his eyes!!

Was the Kenyawaiian's golf game disturbed by the sound of a Gibson guitar? That's all the excuse these lawless eco-thugs need these days.

>> ^quantumushroom:

Was the Kenyawaiian's golf game disturbed by the sound of a Gibson guitar? That's all the excuse these lawless eco-thugs need these days.


To paraphrase Judge Dredd, "They are ... the law".

Seriously though, good woods for quality guitars are becoming increasingly rare and valuable so this is no light matter. The good resonating woods come from old-growth forests in high altitudes and as such are ripe for exploitation in developing nations. However, as this is likely to be done on the blackmarket in these nations they are just as likely to be harvested in an unsustainable way thereby cutting future guitar making off at the knees. So proper regulation would make sense unless you are the type that thinks "Oh, Indian tigers are almost endangered now. I'd better go get me one before they become extinct".

Somebody owes a favor to Fender.

Nice balanced reporting rofl.

Shame on you RT.

From Nashville Post:

In September 2009, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported to a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agent the import of a shipment of Madagascar ebony wood at the port of Newark, N.J., from a Germany company called Nagel to Gibson Guitars.
Its import declaration package and invoices were for 5,200 pieces of sawn ebony and 2,133 pieces of sawn Madagascar black ebony, with a total value $76,437.

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.


So without the plants declaration form, they're being investigated for smuggling illegal goods into the country (Anyone try to bring fruit and vegetables into a country before?). The feds also have suspicion that they are consorting with a crime syndicate as mentioned by @Kofi

That Gibson are clueless as to what's going on is ridiculous.