Feds Raid Gibson Guitar Plant In Tennessee

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WOW! What a Revelation! 11/18/2009 11:34:00 AM This will make "Scruggs & Flatts" roll-over in their graves. Yee Haw! Are they really dead?
Feds Raid.............. 11/18/2009 11:46:00 AM You've got to be kidding me! With all the corruption in the finanical markets (read Wall Street), the Feds are worried about wood in a guiter?? I guess I am supposed to sleep better tonight.
This is music to my ears! 11/18/2009 12:09:00 PM Once again with the economy in crisis and jobs being lost we pick on another fabulous well established company in the USA about where their wood comes from. They will drive Gibson Guitars out of the country and have them made in China or Vietnam Go get um Feds! This will change the world while drugs are slipping into the USA by the Tons, illegal aliens are coming through our borders in numbers the size of cities monthly, businesses are shutting down and laying off and the confidence in the financial system is a mess they are focused on hammering a company for the wood the use. OK they will pay a fine, shut the factory down and have their products made off shore to get rid of the ridiculous regulatory systems we have here. This will fix the unemployment problems we face. Go Obama go!
YES ..... me too!! 11/18/2009 12:30:00 PM I feel safer already.
Easy Target, No Political Backlash 11/18/2009 12:35:00 PM The AG doesn't have to worry about getting backlash from connected congressmen & politicos when they go after a guitar manufacturer, I guess their too tight with Wall street to even look in that direction. Or how about those insurance companies that raise their rates by 15% - 18% annually while making it more difficult to get a claim approved. Our tax dollars at work screwing everyone but the actual thieves, oh yeah they work for the government too so they don't have to worry.
Finally, Action 11/18/2009 12:54:00 PM I'm glad to see some action taken on these "under the radar" cases. I wonder how many songs about saving the world, cleaning up the planet, damning the corporation have been played on genuine rain forest wood guitars!?
guitars made of exotic woods 11/18/2009 1:08:00 PM who blew thw whistle on the company? is there really a problem with the wood or is it one of its competitors? That FED dept is made up of a bnunch of corrupt jackasses.
The extent to which this administration will go 11/18/2009 1:17:00 PM I built a fairly large wood deck a few years ago from an exotic tropical hardwood from the rain forest! It's a beautiful and durable material ideally suited to the application. I used far more tropical wood than Gibson will ever use. What about me? (I think I got mine from the very last tree!) G'OBAMA!
Brilliant! Smashing! 11/18/2009 1:20:00 PM A proud moment in American justice! I salute the money spent on this raid as a step in the right direction to stomp out such a huge criminal operation!
RE: This is music to my ears! 11/18/2009 1:40:00 PM "Go Obama go!" ???? What does Obama have to do with this article ? Do you think he was the one who authorized the raid ?? Shheeezzz.....
Fed Raid 11/18/2009 1:48:00 PM Let me get this straight… it’s acceptable to conduct a Federal Raid because of wood, but not for illegal workers? I love the way they spend my tax dollars.
They're not going anywhere 11/18/2009 1:58:00 PM Gibson will not go overseas, part of the over inflated prices for their guitars stems from the claim they are MADE IN THE USA. IF they go overseas they will lose about 40% of the profit they make just for just having their name on the headstock. Don't get me wrong I love Gibson guitars, when I can get a good deal on a used one I will buy it The resale on these guitars does very well and they hold their value and generally can increase in value over time. No other guitar has the investment ability that Gibson guitars hold. And they play very nicely. Gibson does make guitars overseas, they’re called Epiphone and they too are very nice guitars probably on par with the USA guitars in terms of quality, but they don’t have the made in USA on them and therefore only are worth a 1/3 what the Gibson branded ones do and the value does not hold.
RE: Feds Raid... 11/18/2009 2:01:00 PM You're absolutely right. The feds should be going after people that break laws. Laws like illegially importing things into this country. Oh wait...that's exactly what their accused of! Evidently we should pick and shoose which laws we need to enforce. Only those laws which do not affect business should be enforced. If a law affects a company and their bottom line, we should just ignore it and let them do whatever they want!
