WTF!!!! GIBSON GUITAR PLANTS RAIDED BY DOJ INVOKING FOREIGN LAWS FROM INDIA!!!

The wood they are using is illegal to import into the US. No matter what the reason, it's still illegal and they got in trouble for it a year or so ago. Got caught doing the same thing again. No sympathy for them.

GREAT FIND!

This is complete BULLSHIT. This company has pioneered the music field and I can't even begin to fathom why the DoJ is gonna side with phucking India.

To top it off, what purpose does it serve? Only to shut down Gibson?

I guess the value of my LP is gonna sky rocket... good for me, bad for gibson.

Right... how'd they get the wood, for one? Secondly - he said the Indian government is not even the one pursuing this.

Actually, I am a musician, and know what I am talking about.

I remember when there were no electric guitars. My grandfather was a friend of Les Paul. I recall he and his friends talking during a back yard seafood boil and jam.
Those friends were Les Paul, Hank Williams, Marty Robbins, Willie Nelson, George Jones, and Minnie Pearl.
They were poking fun at Les Paul for his squared off wood guitar hooked up to the electricity. The first electric guitar.

Last Edited by Texas Uncensored on 08/25/2011 09:17 PM

help make that video go viral

And here's the link from the Memphis paper:

[link to www.commercialappeal.com]

I think that it is just harassment from the DoJ. As you stated, the Indian government did not request this, it was just a move by the DoJ based upon their interpretation of the law.

It also could be that a person within the DoJ is being paid off by environmental groups or even by one of Gibson's competitors, such as FMI.

I have no love for Gibson, as they have made the most loved guitar (Les Paul) out of reach for young people, but I think this was a bullshit move by the DoJ.

No shit?

who's your grandpa?

CRAZY!!!

Last I heard, Gibson was owned by TC Electronics ( From Denmark ?)
Who is outsourcing Who ?



Fender- Well ????

Plants raided in Memphis and Nashville.

Read the press release.

That does it. I'm going out and buying a Gibson guitar tomorrow. It might be one of the last ones ever made.

You bastards better not run off one of the last American manufacturers. What the hell are you trying to do?

Can we please get rid of Holder now?

Nope..........I knew of them as well. Knew the guitar player in that video!! Small world!

The best guitar I ever bought was my 1978 Les Paul Black Beauty....they DO NOT make them like that anymore!

From the Gibson Press Release:
[link to www.gibson.com]
snip:
• Nearly two years later, no charges have been filed
In 2009, more than a dozen agents with automatic weapons invaded the Gibson factory in Nashville. The Government seized guitars and a substantial amount of ebony fingerboard blanks from Madagascar. To date, 1 year and 9 months later, criminal charges have NOT been filed, yet the Government still holds Gibson’s property. Gibson has obtained sworn statements and documents from the Madagascar government and these materials, which have been filed in federal court, show that the wood seized in 2009 was legally exported under Madagascar law and that no law has been violated. Gibson is attempting to have its property returned in a civil proceeding that is pending in federal court.

The Justice Department has asked the judge to stop the court case indefinitely.

• Information sought in raid was already made available
Since 2009, Gibson has fully cooperated with the Government’s investigation of wood and has provided substantial documentation regarding Gibson’s wood-buying activities over the years. Yet, the Federal Government raided Gibson’s facilities on August 24, 2011, without warning or communication of any kind....

• Not about illegal logging, not about conservation, not about the environment
The U.S. Lacey Act does not directly address conservation issues but is about obeying all laws of the countries from which wood products are procured. This law reads that you are guilty if you did not observe a law even though you had no knowledge of that law in a foreign country. The U.S. Lacey Act is only applicable when a foreign law has been violated.
..end snip.

This is just a small portion of the press release.. go read it all.
Like it says, its not about wood work.
Something else is goin on and Gibson is pushed around.
I'd guess those guitars and woods made of protected and
endangered species have been burned up, or grinded into sawdust and thrown in the garbage dump.

Since when is it the business of the DOJ to obey foreign laws?

"DOJ exposed in illegal guitar smuggling scheme - ICE agents caught red handed supplying illegal guitars to underground Indie bands"

Yes, I have

Gibson appears to be owned by a overseas company- TC Electronics !
The vast majority of instruments are made in the USA !
The buy-out happened sometime 2008 ?, at least that is when there was
a major price increase (still continues ) and I was made aware !
I am the proud owner of 2 custom shop instruments- I feel safe to say
that I am in the know ? The parent company of Gibson Guitars is
"over seas"

I am actually amazed at how this post has shed light on the amount of ignorance that goes undetected on this site. I have a log on but am not using it because this post hits very close to home, there is very little I DONT know about this subject. I not only live in Nashville, well nevermind. I'm just sayng it is amazing how much wrong information is posted here about this raid.

No worries "Fender" is behind it.

If you get the right one- They make them better !

Probably for rosewood or ebony. I don't thing RW grows well in USA. Maybe Central America.

I've had a fair share of them too. Older ones are nicer, and the latest one I have is a 2001 historic Les Paul, so I haven't played anything more recent. I hope they can hang on in the USA. They're an American treasure, like Fender.

Fuck me... I'd lol but you know, it ain't far from the truth!!

You are mistaken. TCE was a purchase. We do that all the time. There are discussions going on now for more just like there are over 17 members of the Gibson family of Brands. This is the most enlightening post I have seen on GLP in 3 years of membership. Because it is the first one that i know more about than 99.9% of people here.

So basically they're saying,

you can't bring raw materials into the country and fabricate them into a product.

That is friggen INSANITY!

The DOJ official or whoever is responsible for this should be immediately sacked.

Pics or it never happened!!

(guitar porn here we come!!!)

Please Educate me on this TCE "Thing", inquiring minds want to know ?
What ever the punch is- resulted in a very healthy "price increase"

Punch-line, not "punch"