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On Thursday, the iconic Gibson Guitar Corporation issued a press release stating that government officials raided their Tennessee manufacturing facility over warrants concerning the legality of the importation of wood purchased from India that they use in their world famous guitars. The wood–which is certified and regulated by the Forest Stewardship Council–is not illegal, but rather subject to a domestic law in India frowns upon the processing of this wood by non-Indians. (Gibson uses American labor for the processing.)

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., has responded to the August 24 raid of Gibson facilities in Nashville and Memphis by the Federal Government. In a press release, Juszkiewicz said: “Gibson is innocent and will fight to protect its rights. Gibson has complied with foreign laws and believes it is innocent of ANY wrong doing. We will fight aggressively to prove our innocence.” The raids forced Gibson to cease manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day while armed agents executed the search warrants. “Agents seized wood that was Forest Stewardship Council controlled,” Juszkiewicz said. “Gibson has a...

Heroic federal agents, Wednesday, Aug. 24, swooped down on the offices and factories of Gibson Guitar, an infamous maker of musical instruments based in Tennessee. They were looking for wood, the substance that is the cadavers of innocent trees and used by drug-addled "rock and roll" musicians to corrupt innocent minds. Apparently, Gibson had imported some of this dead tree substance from India and failed to properly fill out the necessary paperwork. The use of innocent dead trees to create paper for the federal government is acceptable.

Federal agents with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service shut down the Gibson Guitar factory in Downtown Memphis today to serve search warrants in an ongoing investigation, officials said. Nicholas Chavez, special agent in charge for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Region 2 in Albuquerque, N.M., said agents also served a search warrant on Gibson Guitar in Nashville. In November 2009, agents for the service searched the guitar maker's manufacturing plant in Nashville, reportedly during an investigation of use of woods banned from commercial use for environmental reasons.

Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local police today seized wood, guitars, computers and boxes of files from Gibson Guitar's Massman Road manufacturing facility. Sources say the Nashville-based guitar manufacturer is being investigated for violating the Lacey Act, a key piece of environmental law, for importing endangered species of rosewood from Madagascar. Rosewood is widely used in the construction of guitars and sells for $5,000 per cubic meter, more than double the price of mahogany. The island nation off Africa's east coast is a key producer of the hardwood, the export of which has links to...

In 2007, 1,802 Germans played “Smoke On the Water” in unison to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest recorded guitar ensemble. That record was topped Sunday afternoon at Luckenbach, when 1,859 pickers played “Luckenbach, Texas” and “This Land Is Your Land.” 1,859 guitar players in one spot- and it wasn’t an Eric Johnson concert! The “Pickin’ For the Record” event was organized by the Voices of a Grateful Nation, a support group for American soldiers and veterans, whose Welcome Home Project was the beneficiary. Pickers paid $10 each, but they received a t-shirt commemorating their participation....

CHARLOTTE, N.C. A project sparked by North Carolina-bred singer Charlie Daniels has collected thousands of dollars in donated musical instruments for troops in Iraq. Daniels donated one of his own instruments to "Operation Heartstrings" earlier this year when he learned that soldiers didn't have guitars for church services. He asked guitar manufacturers to do the same. "We never envisioned this much stuff. I'm overwhelmed by the support out there for the troops," said Daniels. He said "only one company that will remain nameless turned us down." Gibson Guitar, one of the nation's top instrument makers, surprised the Wilmington native by...