Gibson Guitars Gets Raided

RPA1 · Aug 27, 2011

"Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576530520471223268.html

Are you kidding me? Agents of 'Fish and Wildlife' with Glocks strapped to their hips raiding a GUITAR FACOTRY??? This is insanity. It's time for a concerted, organized effort to stop these militant, facist environmentalists.

"It isn't just Gibson that is sweating. Musicians who play vintage guitars and other instruments made of environmentally protected materials are worried the authorities may be coming for them next.

If you are the lucky owner of a 1920s Martin guitar, it may well be made, in part, of Brazilian rosewood. Cross an international border with an instrument made of that now-restricted wood, and you better have correct and complete documentation proving the age of the instrument. Otherwise, you could lose it to a zealous customs agentnot to mention face fines and prosecution."

All you environmentalists out there better turn in your instruments to the Feds unless you have certificates of origin as to just where that wood came from.

jmpet · Aug 27, 2011

Guess we should plant a pertambucco forest somewhere in Wyoming...

waltky · Sep 3, 2011

Uncle Ferd partial to Fender guitars `cause dey use good ol' `merican wood...

Gibson Guitar CEO fights back
September 2, 2011: Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz is fuming. As he sees it, his company, the iconic maker of the Les Paul and Firebird X electronic guitars, is being unjustly attacked by the federal government.

On Aug. 24, armed agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raided two of Gibson's Tennessee production facilities and its Nashville headquarters. The agents confiscated nearly $1 million in rare Indian ebony, finished guitars and electronic data, according to Juszkiewicz. It was the second time in two years that Gibson's factories have been raided by the feds over the rare woods it uses to build its guitars. "It was a nightmare," said Juszkiewicz. "We had people sitting there making guitars. We had no weapons."

Given that the company was already dealing with the government on an earlier investigation, he said the feds should have worked with the company to make sure its procedures were in compliance. The company has always made a good-faith effort to follow the law, he said. But now Juszkiewicz isn't feeling so cooperative. The latest raid revolves around a trade issue. The wood was allegedly exported illegally because it was unfinished and too thick to be a veneer, the only unfinished wood India allows to be shipped, according to a Justice Department affidavit.

Why the U.S. government would enforce an Indian trade law can be explained by century-old legislation called the Lacey Act, which mandates that American companies observe the laws of foreign countries in the trade of many animal parts, plants and their products, including wood, which was added to the act three years ago. However, Juszkiewicz insists the wood is legal under Indian law because it's a finished product -- a fingerboard that gets attached to the neck of the guitar. He said he has letters from the Indian government to prove it.

The company hasn't been charged with wrongdoing, but Juszkiewicz said he was told that if the company sells or ships any of the Indian wood or finished guitars containing the material, it could be charged with additional violations of the Lacey Act and also with obstruction of justice. As a result, his entire operation could effectively be shut down, he said. The Justice Department said it couldn't comment on the ongoing investigation.

If Gibson were to shut down its Tennessee factories, it would put more than 700 people out of work. And Juszkiewicz will have none of that. He's keeping the factories running and told the Justice Department he will take personal responsibility for any legal liability. If anyone is arrested, he said, it will be him. "We have not been able to make some products, but I'm not going to lay people off," he said.

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RPA1 · Sep 3, 2011

Ya...me likes Strats too...I do have an old Les Paul....Shhhhh.

waltky · Nov 29, 2012

Gibson case pales in comparison to China wood piracy...

China at center of illegal timber trade: NGO
Fri, Nov 30, 2012 - APPEAL: The Environmental Investigation Agency says China is exporting deforestation with its growing demand for wood, which has helped fuel conflict in several countries

Chinas insatiable appetite for timber is driving a growing illegal trade that is stripping forests in Africa and Asia, and fueling conflict, underscoring the urgency for Beijing to enact laws to crack down, an environmental group said yesterday. China is the worlds top importer of illegal timber, with the trade worth about US$4 billion a year, London-based non-governmental organization (NGO) the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said. Globally, Interpol estimates total trade in illegal timber is more than US$30 billion.

The EIA released its report entitled Appetite for Destruction: Chinas Trade in Illegal Timber in Beijing to highlight what it said was Chinas lack of action, in contrast to major trading partners such as the US. China has built a vast wood-processing industry, reliant on imports for most of its raw materials supply. It is in effect exporting deforestation, the group said in the report. It said Chinas state-owned companies played a major role in securing supplies from overseas. An EIA analysis of Chinas trade data for 2007 showed state-owned firms imported nearly half the volume of tropical logs that year.

The EIA, drawing on its own investigations and the work of Interpol, the World Bank and others, said Chinas demand for timber has fueled conflict in Myanmar, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea, as well as parts of Africa. Chinas booming economy has driven demand for timber for construction. In addition, many of its newly wealthy are splashing out on furniture, including items such as rosewood lounge sets that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, with much of the timber sourced illegally from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand or Madagascar.

In Laos, rare rosewood logs can fetch US$18,000 per cubic meter and even more in neighboring countries, the EIA said. The trade is fueling clashes between loggers and authorities. Chinas rapidly growing timber imports are underpinning huge growth in exports of furniture, flooring, moldings and paper products. Wood product exports have increased nearly seven-fold in the past decade to US$34.2 billion in 2010, the EIA said.

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pimptight · Nov 30, 2012

RPA1 said: ↑

"Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576530520471223268.html

Are you kidding me? Agents of 'Fish and Wildlife' with Glocks strapped to their hips raiding a GUITAR FACOTRY??? This is insanity. It's time for a concerted, organized effort to stop these militant, facist environmentalists.

"It isn't just Gibson that is sweating. Musicians who play vintage guitars and other instruments made of environmentally protected materials are worried the authorities may be coming for them next.

If you are the lucky owner of a 1920s Martin guitar, it may well be made, in part, of Brazilian rosewood. Cross an international border with an instrument made of that now-restricted wood, and you better have correct and complete documentation proving the age of the instrument. Otherwise, you could lose it to a zealous customs agent—not to mention face fines and prosecution."

All you environmentalists out there better turn in your instruments to the Feds unless you have certificates of origin as to just where that wood came from.
Click to expand...

Really, so this is about environmentalism, and not illegal Chinese wood imports huh?

Anders Hoveland · Nov 30, 2012

RPA1 said: ↑

Are you kidding me? Agents of 'Fish and Wildlife' with Glocks strapped to their hips raiding a GUITAR FACOTRY??? This is insanity. It's time for a concerted, organized effort to stop these militant, facist environmentalists.
Click to expand...

It's not just guitars. The Department of Energy has been given authority to raid light bulb factories that don't comply with "efficiency standards"... in other words if they manufacture the wrong type of light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs will be banned in 8 years, since they won't be able to meet the efficiency mandate.

In California, a state with more people than Canada, don't be surprised if after 2018 we hear about police raids on stores that sell the wrong type of light bulbs.

All these environmental regulations are resulting in the rapid expansion of government authority over ever greater areas of business and our lives. It will be... like the EU !
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/aug/31/lightbulbs-incandescent-europe

"The more laws the less justice" - Marcus Tullius Cicero

It will be a sad day when all out light bulbs burn out. The next generation may never know the warm pleasing glow of a whole technology that's been around over 120 years.
(those halogen bulbs eventually won't be allowed either under the current law in the USA, Canada, and the EU, in case you're wondering)

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Gibson Guitars Gets Raided

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