Following Entry Posted 11/19/2009 08:33:00 AM

Federal Agents Raid Gibson Guitar Factory

(Nashville, Tennessee) Thanks to Greenpeace and other environmental groups, the feds are going after the evil-doers making guitars. Gibson has been raided.

An international crackdown on the use of endangered woods from the world's rain forests to make musical instruments bubbled over to Music City on Tuesday with a federal raid on Gibson Guitar 's manufacturing plant, but no arrests.

Agents of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service made a midday appearance and served a search warrant on company officials at Gibson's Massman Drive manufacturing plant, where it makes acoustic and electric guitars.

Gibson issued a statement saying it is "fully cooperating with agents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as it pertains to an issue with harvested wood." The company said it did nothing wrong.

Federal officials declined to say whether anything was removed from Gibson's plant or what specifically the agents were trying to find. But some exotic hardwoods traditionally used in making premium guitars, such as rosewood from the rain forests of Madagascar and Brazil, have been banned from commercial trade because of environmental concerns under a recently revised federal law.

Interestingly, there's a systemic problem associated with knowing that your wood is good since it slips through many hands before crafting and traceability can be lost. Even environmentalists admit that bad wood is often unknowingly used because "it can be tricky to be certain of the source." It's anybody's guess how many of the world's guitar players are already fingering bad wood.

In any event, I suggest that Greenpeace and other environmental groups are at risk of disturbing the affectionate relations they have with their most prominent and loudest supporters, music industry performers. Even worse, some musicians may even start questioning their blind support of save-the-planet initiatives and begin thinking of consequences. Few follow a bandwagon when the music dies.

Meanwhile, Gibson's CEO and chairman, Henry Juszkiewicz, has walked away from his position with the board of the Rainforest Alliance as a result of the federal raid. Juszkiewicz has held a leadership position with the Rainforest Alliance for 15 years and now apparently senses possible "conflict or distraction." Frankly, I'd be somewhat jacked if I worked for 15 years promoting greenie initiatives and it ended up biting me in the glutes. Heh. No good deed goes unpunished.

In conclusion, the United States government is hassling a guitar-maker in Nashville, Tennessee, to save the rainforests in Madagascar and Brazil. In my opinion, the U.S. government should be doing everything to save the guitar-maker and let the nations of Madagascar and Brazil take care of their rainforests.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.
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