Posted on 09/23/2011 12:19:12 PM PDT by KyGeezer
Saturday October 8,2011 2 - 4 p.m. (CDT)
Scoreboard Resturant 2804 Music Valley Dr. Nashville TN (across from Opryland Hotel)
We need your help: - PLEASE make plans to attend and help us support Gibson Guitar - If you have contacts with musical talent who would like to lend their support, please let us know - If you can help with security and staffing and promotion please let us know - Please spread the word by emailing the link to the website
I sure wish I could drive/ride out there for this, but that weekend is already ‘spoken for’ on my calendar.
You folks have a good time and know that there are plenty of people who will be there with you in spirit.
My first guitar was a Gibson LP Firebrand...god I miss it. On the wrong side of America to make it, but I too will be there in spirit.
Bring a laptop/smartphone and start a running thread for us!
“They may take away my life but they’ll never take away my Stratocaster!”
Anyone wanna spot me the money for a Custom Shop ‘59 reissue Les Paul?
“They may take away my life but they’ll never take away my Stratocaster!”
Um.... not to nitpick, but Stratocasters aren’t made by Gibson. :)
On September 19, 2011, the government filed a motion (Document 64) to compel Gibson to answer interrogatories first delivered in November of 2010. Gibson's been given repeated extensions to answer by the government but has failed to meet each extension, which had been extending the civil litigation.
With respect to the 2011 raids, Luthier Mercantile has issued some mea culpas and clarifications. LMI was the 'proxy' ultimate consignee on the shipments through Dallas and Canada.
LMI says that it made a mistake when it told the government that the mislabeled shipments caught in Dallas were actually Gibson's. LMI says that although the shipments were being sent to the Red Line Warehouse where Gibson stores wood, the East Indian rosewood fretboard blanks actually belonged to LMI. The assumption is that LMI is also saying that is made a mistake when it emailed the warehouse about the shipment from Canada, and LMI is also claiming ownership of that wood as well.
LMI also says that the mislabeling of Harmonized Tariff Schedule goods as 4406 (veneer under 6mm thick, and legal to export from India) instead of 4407 (chipped, split, or cut wood over 6mm in thickness, illegal to export from India) was wrong when it was corrected, and that the export papers from the Indian government that Gibson has claimed it has are actual papers issued to LMI for the shipment of HTS 9209.92.00 (a finished product for a musical instrument).
This is good and bad news for Gibson.
The good news is that if there's any Lacey Act violation, mislabeling or otherwise, of the East Indian Rosewood it sounds as if it would be LMI's fault.
The bad new is that, since 1993, U.S. Customs services have ruled that fretboard blanks are HTS 4407, so that instead of the federal government, Gibson and LMI are now put in the position of arguing that Indian law should apply.
Also, finished products are subject to tariff, while HTS 4407 products are not subject to tariff. Gibson and other manufacturers don't want to start paying tariffs on fretboard blanks (Gibson's other eleven purchases of East Indian fretboard blanks in the last thirteen months were all imported by Gibson as HTS 4407).
Finally, if Gibson's claims the fretboards are HTS 9209.92.00 fretboards, it may not be able to label its guitars as entirely "Made in the U.S.A." They may also be assembled from parts 'Made in India."
Among other cases, this dates back to Customs Ruling HQ 733229 in 2000. Gibson was having bodies and necks of guitars made in Japan and shipped to its Bozeman, Montana plant. It would take those bodies and necks, glue them together, add the tuners, drill holes for strings, do finish sanding (about two hours' work, according to the ruling), then finish the guitar (six hours). Gibson had been labeling the guitars "Made in the U.S.A" under its Blueridge Line. It was caught. Customs Ruling HQ 733229 told Gibson it had to call the guitars "Assembled and Finished in the U.S. From Parts Made in Japan" or "Made in Japan."
Now I just need to convince my wife that Gibson needs more of my support!
Get a '58 reissue (see post #9). Same guitar as the '59 only with a plain top and $2000 less on the price tag.
Aesthetically, It's hard to beat 'green' Kluson tulip tuners, isn't it?
The ‘59 reissue also has a slimmer neck (I have small hands, so this is kinda important to me). Also, I prefer the look of the flame top. :)
I don’t think the government’s position on the East Indian rosewood is strong.
The 2009 raids are a different matter. To summarize some of what’s in the documents I linked above, in 2009 it simply appears that Gibson took a gamble and cut corners. Gibson has also admitted virtually all of these claims in the civil suit . . . what’s holding up the suit is that Gibson refuses to admit that that the wood that was confiscated in Madagascar ebony. It’s been asking for extensions to ask that question since it was posed by the government in interrogatories in November 2010; according to filings, Gibson has only sent attorneys to the storage warehouse and has never sent any of its wood specialists. After giving multiple extensions, the government asked the court on 9/19 to compel Gibson to answer the question.