Re:This is Music to My Ears! AND Feds Raid 11/18/2009 3:11:00 PM For Music to My Ears: The buck has to stop someplace and that someplace is Obama's desk. As has been the case with all Presidents before him. For Feds Raid: I don' think the folks who wrote these comments are saying that we shouldn't be fighting corporate crims. What I "hear" them saying is that with all the other things that are wrong in the world and in our country, going after Gibson because the might be using illegal wood seems awfully trivial. FWIW, I agree with them.
Really..... Obama's at fault 11/18/2009 4:07:00 PM Fact: Gibson may have broken the law. No matter what else is going on in the world. What does immigration and drugs have to do with Gibson’s violation of the law? Nothing…….. Obama is not responsible for bad decisions made by Gibson. Gibson has to face the consequences of their actions. And also as of today no charges have been filed yet. Also this is really is a black eye if charges are filed as the CEO of Gibson sits as the chairman of the Rainforest Alliance. Some heads are gonna roll at Gibson.
Feds Raid.............. 11/18/2009 4:16:00 PM Same as a cop who pulls youi over for speeding, while driving by a shoot out! It's easy money to shoot fish in a barrel. More of this to come via the Obama goon squad!
RE:RE: Feds Raid 11/18/2009 4:18:00 PM Look at the liberal (or progressive) complaining about "someone" picj=king and choosing what laws to enforce. Well go figure - do you mean like all of the transgressions by the idiot Barney Frank and his partner in crime Chris Dodd that got the country into the financial disaster it's in now. They fill their pockets with all manner of "spoils" from deals with Fannie and Freddie and other mortgage companies, but don't have the b***s to own up to it and just skate thru with no impact on them. Is that what you libs call justice?????
Since Obama is too much of an idealog to fix the economy... 11/18/2009 5:57:00 PM The least he can do is raid a good employer and put them out of business.
Some heads are gonna roll at Gibson??? 11/18/2009 6:00:00 PM I think that in the mid-term elections, some heads are going to roll in every Democrat House of Representative office and in that 1/3 of Senate offices up for election in 2010 that are held by Democrats - we'll see...
The Obama Administration does pick and choose... 11/18/2009 6:10:00 PM The law they enforce. Remember that Gietner evaded taxes. Obama took a bribe from a convicted land developer and Biden took payoffs from credit card companies. And that's to just name a small, small number of crimes committed by The Obama Gang. For the whole story, read Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin.
HOW is a person to know??? 11/18/2009 6:40:00 PM Ain't that cute. HOW is a woodworker supposed to know just WHAT species of wood can be acquired and what can't? It should be a real blast to go down to my local hardwood supply company and buy a few sticks of some tropical hardwood I intend to use in a cabinet only to be arrested when I walk out the door because some liberal dimwit congress person suddenly decided to make that given species illegal! What is really crazy about all of this obamic-class stupidity is that the people who live in the tropical regions are burning down their own precious forests to clear it away for farmland that will produce meager crops for a few years before that chunk of land is depleted. The cycle is then repeated again and again, Those forests are disappearing with or without exporting the tropical hardwoods. If these forests are so precious to environmentalists up here I have a suggestion for you. Get off your fat lazy butts, get down there and TEACH those people how to effectively use the farmland they have. Teach them how to build the meager soil up so it can continue to produce. Teach them how to replenish the soil through techniques like crop rotation. Once they learn good farming practice, they won;t be putting their land to the torch!
What is really happening here... 11/18/2009 9:54:00 PM Is the Feds are going into a business that has always been an excellent corporate citizen, has made the necessary filings and insisted on proper documentation for the exotic wood they purchase, and accusing them of failing to hug the right tree. Unfortunately, the effect of all of this is that they in effect stole thousands of fine instruments...probably ones that already had customers waiting for them, carried of the company's business records and essentially put them out of business. In the end, I believe Gibson will prevail, and the "culpret" if there is one, will be some guy trying to make a killing by furnishing a greedy exporter with the controlled woods. Or, "perhaps" this is political in nature. Whatever the motivation, it will be a VERY tough case to prove, since Gibson is meticulous in record keeping. They aren't a bunch of ignorant morons operating in a back alley. Of course, if the feds have the records...let's hope Gibson has secure off site storage of duplicate records! No telling WHAT might happen to the originals in Washington!
