Music | November 21, 2009 | 50 comments

Gibson guitars raided by US police

source: http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/48508

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sk8r408
Gibson Guitars is being investigated by police in the US for allegedly using illegal wood to make its instruments.

Federal agents seized wood, computers, files and guitars from the company's Massman Road manufacturing facility in Nashville, Tennessee.

They were seeking evidence that Gibson shipped illegal rosewood from Madagascar via Germany.

Under America's Lacey Act firms are barred from bringing Madagascan rosewood into the US due to corruption and environmental issues, reports The Guardian.

Gibson said that they are "fully co-operating" with the federal investigation.

In a statement the company added: "Gibson is a chain of custody certified buyers that purchases wood from legal suppliers who are to follow all standards."

http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/48508

http://current.com/items/91517061_gibson-guitars-raided-by-us-police.htm
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50 comments // Gibson guitars raided by US police

  • ankab
    • 0
      ankab  

    • jjhalp look how far I am. It's not American timber it's Oregon timber calling the tune for Gibson. The woman just can't get close to the truth. Please wake up & smell the rosewood from Madagascar

    • 2 years ago
  • ankab
  • jjhalp
    • 0
      jjhalp  
    • ankab:

      Sorry, this is not a "buy American thing". That was out in the 1980's. This is about enforcing an amendment to the Lacey Act. This amendment makes it illegal to trade and sell plants, wood, and wood products from species that are restricted and/or were harvested illegally. http://www.eia-international.org/
      This amendment was sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden, of Oregon, one of our largest timber producing states. The American timber industry is very interested in stemming the flow of illegal wood because it artificially depresses prices and decreases the competitiveness of our own, locally grown timber. And, the timber that Gibson was producing was probably coming from national parks in Madagascar according to several large NGO's.

    • 2 years ago
  • ankab
  • SirSalem
  • 02
  • ras_menelik
  • CalgarC
    • 0
      CalgarC  

    • i never liked gibson guitars... a long time ago when the new owners took over the company went down hill in guitar quality and they just turned evil... lol

    • 2 years ago
  • Durf
  • TheOuroborus
  • TGolem
    • 0
      TGolem  

    • well hopefully my les paul standard isn't made out of illegal wood.

      the quality for the price of their guitars isn't very good and i would advise against purchasing their products to any would be gibson buyers.

    • 2 years ago
  • pobeeno
  • kdelay
  • ankab
    • 0
      ankab  

    • Isn't it funny they should get their guitar picking fingers off guitar makers. Most likely another buy american campaign. Just (unjust) it is pop music instrument. Do you ever see them raid violin makers? They are skewed in the head. Plus, what's more they're basest of the base.

    • 2 years ago
  • davzap
  • JimboTheHippo
  • marvin0022
  • ras_menelik
  • 02
  • LowShred
    • 0
      LowShred  

    • I work at a guitar store, we were told earlier this week to expect low shipments because they seized every guitar in the factory. Perfect for the holiday season. But with that aside, Fender FTW.

    • 2 years ago
  • shanklinmike
    • 0
      shanklinmike  

    • Because of corruption and environmental reasons?!?!?

      It's called a prohibition on poor people working in Madagascar....

      I wonder which company is abusing this protectionist effort....and to think of the way they justify screwing the poor, reminds me of the embargo with Cuba....senseless and built around false political reasons. Government in the end is just socialism for the rich! The more money that poors in, the more corporatist and rent seeking possible.

      There should be no such thing as illegal rosewood, trade is the only thing that enables the people of that country to prosper, and all we do is enable their dictators when we enslave their economies to the governments of the world! So sad, that most people have never even googled the term economic freedom and even worse that people would rather bring government charity to regions like Africa instead of the freer society we hope to realize...

    • 2 years ago
  • jjhalp
    • 0
      jjhalp  
    • shanklinmike:

      So what militia do you belong to? Its too bad you've never visited any countries in Africa, or you might begin to understand the concepts of fair trade, participatory resource management, and the need for transparent processes. Trade is only one part of a larger need to help change past practices.

    • 2 years ago
  • trampfan
    • 0
      trampfan  

    • AK57? New Kalashnikov? Cut all trees pave everything, no more lawnmowers polluting the air. Paint it all white cut global warming. Everyone wins

    • 2 years ago
  • Sam_the_Wizer
  • corndog67
    • 0
      corndog67  

    • Obviously they have eliminated all real crime in the area where the Gibson factory is located. Much more important than murders, gang shit, rapes, burglary, etc., etc. Way to go guys.

    • 2 years ago
  • jjhalp
  • jjhalp
    • 0
      jjhalp  

    • Yes, they can be guilty, and they should be prosecuted. The wood they were importing for their guitars is from a restricted species that is illegal to trade. They were guilty of negligence and, despite the slacker attitude of the 1st poster, there is a lot that SHOULD happen, to US. We SHOULD be aware if we are using wood that comes from degraded/denuded environments in the tropics to fuel our overly consumptive lifestyle. We SHOULD be concerned that environmental degradation in other countries increases spite of western countries for unsustainably robbing resources from poor countries. We SHOULD be concerned about the ability of forests to absorb carbon from our fossil-fuel rich lifestyle. Most of all, we SHOULD be concerned about the ignorance of posters like Freecrack, Bailey 78, and cheeseAndCrackers because of their lack of knowledge about our reliance on the natural resources of other countries to fuel their needs, ie., their Les Paul guitars.

    • 2 years ago
  • mr_tibbles
  • jjhalp
  • amandalikescats
    • 0
      amandalikescats  
    • jjhalp:

      Thank you for being the one person who understands Fair Trade and environmental issues in general. I don't think anyone realizes that this country just takes and takes and takes with no aforethought to what we leave behind, who we hurt, and what will ultimately happen in the end. "But noooo, we have to have THIS wood for our guitars!" I'm actually a guitar enthusiast myself. But at what cost must we have our shiny rosewood Les Pauls? It's really mind-blowing when you see who really cares and who doesn't.

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
  • jfill
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  

    • yup this is what is important. not illegal arms smuggling and drug trafficing but guitar wood thats the stuff our law enforcement needs to keep an eye on i mean imagine what would happen to us if we allowed illegal wood to be used in guitar manufacturing......oh wait nothing.

    • 2 years ago
  • Wraak
  • Westnewport
  • nkeg87
  • pandaman2105
    • 0
      pandaman2105  
    • freecrack:

      it's an environmental issue, that makes it important. there are other issues that need attention, yes, but this is something of signifigance. it's being handled, but it's not like it's some huge, international, FBI investigation.

      illegal use of certain natural materials is something to keep track of.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • snarly
  • ILikeHamburgers
  • Wraak
    • 0
      Wraak  
    • bailey78:

      Hamburgers: a more relevant example would be a science teacher that bought a femur off eBay to teach a class about bone structure, and the police charged her with murder because the person she bought it from got the femur from someone he killed.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • bailey78
  • bailey78
  • Lecti
    • 0
      Lecti  
    • bailey78:

      Going into my wayyyyyy back time machine, with that one law class necessary to complete my studies: Ignorance of the law can be a claim of defense. However, you had better been living under a rock that was within a US territory for the last 30 years. I also can't help but remember that maybe the idea was that in some rare or unusual way, a law is made, but then concealed to the public (for some insane reason) and then you break it, and then everyone finds out about the law. But's that just crazy talk on my part.

    • 2 years ago
  • brett_ferster
  • cheeseAndCrackers
  • RojoGatto
  • wellhunggimp
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