Official Luthiers Forum!

http://www.wkrn.com/story/15325684/feds ... -nashville

Aug 24, 2011 10:28 AM PDT

"NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Federal agents raided the Gibson Guitar Corporation in Nashville Wednesday morning.

Authorities have yet to release details as to why the facility on Massman Drive off Elm Hill Pike was raided although it's believed to be related to a raid at the same facility in November 2009 for possible violations of the Lacey Act.

The Lacey Act is a federal environmental law that prohibits importing endangered plants and wildlife. It was amended in 2009 to also include wood products.

During the raid in 2009, federal agents seized materials, files and computers from the plant on allegations that a rare ebony wood from Madagascar was illegally used at the factory.

No charges were ever filed

Wednesday morning, several hundred employees at the facility were first evacuated. They were later told to go home after being allowed to reenter the building to collect their belongings.

The Gibson Guitar facility in Memphis was also raided by federal authorities Wednesday morning.

Agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service remained on the scene in Nashville Wednesday afternoon.

Nashville's News 2 will update this story as more information becomes available."

We have a MAJOR drug problem in this country that the Gov cannot get a hold on . We have Major Crime that makes it Unsafe to walk the streets . We have People loosing eveything they have from a bad economy . We have Crooked politicans who cannot keep thier "nude Pics " off the internet . Homless people , Major Illness .................... Shall I go on !

AND THE GOVERNMENT IS WORRIED ABOUT SOME FREEKIN WOOD !!

YOUR TAX DOLLARS HARD AT WORK

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

You said it WUD... but before I go political, I'l stop right there.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Seems they are more worried about Madagascars natural resorces than our own. All the while, they aren't doing anything about the Ash Borer (From China)that's killing all our Ash Trees. What a buntch of crooks!

Well and don't forget the poor guy who is going to be out of work when he comes back and doesn't have a file to level the frets.

Or a 30 degree edge file !!! Not to mention the Nut Files !!!

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Wow??!!!

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MK5acoustics.com

Guess who's prices are going up....

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Old growth, shmold growth!

The lacey act is out or hand. What makes it even worse is that the rules a vague. In one instance of this , a crab company couldn't keep up with orders and bought brought in crabs from Honduras. They asked the company freeze them in plastic bags . The government arrested them . The out come was 8 yrs in prison and $250,000.00 in fines. The lawyers brought government people in from Honduras to help their clients to explain that while there is a law in Honduras about not shipping frozen crabs in plastic bags and they couldn't find any cases where Honduras charged anyone in over 10 years , the government found a Honduran secretary that worked in the department to state that they did one case .
JAIL
Yup think George Orwell may have been wrong ?

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

It is only a matter of time before independent luthiers get raided. Everyone needs to go to the Guild of American Luthiers website and read up on the provisions of the Lacey act. Good luck understanding any of it, it is only about 20 pages long...

The reality is that most anyone building guitars for profit is in some way in violation of Federal law as it stands right now. Can YOU give provenance as to genus and species of the wood you are using and provide said provenance as to the legality of the harvest of those materials all the way back to the country of origin? The burden of proof is on you.

The Duke of Pearl went through all of this and has shared his experiences on the Guild website.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

You mean...if you DON'T build guitars for profit....You're not on the RADAR?
Whewwwww!

It sure looks like someone has it in for Gibson.

Govt. agencies gone mad!

KB

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Seems America is slowly descending into fascism.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

They go after individuals, too. Their interest in pursuing someone might depend upon how flagrant the activites.

An example I know is "Yoshi", who imported CITES listed endangered species of butterflies without CITES documents. He also grossly undestated the value for customs, which is a separte violation. I think he got 23 months in the federal resort.

Exactly!

With all this trouble just about everyone will build outside of the USA to save money, leading to a brain drain like East Germany, then forcing the government to adopt anti emigration policies to keep people in.

Basically like China in the 1960's.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Until we start speaking up loudly against the tyrannies that are being imposed upon us by various government entities, we will keep losing our rights and freedoms. This is just another classic example of mindless beauracricies, imposing their will on others.

Not even sure what good that will do. I mean it might make a difference in the short run but the complacency is so big that anytime you speak against the authorities, they suppress you by whatever means available to them.

It's funny the US State Department writes human right reports on every country in the world, even Canada which talks about any human right abuses of that country. If you read the one on Canada it even makes them look like they're out to steal people's rights, but the US is guilty of many of the things that they publish in those country reports.

When they start regulating stuff that people throw away (Abalone shells, etc.) then it's too far gone.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Fish and Wildlife is the worst of all. I was watching a report today on their efforts to close down boating on a man-made reservoir in Idaho because of some water fowl that isn't even indigenous to the area. All the F&W Agent could say was that it was a mandate from the Federal Govt.. It isn't even an endangered species, but it has something to do with the requirements of the Wildlife Habitat Regulation.(Don't know if I got that exactly right! I was so mad I was having trouble concentrating!)

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

It's called "misdirection". Accuse other people of doing something, and people will think you're against and it and won't do it.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

[quote="Tai Fu"]It's funny the US State Department writes human right reports on every country in the world, even Canada which talks about any human right abuses of that country. If you read the one on Canada it even makes them look like they're out to steal people's rights, but the US is guilty of many of the things that they publish in those country reports.

Make no mistake, we in Canada are having our rights slowly eroded as they are in the USA, usually under the guise of "National Security" and foreign trade agreements. But to think that there are no human rights abuses in Canada is wrong. Any place that man sets foot on will have abuses.
Governments and their' agencies always have to justify their existence and budgets. The easiest way is to target those groups or industries that affect the fewest. In all honesty, does the general public care what happens to the guitar industry?
It is laudable to protect the resources of foreign nations, but we protect many repressive regimes because they are of strategic importance. We are saved from pieces of wood while children are still starving.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Lets just say that I will buy all my shells from inlaidartist from ebay... at least his prices are much better compared to LMI or Stewmac. If you're lucky you can sometimes score hundreds of dollars worth of inlay material for only 20 dollars.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

According to this article:

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/ne ... a=e_du_pub

Following the previous raid, US Attorney's Office filed a complaint under the Lacey Act (in 2010) and also sought official forfeiture of 6 guitars.

-jd

Sounds like Gibson is a real danger to the public in general

We wonder why all jobs are moving offshore....here's one reason why

You've got that right! Jobs are moving offshore because our govt makes doing business in the US painful and expensive.

I don't know about y'all but I sure will sleep good tonight knowing we are all nice and save.

Maybe the chief in charge has a thing for Martin guitars