re: re: music to my ears 11/19/2009 10:17:00 AM Ditto, the original poster hit the nail on the head. This action by the Feds will only drive another company away from the USA. Way to go, Obama and Co. (Obama, via Eric Holder, leads which direction law enforcement goes, and what the priorties are. I guess taking guns and guitars away from us are the most important issues, aside from letting terrorists have access to our court system).
Just a raid, innocent until proven guilty 11/19/2009 10:44:00 AM Hey Folks, Nobody said that Gibson was guilty of any crime. Take your finger off the trigger. But I am sure this is way more important than the problems we're having with our government.
Sick Republicans 11/19/2009 11:06:00 AM What is wrong with you pathetic people trying to blame every little action of the government on Obama. The United States Attorney for Nashville Tennessee is Ed Yarbrough, whom contributed to the Bush / Cheney campaign in 2004 and was appointed to that office by Bush. If GIBSON is guilty of anything, it is probably them contributing money to liberal causes and this action shows why we MUST get rid of all the BUSH appointed attorneys and their Liberty University staffers. I blame OBAMA for NOT CLEANING HOUSE and getting rid of all the republican SCUM that still lingers in the Judicial Branch.
Just another reason to complain 11/19/2009 12:33:00 PM Just another reason for America to B@#$H and complain about something. Take off pants, remove underwear, shake loose the sand, brush sand from butt cracks, put clothes back on and stop complaining
It was bound to happen 11/19/2009 4:15:00 PM Sence Samick got in with Gibson threw there Epiphone brand.Gibson aquired Valley Arts,and then Samick moved there headquarters to nashville.It was a matter of time before something went south.The american dream these days seem to be when can we dump another us company to the Chinese or mexican or whatever.The American news media tells us what car is the best,as long as it is not US made Ford,Gm and Chrysler makes just as good a car or better than it's forien counterpart.So this fed thing is just another step in bringing another US. company down to the forien level.I drive a ford with 190,000 miles My les Paul was built back when pride of US workmanship ment somthing.Maybe I'm getting to old.
Comment to the first comment above 11/19/2009 10:18:00 PM It's Flatt and Scruggs. And no, only one of them is dead.
above the law 11/20/2009 12:11:00 AM This is about Gibson allegedly circumventing a law intentionally. Given their strong public stance for sustainability, this would be like the peace corp running guns. The president of Gibson runs a very tight ship; nothing happens without his direction and approval. Let the chips fall where they may.
Rosewood? 11/20/2009 6:28:00 PM Gibson makes relatively few rosewood body guitar models. But they use rosewood mostly on fingerboards, and bridges, of just about all their guitars and headstock veniers of a lot of them. Madagascar Rosewood is highly prized because of its similarity in grain pattern, color, and density to the Holy Grail of Guitar Tonewoods, Brazillian Rosewood, also illegal without copious paperwork to prove it was obtained prior to being made illegal. Madagascar Rosewood would likely be used in the most high end Guitars; but as mentioned before, rosewood is used in the fingerboards and bridges of most all of the guitars they make. So they will have to provide experts to show what is good allowable rosewood and what is not, and records as to where each stick of it was used. What a mess. Thank you OBAMA for your selective enforcement of the law as a payoff to your environmentalist supporters. You are driving a century old company out of business or off shore; and driving up the prices of guitars for all of us musicians.
