Ultimate Rhoads

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Gibson was raided by the US Justice Department for buying illegally harvested wood from Madagascar.

What are your thoughts?


Okay, so I came across and update here in which Gibson's CEO claims the government wants him to outsource jobs so these troubles will 'go away'.

There's also a blog on it here in which it is claimed that all of this is political because Gibson doesn't make financial contributions the the Democratic party...

Here is the press conference with Gibson's CEO.

Again, I was hoping to get your opinions, so let's start arguing!!!

I have one of the last pieces of Brazilian Rosewood allowed in the early 1990's. My classical guitar was custum and I am extremely proud of it. From the law standpoint it comes down to "prove it." If it was sold on the Black Market then you are going to have to track down shipments, buyers etc. just to find out where it may have been sold. I see this going two ways:

1) Gibson sues the ass off the Government and wins but has a lot of P.R. repair work to do.
2) Gibson is proven guilty and looks for a scapegoat for a cause of the illegal possession of endangered wood.

Result: Lots of e-Bay items will go up for sale due to recession and rarity of Brazilian rosewood. Just Not Mine...

I think it'll be interesting to see what the reasoning behind this is, I don't think we have all the information yet...

Also found it humorous during the press conference when he said "All guitars use ebony or rosewood" and then backpedaled and said that very few guitars have maple fingerboards. He must not have heard of the Fender Stratocaster

Makes me think about a lot of things...

On the one hand I think Gibson would buy illegal wood, I don't think many in the guitar world really take "tree protection" all that seriously. On the other hand, i'm no stranger to politicised bullshit, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone at Gibson fell out of favour with some half assed politician.

I'm more interested in how it will affect the industry. I suspect the price of Gibson's, new and recent second hand, may increase if it is revealed that Gibson used some rare, taboo wood. These instruments will probably be heralded as having amazing tone... whether it will change Gibson's inconsistent reviews remains to be seen...

If it sells!

Rob