"lawsuit" guitars, 2012 version

press release

i just saw this today. from the press release....

"Gibson Guitar Corp. entered into a criminal enforcement agreement with the United States today resolving a criminal investigation into allegations that the company violated the Lacey Act by illegally purchasing and importing ebony wood from Madagascar and rosewood and ebony from India.
......
The criminal enforcement agreement defers prosecution for criminal violations of the Lacey Act and requires Gibson to pay a penalty amount of $300,000. The agreement further provides for a community service payment of $50,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to be used to promote the conservation, identification and propagation of protected tree species used in the musical instrument industry and the forests where those species are found. Gibson will also implement a compliance program designed to strengthen its compliance controls and procedures. In related civil forfeiture actions, Gibson will withdraw its claims to the wood seized in the course of the criminal investigation, including Madagascar ebony from shipments with a total invoice value of $261,844."

Man, this nonsense with Gibson is driving me mad. I'm going dizzy trying to follow it all.
Every other manufacturer is happily cranking out the rosewood/ebony necks.

The baked maple fret boards boards coming out of the Gibby plant are OK but they're just not "right" ya know? Not really dark and rich enough for rosewood and certainly not a proper looking maple board either. Looks like butterscotch or summit.

Good thing they got had up. Illegally importing protected wood to make overpriced guitars that end up being sold to folks who don't even know how to play them right... What a waste.

There's a good article on it in The Huffington Post (not bloody Fox News).
Citing George Gruhn:

George Gruhn, who owns a vintage guitar shop in Nashville, said he
wasn't surprised that Gibson officials accepted the settlement.
"Regardless of the merits of the case on either side,
it would have cost more than that by far to pursue it," he said. "Even
if they thought they conceivably they could win, it would have probably
cost more than $1 million to do it."

Gruhn said the resolution of the Gibson case doesn't
ease his concerns about the Lacey Act, which initially halted the trade
in endangered wildlife goods, like ivory, but in 2008 added rare woods
to the import ban.

"The problem is that virtually every instrument prior
to 1970 contains Brazilian rosewood," he said. "Even on a Gibson LGO,
which was their cheapest student guitar."

Justice and Interior Department officials said in a
September letter that those who "unknowingly possess" an instrument made
from illegally imported materials don't have a criminal problem.

Wouldn't it have been wiser for the Gibson corp. to invest in (if only for the imago) planting back trees not just logging them? Didn't they see it coming? It's called sustainability! The woods used in guitars are in part responsible for just that, sustain! Some woods take a very long time to grow before they can be harvested however, therein lies a problem!
Why should a big corporation get away with not caring a poop! They should have seen this coming in the first place! Apart from how the raid was organised (not very elegant). Did they think they were too big to fail?

To be fair, it's not just exotic woods used for guitars that are at stake and make up for the problem and the Lacey act. Even more; rainforest are burned down illegaly to plant monocultures of genetically modified soy beans to this day in order to feed our cattle so we can eat meat. Very cheap! If it's ok to call the animals on farms in the bio-industry still cattle. Holy cow! But corruption and the apetite of the majority forbids to take appropriate measures on these wrongs. The hypocrisy!

If only our diet contained less meat or we did refrain eating meat altogether it would be a much more fundamental, better, and bigger sustainable contribution to our environment, the forests and our survival on this planet! And that said, personally I don't really need an ebony fretboard at any cost.

Barry says:



Man, this nonsense with Gibson is driving me mad. I'm going dizzy trying to follow it all.
Every other manufacturer is happily cranking out the rosewood/ebony necks.

The
baked maple fret boards boards coming out of the Gibby plant are OK but
they're just not "right" ya know? Not really dark and rich enough for
rosewood and certainly not a proper looking maple board either. Looks
like butterscotch or summit.

Yes, the government had better handled the issue in a different way instead!
Does it help? It's true other companies are no better. So what should we do?
Tell all the kids they are not going to sound any better? Or as a guitar building company by educating them on these matters and make a difference by showing the company's policies are responsibility driven. Being on the forefront of it. It's hindsight now and it doesn't sound right does it? We don't only need international laws we will also need people to see to it everybody sticks to the rules. It ain't funny. And in a way it certainly is not fair only Gibson is held responsible for what's going on everywhere all the time.

Maybe I better shut up now, and play. I'm talking too much and I'm not even sure.