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Another attack on American business by our own government.
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Wood, send in SWAT Team for maybe using blood diamond wood. Would not maybe a local state official and maybe customs agent just drop in for unexpected inspection. Did they think that the guitar makers keep AK’s around to protect there product, sorry no thats drug dealers. Call in the brown shirts and ready the camps.
doesn’t our govt have better things to do than worry about guitar frets and piano keys.
I think I just found a good place to start on budget cutting
Obviously the gov is trying to force him to move his business outside the USA because it is illegal to have jobs here.
The three hippies who are pissed off that they could never hold a job long enough to afford a fine Gibson instrument (check out the 60’s Tribute Les Paul Studio Goldtop with P-90s for ~900!!) must have sent bleeding heart letters to Barry et. al. alleging improper use of endangered materials.
Who cares if it was the last example of the species?
I can think of no better way to preserve the beauty of the wood than on an instrument fingerboard.
For those about to rock…
P.S. Stanley Ann must not have sprung for a guitar and lessons in Indonesia.
GAAAAAA! Fish and Wildlife Swat team… Book Em DANNO!
You better be careful about taking your guitar across international boundries and returning with it. I could be confiscated because of the kind of wood in it. I’m scared to death of the prospect. Entertainers traveling internationaly could have a major problem with this.
This from the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576530520471223268.html
Can’t we find a way to prosecute these lawyers for bringing up a frivolous lawsuit?
Software patent law is a joke in the USA.
“This time the persecuter was the poopatrater!” -Rugrats 1995
We’re turning into 1930’s Germany!
“Where are your papers?”
This whole thing feels like Gibson has been singled out. Gibson is not just another company, it’s a national treasure.
I’ll chalk it up to bad karma, for moving outta my hometown to Nashville.
Still, this whole thing stinks, and seems to be proof that we’re leaving too much in the hands of lawyers who run the whole shebang.
Thugocracy, enforced by Elmer ‘n Spud.
Why? /// Because Rosewood is an endangered species.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood
From various google sites: Gibson and DOJ have been litigating the use, proper and otherwise, of rosewood for years. Other manufacturers have gone to substitutes but Gibson will not.
So–years from now: “Dad, how come there are no more trees in India?” “Son, they were all protected and chopped down to make guitars and cue sticks.”
Heavy Handed DOJ actions? Yea, verily. What ya gonna do when lawsuits and enforcement actions aren’t getting the job done?
This is what life is like near the botton of the drain.
Get used to it. Same with all other species on the long and growing list of endangered species and the legitimate and illegal activities used trying to take the last white buffalo.
Ha, ha. Saddle our kiddies with debt, then kill everything off in their environment. “But we love you.”
Bobbo,
“Gibson and DOJ have been litigating the use, proper and otherwise, of rosewood for years.”
Gibson maintains that they were buying the wood off planations, i.e., farmed wood, not wild.
The enforcement is related to complying with Indian laws regarding local manufacture. I.e., the Indians want to force Gibson to make parts of their guitars in India and using the wood as leverage.
So, they’ve got the DOJ to enforce to help them move American jobs to India.
Wood has nothing to do with it.
I’m not sure what annoys me the most. They way the law appears to operate in the US; where “we can shut you down, then find out a reason for it” or the sheer stupidity of the reporters.
After carefully explaining his position he then has to repeat himself over and over again because the “reporters” are either too ignorant to listen or to stupid to understand.
Incidentally _Bobbo_, China is the country that’s taking the largest amount of illegal Rosewood, not the US. Don’t see the Indian Government cracking down on China.
http://bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10765418
http://justmusic.ie/news/rosewood-species-on-the-decline
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Raid+Gibson+guitar+factory+makes+musicians+fret/5316072/story.html
It is now basically illegal to have the wood worked in the united states, but it would have been legal if it was worked outside of it and imported.
Jobs Jobs Jobs let’s get rid of JOBS!
Gibson, who sues anyone and everyone at the drop of a hat, getting some comeuppance.
I sell air guitars on ebay made from elephants tusks, baby seals and the higher end ones are made from aborted fetuses. I have a few Christian models left that are made from altar boys. The dots on the fret boards are taken directly off of foreheads of women from India. Here is a video of one of our gooks demonstrating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByFdvhGVzw8
Not all jobs are being lost. Here’s some interesting news on job creation.
Since [Obama] took office, employment has surged 13 percent at federal regulatory agencies.
http://tinyurl.com/3cbd3xp
After working my butt off my whole life, I am now too poor to be able to leave the US, which I would do in a heartbeat if I could afford to.
Republican-Democrat has become like a power struggle between the SA and the SS.
Hey, just come out of the closet and start yelling, “Sieg heil!”, OK?
I gave up on wood guitars a few years ago. Now all I play is carbon fiber. They sound just as good in my opinion and you can beat them and leave them in a hot car and they are still in tune. Love em.
http://peavey.com/news/article.cfm/action/view/id/526/20111301.cfm
Enviro-nazi are at it again… Using government agencies to push their eco-terrorist agenda…
How many trees worth of Gibson guitars are needed per year?
Anyways, my reading of the news on this story is that it’s some obscure export law about the wood needing to be finished by Indian workers, not about conservation.
This makes me sick. Just like the police beating people. How long will it be before every home is raided looking for some contraband in order to confiscate what ever you have. Does every department of the government now have swat teams?
I’ve got wood…
The way the US government is policing it is stupid but the key issue is that Gibson don’t seem to have complied with Indian law requiring manufacture at source.
Fully free trade, as in comment #22, would be the ideal solution but the USA can be just as protectionist as elsewhere when it wants; in its early history it leant heavily on protectionism and ignoring patents and copyrights.
I bet Indian rice and sugar have a tough time getting over to the USA, and there are large numbers of WTO rulings against illegal subsidies to Boeing that keep Airbus and Embraer out of the USA. There are lots of other examples where the USA doesn’t play by the free trade rules it lectures other on too.
Point is, the USA is pretty good on free trade, but until it’s really good let’s hold back on criticising other, much poorer, countries for protectionism.
With the way the government operates, the rule for endangered species is ‘shoot, shovel, and shut up’. Guess that doesn’t work for trees.
Not as important news as state police shutting down a tea stand.
#13 I have a magic solution to replacing cut down trees. It’s called planting trees. The amount of wood used by this company for that purpose is pretty trivial. A few acres would cover its needs forever.
The problem is forest removal to grow crops oh enlightened one.
Do-ill==of course the forests are being chopped down. Thats why the trees are on an endangered species list. Address the issue that allowing for special exceptions most often is a FRAUD that often results in extinction anyway as special grown wood cannot be told from wild wood.
Plus, the issue here is free trade/local work agreements with India anyway.
You gotta keep up at least with a simple thread if not the world wide history and circumstances.
Go ahead, give it a try.