[rktman]

Man do I wish I still had my Black Les Paul. I like the neck stamp that Gibson placed on the guitars with the "suspected" tonewood. Thumb in the eye? ;>}

[ronnie raygun]

Heard owner ceo where donors to the GOP

[Pharmer1]

From this incident, I learned that I should pick Gibson over Martin.

[Flick Lives]

“If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.”
(1984

---

This is what the government has become; nothing more than a protection racket. Pay your protection money to the Democrat Mob of “somthin’ bad might happen to youse bidness”.

[Jack Hammer]

“The issue at hand was not that the wood was endangered or illegally harvested, but that it was not of the proper thickness that would have meant that some labor had been performed on it by workers in India and Madagascar.”

No, that is most certainly NOT the issue.

The issue was - and is - that the owners of Gibson are conservatives who oppose Obama’s Marxist programs and the socialist transformation of America.

[Fresh Wind]

What an ugly color for a guitar!

But somehow it's appropriate. They match the millions of GSA-issue desks and cabinets that are lined up in government offices across the land, manned by incompetent drones, with no other purpose in life than to cause trouble for working citizens and the people that employ them.

[BykrBayb]

After spending nearly two and half million dollars in legal fees and paying a $300,000 fine, the government has settled with Gibson and has finally returned the confiscated tonewood.

I read elsewhere that it was Gibson that paid the fine.

[Paladin2]

"Gibson, who hand-makes its guitars, cannot guarantee the craftsmanship of its products if a portion of the work is done outside their facilities."???

Somebody has to fell the trees/limbs and buck the logs. Not to speak of growing the trees.

[Paladin2]

[nothingnew]

I am a proud owner of a Gibson Hummingbird and have had Gibsons in the past. Started playing when I was nine...Gibson is the best of all the many guitars I've owned and played. I currently have seven guitars. My Hummingbird is the best.

FMCDH(BITS)

[Scoutmaster]

First sentence of the article:

In 2011, the Department of Justice conducted raids on the Tennessee facilities of the famed Gibson Guitar company and confiscated large quantities of tonewood that had been imported from India and Madagascar.

Wrong. The Madascar ebony was seized in a 2009 raid. The East Indian rosewood and ebony were seized in 2011, the 'large quantities' at the Dallas airport.

Fourth sentence:

The issue at hand was not that the wood was endangered or illegally harvested, but that it was not of the proper thickness that would have meant that some labor had been performed on it by workers in India and Madagascar.

Wrong. The issue at hand with the Madagascar ebony was precisely that it had been illegally harvested by Roger Thunam and was under government seizure.

One issue at hand with the Indian wood was existing U.S. Customs law about whether raw fingerboard blanks were considered finished or unfinished. The existing U.S. law said they were unfinished, based upon a customs ruling Gibson itself sought in 60/61 to avoid paying a tariff on finished products.

With so many errors in the first four sentences, I hated to read on, but I can tell you the author is repeating blog posts and Gibson's press releases, and has not done his research.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Outstanding!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I think, that for a Les Paul, it’s FUGLY! The color is blah. I’ll stick with my ‘57 Strat. Never been too crazy about hum bucking pickups either.
But,,,, good for Gibson!

[slouper]

I’m a little surprised anyone has yet to mention the word, shudder, Fender, in this conversation. I just picked up an American standard Strat with a rosewood fretboard in seafoam green (not Jeff Beck model)and it rules. There are choices.