What Gibson Guitars Did with the Wood the Government Returned

American Thinker ^ | 2/2/2014 | Victor Keith

[rktman]

In 2011, the Department of Justice conducted raids on the Tennessee facilities of the famed Gibson Guitar company and confiscated large quantities of tonewood that had been imported from India and Madagascar. The action included armed SWAT teams, with automatic weapons, who apparently feared being garroted with a guitar string by an enraged Gibson employee. These raids were conducted due to the Lacey Act, which bans the importing of certain woods. The issue at hand was not that the wood was endangered or illegally harvested, but that it was not of the proper thickness that would have meant that some labor had been performed on it by workers in India and Madagascar.

[Salamander]

It’s so purty.

I wonder how many Slash has bought?

[Fresh Wind]

What an ugly color for a guitar!

But somehow it's appropriate. They match the millions of GSA-issue desks and cabinets that are lined up in government offices across the land, manned by incompetent drones, with no other purpose in life than to cause trouble for working citizens and the people that employ them.

[rktman]

I think he probably has the custom shop build his. As for a 2nd run, I thought they only had a limited amount of wood. Maybe they need to have another batch confiscated first.

[BykrBayb]

After spending nearly two and half million dollars in legal fees and paying a $300,000 fine, the government has settled with Gibson and has finally returned the confiscated tonewood.

I read elsewhere that it was Gibson that paid the fine.

[rktman]

LOL! Probably so. Ya think the govt pays for anything? The taxpayers pay for everything.

[BykrBayb]

I’m just so sick of reading things that are poorly written. It’s bad enough when the comments are full of the misuse of “lead” in place of “led,” but when the professional writers have such poor command of the language, I wonder why they chose a profession that’s all about language.

[Paladin2]

"Gibson, who hand-makes its guitars, cannot guarantee the craftsmanship of its products if a portion of the work is done outside their facilities."???

Somebody has to fell the trees/limbs and buck the logs. Not to speak of growing the trees.

[Paladin2]

[Fresh Wind]

[MeshugeMikey]

The prominently displayed eagle on the pickguard of the Explorer is quite something.

[rktman]

Apparently editors are no longer required. There, their, they’re. LOL! ;>}

[nothingnew]

I am a proud owner of a Gibson Hummingbird and have had Gibsons in the past. Started playing when I was nine...Gibson is the best of all the many guitars I've owned and played. I currently have seven guitars. My Hummingbird is the best.

FMCDH(BITS)

[bk1000]

I doubt the prices will go up much. These don’t seem to be TOO highly regarded. (Sadly, a lot of lib guitarists out there) The price did go from an original sales price of around $800 to about $1200 immediately after they sold out, but I have heard nothing recently. Initially there were the Les Paul, Explorer, and Flying V, and they were pretty cool, IMO. The one in the article seems to be a new one, the “series II”. Looks like a cheaper issue. I doubt I’ll be buying one. Would love to find the first government edition V though!

[BykrBayb]

A rows buy any other name.

[BykrBayb]

There knot?

[MarkL]

A long time ago, in a band far, far away, a friend had one of the original LP Recordings, and it was the second heaviest guitar I ever played, after this friend's Travis Beam! Incredibly low noise and clear tone, but very low output, even when switched into "Hi Z mode," made it hard to overdrive an amp. On the other hand, it could sound amazingly NOT like a Les Paul, like a strat or even Rickenbacker while playing "clean."

Mark

[Scoutmaster]

First sentence of the article:

In 2011, the Department of Justice conducted raids on the Tennessee facilities of the famed Gibson Guitar company and confiscated large quantities of tonewood that had been imported from India and Madagascar.

Wrong. The Madascar ebony was seized in a 2009 raid. The East Indian rosewood and ebony were seized in 2011, the 'large quantities' at the Dallas airport.

Fourth sentence:

The issue at hand was not that the wood was endangered or illegally harvested, but that it was not of the proper thickness that would have meant that some labor had been performed on it by workers in India and Madagascar.

Wrong. The issue at hand with the Madagascar ebony was precisely that it had been illegally harvested by Roger Thunam and was under government seizure.

One issue at hand with the Indian wood was existing U.S. Customs law about whether raw fingerboard blanks were considered finished or unfinished. The existing U.S. law said they were unfinished, based upon a customs ruling Gibson itself sought in 60/61 to avoid paying a tariff on finished products.

With so many errors in the first four sentences, I hated to read on, but I can tell you the author is repeating blog posts and Gibson's press releases, and has not done his research.

[rktman]

I agree. A lot of the “article” didn’t fit with some of the earlier info. Regardless, I like to see that Gibson is poking them in the eye a little bit with the (supposedly) sold out run of Govt. “models”.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Outstanding!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I think, that for a Les Paul, it’s FUGLY! The color is blah. I’ll stick with my ‘57 Strat. Never been too crazy about hum bucking pickups either.
But,,,, good for Gibson!