

Wow, this is brazen.
I'm sure Gibson is one of the FEW companies still manufacturing in the USSA, doing pretty well despite the economic debacle, and the establishment can't have that now can they?

Musicians touring and making money..................not on our watch. This is BS

And I can't travel with a guitar that has ebony or rosewood?

[iammr2]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

... is wood no longer a renewable resource that doesn't take centuries to produce?

Why don't you look into the amount of deforestation. Look at the historic availability of some of these woods. You'll find your answer there.

[joshmat]

I'm all for conservation, but this is a little too much.

[Jamin99]

why doesnt the agency just go plant more trees if they want to save them?

[MisterFabulous]

DOJ raids Gibson

[Old Joe]

Originally Posted by Justin Tuskey

my main beef is what difference does it make now that the guitar is in the players hands? stop the illegal cutting of the trees and the companies sure, but not the guy who bought a guitar from a store ya know? its not like guitar making and manufacturing process is a secret illegal act in which the end product slips onto the shelves of stores. sounds like enforcement agencies are getting way bored. again, stop it at the source if its really that big of an issue.

So true. It's not like Gibson cut the trees down anyway. They bought the wood from someone, right? Why not go after the source?

I don't want to derail this into a socio/political discussion but this is like raiding the homes of illegal immigrants instead of going after the companies that hire them.

[scotch]

A few thoughts:

This is the second raid on Gibson. One occured a few years back...

Comments such as "...why don't the Feds worry about drugs, etc..." ignore the fact that it's the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department that is making the raid, not the DEA. Fish & Wildlife is just doing their job.

Trying to control harvesting at the source is impossible. The U.S. can do little. What they can do is prevent illegally harvested products from being sold on our own shores. If you must use the "drug" analogy- you'll never stop the agriculture and refining of coca until people stop using cocaine, right?

There are plenty of legal hardwoods and tonewoods available to guitar manufacturing.

I do empathize with Gibson. It's very difficult to track materials with so many middlemen/wholesalers involved.

[sawzalot]

This is just one more example of the absolute stupidity of the U.S. Government. Jeez don't these guys have something more worthwhile to do than go after US-based businesses? All this will do is chase guitar manufacturing out of the US. Thanks, feds. We really needed this.

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by Jamin99

why doesnt the agency just go plant more trees if they want to save them?

The trees are protected by international law. The latest round of amendments and regulations in terms of logging - which have been on the books since 2008 - were intended to keep up with new developments in illegal trade. It's certainly a pain, and I think instrument manufacture is probably the wrong area to focus, but it's a bigger issue than most people realize. Really interesting read on it here, apparently illegal logging brings in more money than drug trafficking in some regions.

[scotch]

Originally Posted by Old Joe

So true. It's not like Gibson cut the trees down anyway. They bought the wood from someone, right? Why not go after the source?

I don't want to derail this into a socio/political discussion but this is like raiding the homes of illegal immigrants instead of going after the companies that hire them.

You see, I kinda disagree - but I get what you're saying.

I think , in this instance, Gibson is the responsible party. They are the importer turning around a product for us to buy. In your analogy, it seems to me that the end-user (guitarist) is the "immigrant sitting at home" and Gibson is the "company that hired them". Gibson is the entity bound by U.S. importation law, not the off-shore lumber wholesaler.

[capnjim]

Some bigshot FBI dude has a major case of GAS...confiscated guitars??? Keep 'em at my house.

[Rickengeezer]

Originally Posted by Low Class

Having a successful manufacturing company in the US is not in the plans of our government.

Having any impediments to "successful manufacturing" is not in the plans of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal.