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CITES - What every bass player should know

#901
As someone posted above, what a horrendous injustice to have a *treasured* vintage instrument that predates this *well-intentioned* law be confiscated while touring internationally.

I don't plan on touring internationally, but were I, I'd be glad to have seen this, and keep any priceless antique *or WORSE FAMILY HEIRLOOM* instruments at home in the country where they presently reside.

Can you imagine if your parent or grandparent passed you some heirloom quality instrument made of a disputed material and these ******** seized it?

I've only traveled internationally with recently-manufactured instruments, so the worst they could have got me for was a really nice Baby Taylor acoustic.

I get the environmental side of this, so I won't be buying any exotic cocobolo basses (or nunchaku, which I've owned) or otherwise exotic wood basses. And I certainly won't travel with anything now that I've read this.
 
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#907
BergerHead said:
In Europe corals and some snails and shells underlay restrictions, same as specified furs, tortoises, horns and tooth do.
Click to expand...

Tortoise shell is under CITES, along with ivories. I doubt if customs would block a guitar hand carried that that has shell inlays. Same with a shipped guitars. Most of these regulations are enforced by port authorities for large commercial shipments
 
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#908
schilldpatt
Sadowsky said:
Tortoise shell is under CITES, along with ivories. I doubt if customs would block a guitar hand carried that that has shell inlays. Same with a shipped guitars. Most of these regulations are enforced by port authorities for large commercial shipments
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In the early 2010s german law enforcement pointed touring bands, primarily for drugs, but also by embarrassing disliked Rock'nRoll folks on confiscating gear with Brazil RW and other protected inlay parts, i.o.w. cop-circus.
Btw, has the lawsuit against Gibson on rare woods also been shut down?
 
#910
#911
OK, I returned from Australia mid February with 1 bass and 1 guitar. The bass is a 1970's custom in mahogany with a rosewood fretboard and headstock veneer (not Brazilian, probably Indonesian rosewood). The guitar is a Squier Strat with either some kind of rosewood or pau ferro fretboard. Both were carried as accompanied baggage and both sailed though Houston (IAH) customs without a hiccup - nobody gave a damn. In fact nobody even so much as looked into the package, we just got spit out of baggage as quickly as we would have from a domestic flight. I had dreaded this for months and I had all the CITES paperwork in my bag, just printouts of the regs and the thing about less than 10kg of timber (I had tried to call the IAH inspectors multiple times before I even left the US but in typical public servant fashion nobody would talk to me.)
 
#913
I think that you are quite correct. Nonetheless my fear was that my trusty custom-built bass might get confiscated by some overly-officious minor functionary and I would be powerless to stop them. Consequently I am very relieved to have it home with me and I post my story to add to the experience base that we have here.
 
#915
BergerHead said:
So what's a Baby Taylor made off?
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Babies named Taylor? And the Mother of (Someone named) Pearl?

Jokes aside, I honestly don't know what materials an instrument manufactured in 2000 era would have been made from, and even more so, its irrelevant now, I haven't owned it since 2009. So no way they'll ever get their hands on any of my instruments.

I'm not buying any more travel guitars and after reading this, not traveling with any internationally.

I'll just play whatever friends or family have while visiting, or not at all. If I really get the bug to practice badly, I'll look into renting one temporarily while overseas.
 
#917
Sadowsky said:
Tortoise shell is under CITES, along with ivories. I doubt if customs would block a guitar hand carried that that has shell inlays. Same with a shipped guitars. Most of these regulations are enforced by port authorities for large commercial shipments
Click to expand...
I have first hand knowledge of a shipment that was stopped because the inlaid logo on the headstock was abalone. In Canada it is prohibited to kill, harm, harass, capture, take, possess, buy, sell, or trade any individual abalone or its derivative (e.g. shells) according to Fisheries Canada.
 
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#918
Turnaround said:
I have first hand knowledge of a shipment that was stopped because the inlaid logo on the headstock was abalone. In Canada it is prohibited to kill, harm, harass, capture, take, possess, buy, sell, or trade any individual abalone or its derivative (e.g. shells) according to Fisheries Canada.
Click to expand...

A single guitar box?

Does this regulation prohibit abalone in sushi bars?
 
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#919
Sadowsky said:
A single guitar box?

Does this regulation prohibit abalone in sushi bars?
Click to expand...
Yes it happened to be on a single guitar being shipped from a maker in California. That maker is now using wood for his logo. According to California Fish and Game, it is generally legal to gather abalone shells and shell parts for personal use. These shells, however, may not be sold or made into products to sell. It may be different in other States.

I can't seem to get a straight answer about abalone in sushi bars in Canada. A fish broker in Canada was fined $77,000 for selling abalone. But it is still legal to fish abalone off Mexico and parts of the U.S. West Coast and import it for sale in Canada. So that suggests it may be in sushi bars, but only if it was imported from approved locations. My assumption is that the Canadian fish broker was selling abalone from a non-approved source. So it brings into question the problem with the abalone inlay on the guitar. Was it a case that the source of the abalone was not specified? Is it like the sourcing documentation required in CITES? In practical terms it hardly matters - just avoid the problem - there are plenty of alternate materials that aren't proscribed.
 
#920
Sorry to be asking for the "for dummies" answer, but I've read through the last 5+ pages of this thread & want to confirm. Sounds like the CITES issues for rosewood are basically in the rear-view, aside from brazilian rosewood. Anyway, I'm looking to do a trade on here and we'll be sending our basses between the U.S. and Canada. I'm assuming USPS/CAN Post will be the best bets, but both of these basses are in the $1,000 range with rosewood fretboards. Neither is Brazilian RW to my knowledge. Any insight on this or precautions to take on our end to ensure successful delivery?
 

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