Official Luthiers Forum!

The NOAA website excerpt I quoted at the bottom of the last page that says there is no legal restriction on pre-1972 parts is American. If you read the provided link (in the quote bit) you will also see that it says, at the very bottom of that page: This is an official United States government website. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

So to sum up, according to the US government, "If you can establish the parts were obtained before 1972, neither the MMPA nor ESA apply, and there are no legal restrictions or prohibitions on what you may do with these."

EDIT: Seems a given state can impose more strenuous laws, and also CITES etc may deal with importation restrictions in addition etc.... a minefield, sure;)

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If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. - Jack Handey