Acoustic guitar makers have been looking for a substitute for Brazilian rosewood since 1992, when it became incredibly difficult to acquire the tonewood due to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. In the late 1990s, they thought they found it in Madagascar rosewood.
Madagascar rosewood had a tone, as well as a color and grain, that was similar to Brazilian rosewood. It became the ‘gotta-have’ wood for acoustic guitars and, combined with an Adirondack spruce top with forward-shifted bracing, gave a sound similar to a pre-WWII guitar.
Due to Madagascar’s unique ecology, there was a lot of worldwide pressure to end both legal and illegal logging of Madagascar rosewood and ebony. Among other actions, the Malagasy government issued Inter-ministerial Order 16030/2006 (September 2006), which was an explicit ban on logging rosewood and ebony. There was a procedure, however, to export rosewood and ebony that had been harvested pre-2006. The procedure involved, among other things, a Ministerial Order specific to the shipment and pre-2006 government logging records for the shipment. I’m certain corruption was also involved.
So much money can be made from illegal logging of Madagascar rosewood and ebony that it has been referred to as Africa’s “new blood diamond.” Armed groups log national forests. French boats are usually used to transport the wood, which is ‘laundered’ through certain countries, including Mauritius. Most of the illegal wood goes to China. Some goes to Europe – notably Germany.
Enter Roger Thunam. A timber baron in Madagascar dealing rosewood and ebony, he was found guilty in 2008 Malagasy courts of illegal trade in rosewood – one of only two timber barons ever found guilty of illegal trade. In 2009 he was on trial for illegal timber trade again, but found not guilty. National Geographic has an article on him in its October 2011 issue, including observation of illegal rosewood lumber in his lumberyard and his admission that the lumber has come from illegal cutting. If you Google his name, you’ll find reference after reference to his role in illegal logging of rosewood and ebony in Madagascar. As one Malagasy official says “Thunam isn’t a businessman—he’s a trafficker.”
June 2008. Gibson employee and wood specialist Gene Nix spends 2-1/2 weeks in Madagascar along with representatives of Taylor Guitars, C.F. Martin, and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (The FSC provides certifications tracking logging; the Rainforest Alliance, a group formed by Gibson CEO Juszkiewicz is instrumental in advising everyone in the guitar industry to seek FSC certification for its wood). Nix sends an email back to Gibson stating:
“All legal timber and wood exports are prohibited because of widespread corruption and theft of valuable woods like rosewood and ebony.”
Gibson continues to pursue different avenues to purchase potential solutions for legitimate harvest of Madagascar ebony and rosewood, but the solutions were long term, and Gibson was in a hurry.
Nix emails around Gibson:
“Maderas Barber “has been in the business a long time and may be able to help begin some legitimate harvests.
Mr. [Roger] Thunam on the other hand should now be able to supply Nagel with all the rosewood and ebony for the grey market.”
Mr. Nix described in an email what he had seen at Nagel’s business in Madagascar:
“Key things we saw [at Thunam’s Madagascar business]- large yard, wood in yard not properly stored; it is under temporary seizure and cannot be moved: substantial stored quantities of cut items for export including blanks for various instruments. Mostly ebony ...”
Then, in March 2009, there’s a military coup in Madagascar and Andry Rajoelina takes power. His government’s not recognized by other world governments.
Gibson then buys Madgascar ebony from Roger Thunam through a German firm. Gibson does not seek a FSC certification to follow the chain of logging and custody as it does with its other wood purchases, although Gibson’s CEO is a founder of the Rainforest Alliance, which promotes the use of FSC certifications. When the shipment hits customs in New York, there’s no Lacey Act declaration. The shipment is flagged. When the paperwork’s completed, the product is listed as ebony with a site of origin of Madagascar. A Fish and Wildlife Agent is contacted because Magadascar ebony is illegal without the special Ministerial waiver and the government logging records.
After some research, the feds find that Roger Nagel is involved and that there are no appropriate government records in Madagascar for a shipment subject to waiver. The feds raid Gibson, seize the wood and computers and find the Gene Nix emails.
After the raid, Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz resigns from the Board of Directors of the Rainforest Alliance. Gibson asks the Rainforest Alliance to help it design new wood procurement protocols. The new protocols adopted by Gibson specifically prohibit any importation of Madagascar ebony or rosewood.
Nagel, the german company that served as the go-between for Gibson with Roger Thunam, has since posted on its website that it will not deal in Madagascar ebony or rosewood unless the legality of the shipment is confirmed by an independent third party.
