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Tennessee Reps Prepare Bill to Protect Guitar Owners After Gibson Raid

Tennessee lawmakers alarmed over a recent federal raid on Gibson Guitar factories in their state plan to introduce a bill aimed at protecting instrument owners from being punished under the same law that snared the legendary company.

Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., on Thursday plan to introduce a proposal to amend the so-called Lacey Act. The expansive law makes it illegal to buy, sell or travel with certain wood products, and requires owners to carry specific documentation for others. The lawmakers say this threatens musicians, antique dealers and others who travel with products containing rare plant or wood materials.

Following the raid at Gibson guitars, the entire U.S. guitar industry, and the thousands of jobs it provides, feels threatened

The amendments would "grandfather" all instruments and furniture made before May 22, 2008, when the law was last updated to cover exotic woods, so owners of those products would not face prosecution.

"Innocent buyers of such products before 2008 should not be punished," a statement released by the lawmakers' office said.

The proposal comes after U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Homeland Security agents raided Gibson locations in late August. The agencies took away 24 pallets of Indian rosewood and ebony, as well as a number of guitars and computer files.

The federal agents' contention was that Gibson had illegally imported the exotic wood, which is used to make fretboards and bridges for their high-end instruments, from India. The sticking point, though, was over which country had done the work on the wood.

While federal officials say the wood -- as imported -- is illegal, had it been finished by workers in India, it would have been legal to import. The wood itself was not banned, just the manufacturing process.

The amendment would also try to clarify portions of the act that require compliance with foreign laws, calling on the government to put together a database of all relevant laws. Plus the amendment would reduce the paperwork necessary to import and export musical instruments and furniture manufactured before that 2008 date.

Currently, musicians who travel out of the country with vintage instruments that include exotic woods face seizure of their instruments and heavy fines if they don't have the proper paperwork when they return to the U.S.

Country music star Vince Gill released a statement Thursday touting the proposal.

"From the perspective of guitar players, collectors and lovers of old instruments, I wholeheartedly support this bill," he said.

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Permalink Reply by Bert the Welder on October 21, 2011 at 5:09am

Wow! Three cheers for dummies in positions of power!

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Permalink Reply by Clock The Wolf on October 21, 2011 at 10:08am

This whole thing is inexcusably complicated: badly written and convoluted laws, "amended" by poorly retrofitted add-ons that retroactively change everything... and they still end up either exactly replicating, or completely contradicting pre-existing laws.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Smith on October 21, 2011 at 10:14am

Welcome to the
jungle
It gets worse here everyday
Ya learn ta live like an animal
In
the jungle where we play
If you got a hunger for what you see
You'll take
it eventually
You can have anything you want
But you better not take it
from me

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on October 21, 2011 at 11:57am

More bureaucratic horse hockey! Politicians do not create wealth for the country. Considering most Politicians are lawyers, all they do is make more work for their friends. The Lacey act was never intended to be used the way they are using it against Gibson. Remember there are enemies to the nations both foreign and domestic. Greater harm as been done with a pen than has ever been done with bullets. The government have been pissing on the Constitution for way too long. Power certainly corrupts. Just like water wears away a stone, a slow attrition takes place with every passing law. Governments get destroyed from within. Take heed. You are going to be seeing more of this.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on October 23, 2011 at 3:56am

The misuse and misenterpretation of the Lacey act is yet another example of why the best and most overdue bipartisan act of government should and needs to be FIRING THEM ALL! Pissing on the constitution is simply putting it far to mildly.

I was talking to a luthier friend last week about this entire subject. He told me "You know Mark, I have a large stash of rosewood I purchased over 40 years ago, I cant even use it for fear I would have to prove its origins. You think I can find the receipt from 40 years ago?" (Anyone who has met a real genuine long time luthier knows the answer to this......)

It is my understanding that the majority of the problem in this particular case comes down to a mistake on some paperwork in a transaction between Gibson and Luthiers Mercantile, and that the wood, the source and the process was the same as they have dealt with for years and years.

Part of the problem appears to be that the law hasnt been enforced consistently, or at all since enacted, and now suddenly someone wants to go in guns a'blazin, with no clarity as to how this thing is supposed to work. Dont get me wrong, if this thing was about conservation, and was written and enforced in a reasonable manner, I would be a supporter. But you cannot protect the chickens long after they have left the coop and been consumed by the wolves. Certainly the actions taken in this case will protect or save NOTHING!

I made the decision about two years ago, based on some information that was shared with me, that once the few small chunks of Ebony I had were gone I would purchase no more. And that I would be more concious of where any other exotic wood I might purchase came from. It was clear to me there is a serious problem and that the fact was that if some of these woods came from anything other than basically corrupt third world countries the trade would have been restricted or eliminated a long time ago due to over forestation and looming extinction of several popular species. But this is government and bureaucracy. Heres an example of the level of stupidity. There are clear forested stands of rosewood stumps, potentially some of the most beautiful wood in existance, but the powers that be wont even allow the harvest of those stumps when it came with offers to replant the forests.

Future headline. Government gridlock causes worldwide crisis after crisis, after crisis..................

Hey, JMO, what do I know?

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on October 23, 2011 at 12:51pm

Phew, good thing my guitar is an Epiphone! lol

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Permalink Reply by Clock The Wolf on October 23, 2011 at 5:08pm

They'll pry my guitar from my cold dead fingers!

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Permalink Reply by Ben on December 9, 2011 at 6:21am

So...rarely do I take much interest in factory guitars anymore (I brake for vintage). This story, however, is of course interesting to us on the instrument building side of things. I was following it when it broke but haven't investigated anything recently.

I usually log on to musiciansfriend on a daily basis to check out their "stupid deal of the day." Today, I noticed the ads at the top that featured the Fall 2011 Gibsons...they didn't look quite right. Sure enough, now they're using "baked maple" fingerboards.

Check them out...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/new-gibson-guitars-basses-fall-2011?...