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The Best of Samantha Bee: Full Frontal Rewind: Trump's Henchmen Pt. 1 [VIDEO]

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makeitstop8/27/2019 7:53:02 am PDT

re: #209 sagehen

Didn’t Gibson get in big trouble some years back for the sourcing of the wood they were using? IIRC, there was some big environmentalist whoop-de-do about importing old-growth deforestation something something?

Yes, the feds seized a bunch of rosewood from their Nashville plant, under suspicion that it was illegally harvested in violation of the CITES regulations that placed most rosewood on the endangered list. I believe a lot of it was ultimately returned to them, but it’s forced them and other guitar companies to come up with alternate woods (like pao ferro and baked maple) for use on fingerboards.

A lot of purists howled about it, but I’ve got a Les Paul with a baked maple fretboard and I honestly can’t tell the difference.

CITES regulations also restrict international shipping of rosewood. I missed out on a stellar Fender Telecaster a couple of years ago because a store in Montreal couldn’t guarantee that it would get through Customs.