Gibson Guitars federal raid

smokiebeverage

Don't know what the effect will be on the market as there is plenty of stock around, but it may be interesting to watch what happens.

Gibson CEO press conference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_-ta...layer_embedded

Gibson Response

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/gibson-0825-2011/

hidinginthebush

From the Gibson website.

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., has responded to the August 24 raid of Gibson facilities in Nashville and Memphis by the Federal Government. In a press release, Juszkiewicz said: “Gibson is innocent and will fight to protect its rights. Gibson has complied with foreign laws and believes it is innocent of ANY wrong doing. We will fight aggressively to prove our innocence.”

The raids forced Gibson to cease manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day while armed agents executed the search warrants. “Agents seized wood that was Forest Stewardship Council controlled,” Juszkiewicz said. “Gibson has a long history of supporting sustainable and responsible sources of wood and has worked diligently with entities such as the Rainforest Alliance and Greenpeace to secure FSC-certified supplies. The wood seized on August 24 satisfied FSC standards.”

Juszkiewicz believes that the Justice Department is bullying Gibson without filing charges.

“The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department’s interpretation of a law in India. (If the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.) This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India.”

Bit silly really, they're accused of using non-finished wood from india, where finished wood would be ok. Haven't they been in trouble about their wood choices before though? I'd never be able to afford a LP anyway, so this news doesn't really affect me

smokiebeverage

hidinginthebush wrote: »

Haven't they been in trouble about their wood choices before though?

Yeah I have a recollection of some issue over wood from Madagascar, I think its mentioned thats still going through the courts.

dfkorg

smokiebeverage wrote: »

Yeah I have a recollection of some issue over wood from Madagascar, I think its mentioned thats still going through the courts.

Regarding Madagascar, this was an issue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_logging_in_Madagascar

Finished/unfinished wood still must come from a licensed source. If obtained on the grey market, Gibson could find themselves in hot water

Paolo_M

On an only slightly related topic, I thought this was absolutely classic stuff.

Amerika

I own 3 guitars, non being Gibson or C.F. Martin & Company. I live near C.F. Martin Guitar and my daughter takes bass lessons from one of C.F. Martin’s production supervisors.

Word on the street is the raid on Gibson guitar is all about politics. The CEO of Gibson Guitar is a Republican donor. The CEO of C.F. Martin is a Democratic donor.

C.F. Martin uses the same rosewood from India and Madagascar, but Obama’s DOJ hasn’t raided them, nor plans to. From all appearances the Obama administration is just sending a warning to Republican businessmen that they better not oppose his re-election or they will face criminal investigations.

MilanPan!c

Amerika wrote: »

I own 3 guitars, non being Gibson or C.F. Martin & Company. I live near C.F. Martin Guitar and my daughter takes bass lessons from one of C.F. Martin’s production supervisors.

Word on the street is the raid on Gibson guitar is all about politics. The CEO of Gibson Guitar is a Republican donor. The CEO of C.F. Martin is a Democratic donor.

C.F. Martin uses the same rosewood from India and Madagascar, but Obama’s DOJ hasn’t raided them, nor plans to. From all appearances the Obama administration is just sending a warning to Republican businessmen that they better not oppose his re-election or they will face criminal investigations.

That is complete nonsense.

Paolo_M

Amerika wrote: »

I own 3 guitars, non being Gibson or C.F. Martin & Company. I live near C.F. Martin Guitar and my daughter takes bass lessons from one of C.F. Martin’s production supervisors.

Word on the street is the raid on Gibson guitar is all about politics. The CEO of Gibson Guitar is a Republican donor. The CEO of C.F. Martin is a Democratic donor.

C.F. Martin uses the same rosewood from India and Madagascar, but Obama’s DOJ hasn’t raided them, nor plans to. From all appearances the Obama administration is just sending a warning to Republican businessmen that they better not oppose his re-election or they will face criminal investigations.

Really?
I heard that the Federal Government got fed up with bog standard Les Paul/Marshall rock tone and decided to raid to place in order to force people to think outside the box.
Wait 'till you see the import duty hikes on Marshalls over there. They're coming, mark my words, it's a conspiracy I tells ya!!

btw; as far as I know Obama didn't actually take part in the raid, and you're right, he probably wouldn't be directly involved in any other raid either.
Where's my damn tin foil hat, I know I left it here somewhere...

Amerika

Nonsense... tin foil hat... hmmmmmmmm....

http://landmarkreport.com/andrew/2011/08/ceo-of-gibson-guitar-a-republican-donor/

-Chris-

Amerika wrote: »

Nonsense... tin foil hat... hmmmmmmmm....

http://landmarkreport.com/andrew/2011/08/ceo-of-gibson-guitar-a-republican-donor/

The same website that's leading with "Glenn Beck Restores Courage in Israel, Inspires Global Movement"?

Is there a possibility that this particular website is pro-republican?

Are there any other reputable sources with this story?

feylya

Obvious statement incoming

This is not the politics forum

darrenw5094

A Federal raid on the Gibson price list.

Don't hear the cops raiding Tokai. Yet.

kevin65

I think there is something fishy going on here. Gibson was raided about 2 years ago and woods confiscated and formal charges still haven't been brought for this. To me, it looks like the feds did this latest raid to try and bolster their original case, which is probably on shakey ground if they still haven't brought charges after 2 years.

And why did they have to do an armed raid? Even the FDA wouldn't do that. Did they think that Gibson employees were going to attack them with half finished guitars? Also, they are not allowed to ship any product.

Gibson is an american company producing goods and employing american employees. They should be applauded, not harassed. It's not like America is awash with jobs and money, they are up to their ars*s in debt, so should be doing everything they can to promote business, instead of trying to shut them down. Thought this type of BS only happened in our own wonderful country...

roughdiamond

anyone aware of instruments being confiscated because of the Lacie Act? Heard some classical muso's bow's were...but I can't verify this. Just wondering if it's safe to take your instrument to the US without returning empty handed?

MilanPan!c

roughdiamond wrote: »

anyone aware of instruments being confiscated because of the Lacie Act? Heard some classical muso's bow's were...but I can't verify this. Just wondering if it's safe to take your instrument to the US without returning empty handed?

wellll... if you wanna be on the safe side, and it is legal, bring anything you can to document its age.

roughdiamond

MilanPan!c wrote: »

wellll... if you wanna be on the safe side, and it is legal, bring anything you can to document its age.

Age can be verified by serial, receipt upon purchase. So begs the question what is legal? What defines the scales of the US justice system bound in international treaties? Why did the federal justice dept. choose Gibson and not C.F. Martin with their new custom shop range of madagascar guitars wherein the logging of madagascar rosewood has been banned since 1996? I doubt both Gibson and Martin can provide adequate documentation of obtaining these species of wood 'legally' (especially from your local dealer) to a standard acceptable for a federal law enforcement administration with an agender...