Gibson: Feds Want Guitar Woodwork Done by Foreign Labor

i guess if we move to india or china

we can get jobs

for $1 a day

funny how the people in our govt.
that have secure jobs with benefits
don’t want to help the rest of us

in the past
you couldn’t get these blobs to do anything

now they are meddling in everything

-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle

sad!

-- Mike, Marietta,ny

Well see, here is the problem. If the Justice department does not enforce Indian laws, then the next time you call for customer service on your computer, tv, blender, etc. Them Indians won’t help you…. :-)

Gibson should open a warehouse across the border in Mexico, we don’t give a rat’s ass about Indian laws…or ours for that matter…hahahaha…

-- Just because you’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly stupid.

The headline is misleading. The CEO says “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.” He doesn’t explain why the shipment of “illegal wood” was “falsely declared” as something legal. Hard to defend “The FED” these days, but the CEO at Gibson and Fox news seem to be having trouble with “false declarations”. -Jack

From the Teneseen article for those who don’t trust Fox.

This is a bit more in depth and the govt is just plain wrong. Do a search for Ebony and all these suppliers would be in the wrong.

-- mrg

A good woodworker is always easy to spot. They can hit the nail on the head every time. Patron, you hit the nail on the head.

-- Darrell, making more sawdust than I know what to do with

Why import illegal wood they should know better, Your right I would not trust Fox News.

-- Tom D

Fender has been doing the Mexican thing for years and to this day, the Mexican Strats and Teles are about 1/3 of what the made in USA models sell for. Often they have identical construction and materials. Sometimes the Mexican models are tricked out with features you can’t even get on a USA model.

Gibson already has their Epiphone cousin making the far cheaper (imported) versions for them. It would hurt them badly to move to Mexico.

Les Paul Customs only ever have ebony fretboards. It’s part of the list of features that make it a custom. So with no ebony they can’t build the flagship model at all. Some of the Les Paul Studios do as well… and others.

-- If you're going to stir the pot, think BIG spoon or SMALL boat paddle. David Grimes, Georgia

So is this about saving endangered trees or about jobs?

From what I am reading, if someone in India cuts down the tree and processes it into a finished product (like a guitar) it is legal to import into the USA, but if someone in India cuts down the same tree and exports it as an unfinished product, then it is illegal to import into the USA. Don’t you still end up with a dead tree (unsaved) in both cases? How is that saving endangered trees???? Shouldn’t the Indian Government be the ones monitoring exports and arresting and prosecuting those that cut down the endangered trees?

If the wood physically in the shipment are legal and it is just a paperwork thing, then why ran-sack the office computers, records, files, guitars (especially if some of the guitars where made previously from wood that had proper paperwork.) Why not just give them 30 days to provide proper/corrected paperwork. NUTS.

Perhaps Gibson should just take a lesson from the other major US corporation….. Layoff all USA employees, except upper management, close the USA plant, build a new plant in India, Hire Indian employees, make the guitars in India and then import the finished guitars into the USA.

Rob

-- Rob-Yorktown "Shop's still not done, Tools are bought, Wood is bought, need to find time to start a project.."

The US needs a law like that. The loggers here in the NW refer to logs as “exports” ;-(( Down at Longview, WA, both side of the Columbia have giant log yards loading #1 peelers on ships bound to??? They should be loading milled lumber. The excuse it is imperial is BS, if we can put a man on the moon, we can mill either dimension. Only 3rd world nations export exploited resources.

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

I remember a few years back when Canada had exported their maximum of common dimensional lumber, so they actually bored two holes in all the fir 2×4’s bound for the US and stamped that it was a construction component (instead of a board of wood) to side step the issue completely. Only happened that one year that I experienced.

The great thing was that the holes were bored just right for using to run the wire through the interior walls. lol

-- If you're going to stir the pot, think BIG spoon or SMALL boat paddle. David Grimes, Georgia

The problem the way I see it, is that Gibson is being targeted for something. If what the article says is true about ebony being exported from India now and Madagascar back then would make some lumber dealers now criminals. If what the article saids is true that it has to be a veneer according to the lacey law then we would not be able to buy ebony boards from suppliers. If you do quick web search the ebony that I found comes from Madagascar.

I personally think that Gibson is being targeted that they must have upset someone and it is payback time. If we are supposed to be trying to keep jobs and build the economy why would the DOJ be going after a company that has been in business for 117 years? I can only speculate but think about all that is going on now with really stupid government lawsuits against certain companies for doing what is right for business and creating jobs but the far left is upset about. Just my 2 cents.

-- mrg

So our own Gov will enforce a law from India in the US, but when contractors empoloyed by the Federal Gov commit crimes overseas like in Bosnia, Iraq, or Afghanistan the Gov does nothing saying they are out of our jurisdiction. The Gov also covers up the crimes by having the contracts in such a manner that they are free from prosecution in the country the crime is committed in. Our own Government will be our demise.

-- Chief Petty Officer USN(RET) 1991-2011

The “FALSELY DECLARED” import shipments issue should be explained before Gibson gets much sympathy from me. Sounds like the CEO doesn’t think he needs to obey the law. Could that be why he is being targeted? -Jack

”The search warrants alleged that the intercepted shipment was “falsely declared” as veneer, something that would have been legal. However, the documents said the ebony was in fact unfinished “sawn wood,” supposedly illegal.” – Fox News