Posted on 09/07/2011 11:12:41 AM PDT by jessduntno
They are among the most sought-after musical instruments in the world. Everyone from Chet Atkins to Les Paul to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin to Slash of Guns n’ Roses played them. A vintage 1959 Les Paul guitar can go for as much as $400,000. Almost every kid who has dreams of music stardom wants a Gibson guitars.
Gibson is also a company that is proud to put the “Made in the USA” label on its instruments. While the company has lower-end lines that are made overseas, every guitar that bears the “Gibson” label is made in the U.S. by American workers.
On August 24, armed agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Homeland Security raided the corporate headquarters and two factories of the Gibson Guitar company. 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 is that Gibson had illegally imported the exotic wood, which is used to make fretboards and bridges for their high-end instruments. Under the 1900 Lacey Act, which was amended in 2008 to include wood products, American companies must abide by the laws of source countries when importing products. The intent of the law is to protect endangered species of wildlife and plants. U.S. Fish and Wildlife claims that the Gibson wood – in the form of fingerboard ‘blanks’ -- was illegal to export from India and therefore illegal to import into the United States.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/07/does-white-house-want-to-ship-jobs-overseas/#ixzz1XI7sui1G
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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Gibson Guitar CEO: Don't Know Why We Were Targeted Henry Juszkiewicz on government probe into company's exotic wood imports
My guess would be that an officer or owner of the Gibson Company has “dissed” the current administration or someone associated with it. I was fairly recently on the butt end of the Fed’s wrath, and, although I wouldn’t call myself an expert, I sure know more than I used to. Now I fear my government.
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”
Gibson’s chief “Made in America” competitor is C.F.Martin of Pennsylvania. They use the same wood for fretboards, but they are also big Democrat-Obama donors.......but I’m sure there is no connection.......
So it isn’t hurting the environment, and India isn’t complaining that the minimal amount of finishing involved in creating blanks is insufficient to meet its legal requirements. But Holder & Co. aren’t happy about this.
If all US based guitar makers use these blanks, I would guess Gibson got picked on because it is the biggest consumer of them. Holder’s trying to make them an example by this very dubious action.
“If all US based guitar makers use these blanks, I would guess Gibson got picked on because it is the biggest consumer of them. Holder’s trying to make them an example by this very dubious action.”
Their CEO is a HUGE GOP donor. The only one in this industry, from what I can find in research.
Push to target GOP supporters.
Clinton targeted Microsoft simply for NOT supporting him.....with enough $$.
This isn’t even the worst thing the Obama administration has apparently tried to do as a ruse for furthering the Democrat jihad, if Gibson’s GOP connections are why.
How about the Gunrunner scandal? Knowingly lifting existing safeguards that were working in order to flood the clandestine Mexican gun market (mostly going to drug cartels) with US made guns so that they could later point and scream that existing safeguards were not working. That’s a funny game till somebody gets shot (which some U.S. somebodies did).
Microsoft may have been a bit dodgy, but the arguments that the Clinton administration presented sounded like debates about how many pieces of software can dance on the head of a pin.
Tennessee’s fishermen have been trying to export catfish eggs to the European market for domestic caviar but can’t get a permit until the feds are satisfied that Tennessee is complying with federal standards for fishing in Kentucky Lake—so the entire state is prohibited from exporting fish products.
Hey, bureaucrats gotta eat too.
Is it another issue of insufficient baksheesh being paid to the Rats?
Conservatives, IMHO, need to do four things about this kind of abuse of power: Take names, keep your own skirts clean, correct the abuse as soon as we take the country back, and prosecute offenders. Americans should be able to respect their government, not fear it.
The Gibson owner is a Republican and the the shop is non-union, and has, in fact, fought off unionization attempts.
This is simple Chicago-style payback.
The thing that I don’t quite understand about this case is, how the heck does the gov’t go about determining how much finishing labor Indian workers *should* be imparting to these fretboard blanks. (And I have played and bought and sold guitars for 45 years, so I know what all this stuff is)
Are Indian workers supposed to saw out the fret slots? (uhhh, no thank you)
Should they round the edges of the blanks in a certain way? How could they do they do that if they do not know the width(s) of the necks the blanks are supposed to go on? (and you wouldn’t do it that way anyway, you glue the fretboard on and then finish the neck as one piece of wood)
Should they cut out holes the inlays or the position dots go into? You cannot do that until the frets are sawn and you cannot saw the frets until you’ve really got the ends of the fretboard under control.
But regardless of how arcane all these guitar-construction details are, how is this parameter, the ratio or relative amounts of US vs Indian labor directed to the fretboards, how is this measured? Time? Pay amount?
Notice how all the lib musicians who play Gibson’s are silent.
They should make a stink.
“Notice how all the lib musicians who play Gibson’s are silent.
They should make a stink.”
And they’ll All be playing Fenders, to support Zero/Nero, next week.
Never expect a Lib to take a principled stand on Any Issue which conflicts with their ideology.
Holder didn’t do this alone. He isn’t smart enough.
This came from someone in the White House. Just as did Gunwalker.
Just another scheme to ruin American business.
This won’t affect Holder’s people. Led Zepplin & Aerosmith already recorded enough Les Paul tones for every rap and hip hop playah to sample for their latest angry rant rhymes - I mean songs.
Nonsense. Gibson's chief competitor is Fender. Fender's top guitars are American Made.
Gibson primarily makes electric guitars, the Les Paul, SG, and ES line being the most famous. Fender makes the Stratocaster and the Telecaster, among others. Famous electric guitar players are frequently lumped into the category of Gibson players or Fender players.
Martin doesn't make electric guitars. None. Not a one. Nada. Zero. Zip. Zilch.
Martin makes acoustic guitars and competes with Gibson's Bozeman, Montana acoustic factory (which was never raided). Some acoustics have electronics inside them, but they're not electric guitars (and Taylor would be the principal acoustic guitar maker in that segment).
That whole "Martin's the main competitor" business came from the same blogger who said Chris Martin was a Democrat donor (true) and Henry Juszkiewicz was a Republican Donor. That blogger conveniently didn't mention Juszkiewicz's $2,000 donation to Democrat Jim Cooper earlier this year.
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