The government documents that Thunam produced to Nagel are HTS coded for for shipping flooring panels, roofing joists, and prefabricated building panels. So not only are there no confirming documents in Madagascar, but the document Gibson is relying upon to buy what Gibson refers to as ‘fretboard blanks” are for . . . prefabricated building panels?
During the raid, the feds interview Gene Nix, the Gibson employee who spent 2-1/2 weeks in Madagascar, who wrote the emails about the legality of the wood, who wrote about Nagel and the grey market, and about Nagel’s wood being under temporary seizure. They told him to tell the truth or he could spend five years in prison.
Gibson CEO Juszkiewicz talks to the press and spins it this way: “Can you imagine a federal agent saying, ‘You’re going to jail for five years’ and what you do is sort wood in the factory? I think that’s way over the top.”
I think Gene Nix did more than ‘sort wood in the factory.”
So.
Under the Lacey Act, you are responsible for the legal production and export of plant products like wood if you import it. You must take whatever steps are necessary to assure yourself that you have all necessary paperwork and that all of the paperwork is proper and genuine. If the paperwork is bogus, your recourse is not to get your illegally imported goods back. Your recourse is to purse a refund of your money from the person who used the bogus paperwork. If you simply gambled and didn’t rely on fraudulent paperwork, then you’re just out of luck.
In Gibson’s case, its man on the ground in Madagascar had emailed “all legal timber and wood exports are prohibited.” Perhaps under pressure to find a way to obtain the wood, he also wrote that there was a source that could “begin some legitimate harvests.” In the meantime, he said that Roger Thunan was a source for all of Gibson’s needs on the “grey market.”
That phrase normally means outside of standard channels, but when you’re talking about something that’s regulated and may be illegal, and you’ve ruled out it with “legal” and “legitimate” – and then you choose to do business with a man that you know, or should know, had just been convicted for illegal timber trade, and whose wood was under temporary government seizure? I have to believe that you know the man’s reputation if you’ve Googled him or talked with anyone in Madagascar. And I can understand why the government asserts that Gibson used “grey market” to mean “not legal.” Particularly when the wood you purchase is supposed to be under temporary seizure by the Malagasy government. If not legal, then you know you’re dealing with some risk.
Did Gibson KNOW the Madagascar wood was illegally harvested and exported? I’ve seen no proof of that. But if it was, does it sound like Gibson did the amount of diligence you would do to assure legality?
Gibson says that it has government documents provided by Nagel. Given that there are no corresponding documentation in Madagascar (if the government’s correct), that these documents may have come from the unrecognized military government, or been forged, I don’t know what to think. I think Gibson cut corners and gambled on about $1 million worth of wood.
Others, however, say that this is simply Gibson being picked on.
Starting in mid-2009, Gibson reshaped the neck profiles, taking a little off the shoulder of the '58 to make it about the same as the '59. The '60 Reissue Les Paul has the slimmest neck profile as well as a flame top. I have small hands as well but as soon as I tried the '58, I was sold on huge, fat necks! Changed the whole way I play. Up until that time, I was playing a Les Paul Classic with a pencil-thin neck. I traded it on on the R8 in the photo above (and with the rest of my growing collection below). My Tele has a pretty fat neck as well. Now I just need to find a Stratocaster with some girth to it. Currently have a Highway 1 model with a thin neck that I just can't bond with.
Okay, they’re not taking away my right to blather, either!
:-P
Truthfully, I'm a fan of Grovers. All those iconic 'bursts back in the day were refitted with Grovers (mostly because the original Klusons were unstable and prone to breaking). The Kluson-style tuners Gibson is using today are fantastic. I don't have any tuning issues at all. My Les Paul stays in tune for weeks as long as the strings are installed correctly. I've really thought about putting Grovers on it for no other reason than that I think they look cool. Unfortunately, Grovers require a bit of reaming out the wood from the tuner holes in the back of the headstock so it's something of a permanent "fix" for a non-existent problem. And it would devalue the guitar a bit should I ever want to sell it (though I have no plans of ever parting with my R8. It will be my son's one day).
The SRV Strat has a pretty fat neck.
My current axes are a MIM Standard Strat and a PRS CE24; both have pretty similar neck profiles aside from the PRS having a slightly flatter fingerboard. I’ve grown very accustomed to the modern C-shaped necks on current Strats.
Thank you. I'd forgotten that Grover made Kluson-style tuners. The tulips not only look good on Gibson electrics, but they look good on the few acoustic on which Gibson puts them. It's a shame that so many Custom Shop Les Pauls don't have tulip Klusons (and that the trapezoidal fretboard inlays are replaced with rectangles).
I've toyed with the idea of replacing tuners on a couple of early to mid-1980s Martins with Waverly tuners (Waverys are my favorite tuners on acoustics, if you want the vintage look), but that would require reaming - so I've always avoided the temptation.
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