question 11/21/2009 8:08:00 PM Did I not read somewhere that big companies like Gibson have a massive stockpile of wood that they purchased many many years ago when there were no restrictions?How would that be regulated
so RE will you apply same rules to Bush2? 11/22/2009 11:24:00 AM So reading this: "Re:This is Music to My Ears! AND Feds Raid 11/18/2009 3:11:00 PM For Music to My Ears: The buck has to stop someplace and that someplace is Obama's desk. As has been the case with all Presidents before him. For Feds Raid: I don't think the folks who wrote these comments are saying that we shouldn't be fighting corporate crimes. What I "hear" them saying is that with all the other things that are wrong in the world and in our country, going after Gibson because they might be using illegal wood seems awfully trivial. FWIW, I agree with them. " First I agree about epiphone and gibson, and I wonder who the whistle blower is? A Competitor I bet. So for RE, are you going to apply your same stantard to Bush you apply to Obama here? Is bush the "buck stops here" person? I guess when Cheney could not figure out so many times whether he was in executive branch (VP) or in congress he flip floped on that about 38 times. Sorry you have no credibility when you claim Bush was a "buck stoped there" president. Only bucks that stopped with him were ones in 80's rolled up so he could do his hoover impersonation.
Rainforest 11/23/2009 10:26:00 AM Hard to believe this article is getting the response that it is. Very political and not a tree hugger anywhere.
Wolf watching the sheep 11/23/2009 12:29:00 PM Chairman of Rainforest Alliance is allegedly stealing hardwoods. Sounds par for our screwed-up society of power-hungry greed mongers. Justice might prevail for a change.
Can you stop and focus now, please? 11/24/2009 3:16:00 PM I don't get any of this rant by any one of you. 1st: The "whistleblower" was the Fish and Wildlife Commission. To them, this is a big deal. 2nd: The Atty Gens Office operates outside of the Presidents office and the local head was a Bush appointee. You may be having flashbacks to the Bush administration which made it synonymous with the presidential branch. 3rd: The financial mess the US is in WAS due (again) to the previous administration. Recall, it's what got the current guy in the Whitehouse. 4th: The actual confiscation may be an attempt at containment due to an unscrupulous supplier and NOT an unsuspecting customer. However, none of you (save for one poster) apparently took this in to account when you decided to rant. I thought this was a blog frequented by engineers and the like. Not angry children.
they got caught 11/25/2009 12:42:00 PM Gibson knew what they were doing in buying protected woods and using them for their products to produce guitars they thought would look prettier and sell better. There are woods like ipe, that another person mentioned using on their deck, but that is a plantation grown wood. Pine is grown on plantations in the USA and other than being a desert for wildlife they produce little harm. Clear cutting redwoods the way Charles Hurweig did along with looting the Pacific Lumber Co.'s pension fund is another story. Do I want to devastate the hillsides in another country (as has been happening in Haiti and causing hundreds of deaths) just so I can have a prettier guitar and Gibson's executives get a bigger paycheck? There are thousands of people in the USA whose homes contain toxic drywall from China. They cannot afford to rip out all the sheetrock and replace it so most will give their homes to the banks and it all started with builders trying to make more money and with no concern for their customers. Think people and start getting your 'news" from somewhere other than Fox, Dobbs, and Limbaugh.
Angry Children 11/25/2009 12:53:00 PM Here here! I have noticed this very same thing. It is quite amazing actually, how small some of the posters worlds must be, where everything requires a political spin to one side or another. Any tenuous connection they can make for their cause is sufficient grounds for spewing political rhetoric regardless if it really applies to the subject. Leads one to wonder, what kind of angry middle management types are these people? Have all the political forums kicked them off the discussions so they come to this sight to rant? On to the subject of the article. The AP reported on Nov 17 that the top executive of Gibson Guitar Corp. is taking a leave of absence from the board of an environmental group amid concerns about the source of the harvested wood used for instruments. If Gibson has nothing to hide they will come out just fine, perhaps even better if their hands are clean. However if Gibson is knowingly or have made efforts to conceal the import path of the wood they use, they should be held accountable, just as any other person, corporation, or public entity should be. As far as “aren’t there more important things to investigate” line, I’m sure there are lot’s more important things that ARE being investigated, read the headlines, you see them every day. Just because a cop isn’t actively investigating a crime doesn’t mean you get to speed, park in a no parking zone, or shoplift a pack of gum because there are worse crimes being commited. Wrong is wrong, everyone needs to be accountable for their actions. If you get caught, you need need to be busted.

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