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cyril
Lokahi
USA
110 Posts |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
 Posted - 08/30/2011 : 03:20:29 AM
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Cyril, John Thomas, who was quoted in that article, is a friend of mine and we have been discussing the issue for the last 2 or 3 years. John is the reigning expert on that law and the CITES convention and just gave a talk about this problem at Healdsburg, which just about all of the luthiers attended. He wrote an article about it in Fretboard Journal last year. Because of these outrages, John, a very good guitarist himself, only travels with a graphite guitar. One of the crazy things that was not mentioned is the seizure of any guitar with any material that looks like bright white clam shell because there is a rare clam that is facing extinction. A lot of guitars have abalone or other shell-like substances, as fretboard markers or rosettes or inlays, that these idiots will claim is clam shell. So it is not just wood that will cause your guitar to be destroyed. Because of what John has told me, Sarah and I did not take a guitar, as we usually do when traveling, to France last Sept., and never will again. John offered to loan us his graphite, but we didn't want to even do that, because of its fret markers. John has a web site that my wife Sarah (a pretty good Ki Ho'alu player, and fluent Hawaiian speaker and writer and singer) designed for him. It is at http://www.johnthomasguitar.com/index.html and he has a blog at the FJ (links page).
Bottom line: There is lots of trouble ahead for people who own guitars and that trouble will happen on a completely random basis. So, you never know when or if you will be hit. Lie low and don't let anyone know what you have. Be careful, very careful, out there.
BTW, I don't know if you remember, but John bought you a beer and you and he had a conversation at one of the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CASS) meetings in Nashville some years ago.
...Reid |
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chunky monkey
Ha`aha`a
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2011 : 06:09:01 AM
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| great to hear stuff from Reid again. |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2011 : 09:54:31 AM
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Hey Chunk, Howzit?
I am still alive, but my presence here may be short lived. Nice of you to note it. I wish it were in person, but I live on the wrong coast. Give my best to everyone. Expect email sometime soon.
Aloha no!
Back to the topic, though...
John told me today that FJ would broadcast a podcast of him speaking on the subject to get the facts out to everyone concerned and clarifying some misconceptions that have arisen. It should be sometime this week. I'll post the URL when I know it will happen.
...Reid |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2011 : 2:44:36 PM
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| Eh, Reid! How's the steel coming? Too bad the distance is in the way of jamming! |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2011 : 2:47:02 PM
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| "We have met the enemy and he is us." |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2011 : 06:31:38 AM
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Hi Kory,
Unfortunately the steel is dormant, as I am. It turns out that what I had thought to be tendinitis, capable of healing, is not what was preventing my use of thumbs (for anything). I have triscaphe osteoarthritis in both wrists. There are 3 little bones in the wrist at the base of the thumb which act as a flexible unit. Mine have no cartilage left between them so they scrape against one another and the nerves and ligaments and blood vessels crammed in there. The Xrays of my wrists show that beautifully :-( The only permanent cure is fusion, and that is not a cure - horrible operation that takes years to heal, if it heals at all. So, I got cortisone shots in both wrists about 9 months ago, that helped, but is only temporary,and I can't do that again. Cortisone is an irritant and will damage me further. I can do most things for a little while, but for instance, I can't hold a steering wheel of a car for more than about an hour before I am in pain, so most of the driving (which we limit nowadays) falls to Sarah. The proximate cause was intense guitar playing/practicing sessions, but the ultimate cause was 40 years of keyboarding and mousing as a computer researcher and developer. The guitar playing wore away the last of the cartilage.
Chris Davis (the fine steel player who gigs with Andy and Claudia) shames me by saying "If Billy Hew Len could play with only one hand, you have no excuses". Yeah, Django, too. But, it is not just my thumb, it is my wrist position, too, that fires up the burning pain. My left hand can move the slide OK, but the right gives mucho trouble.
Out of the music business except as an envious listener and critic.
...Reid |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2011 : 5:00:26 PM
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| Ouch! Eh, Reid, having a good ear can still make you a "master". Remember what the kumu 1st says: Ho'olohe. Ever experiment with how the guitar is tilted? I remeber a picture of Rusty Young playing a steel held like a regular guitar (it was a Mellobar, Slip would know). Life: Use your body and it wears out. Don't use it and it wears out. I'm still going for adjustments to my neck and right ankle to make my left arm (and left pointer finger) to not seize up. A broken right ankle 10 years ago and 30+ years of washing windows paid off. I started glucosamine almost 20 years ago. It helps. I sure wish I could do something more for you than just words. |
Edited by - thumbstruck on 08/31/2011 5:03:54 PM |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
Posted - 09/03/2011 : 07:28:07 AM
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I once had an interesting discussion on a luthier's forum years ago; someone had started a thread about how awful it was that they were using certain woods in their instruments, and everyone pretty much agreed. I am not a luthier, but this is what I said more or less:
"Well then QUIT BUILDING GUITARS if you feel that way - did YOU ever pick the wrong career! If you think the miniscule amount of these trees you use to create the world's most beautiful musical instruments, that are then used to create beautiful music, the greatest creation the human species has ever managed, is a terrible thing - then quit now, down tools and SHUT UP!"
They weren't pleased, and that's too damn bad. I could go on at length about how biodiversity is a gift of dubious value, as easily withdrawn as bestowed by the earth itself without any human intervention, but this is not the place. But I think the real criminals here are the ones who place the life of a tree above the livelihood and cultural expression of a human being. Not to mention that many luthiers now use only recovered/salvaged wood! |
It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
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dr. cookie
Lokahi
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 09/03/2011 : 8:07:07 PM
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Some ukes face the same issues, unfortunately. Wait, what am I saying? I really don't feel unfortunate to have a nice ukulele that shouldn't cross borders . . . it's just simply too bad that it has to stay home.
Thankfully I do have a couple others that might like to take a trip . . . but where does koa fit into the Lacey/CITES regulations? I haven't heard it mentioned in this discussion . . . anyone know?
Don |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2011 : 05:41:45 AM
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Koa is not listed as an endangered species. Koa is OK to travel across borders with. Sarah and I have, repeatedly.
HOWEVER, in Montpellier, France airport, we were stopped by a woman soldier, in camo and red beret, carrying one of those cute, funny French bullpup assault rifles with the giant handle going the entire length of the receiver. She was very abrupt and insistent in her questioning regarding our koa Goodall. It became clear that she thought we were bringing it into France in order to sell it without paying import duties. We finally calmed her down and convinced her that we were just players who carried our own guitar for enjoyment, and were just there to visit a friend (which we were. Damned good thing we could speak French (Sarah is totally fluent). She finally waved us ahead with her assault rifle's muzzle. So, most traveling musicians carry a proof of purchase (receipt) and a US Customs Office certificate saying they owned the guitar. That MAY help a lot, but ladies (not sexist - the male soldiers there could care less) with assault rifles and an attitude can still be scary. YMMV.
...Reid |
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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2011 : 07:28:25 AM
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My Big Island soprano is all koa and from recovered logs at that. Guilt? Over music? Like I also said to the luthiers, if we have to give up on music made with wood and e.g. go all-Kevlar, we might as well pack it in as a species. After all, Kevlar must be bad for something or someone somewhere...now I think of it, everything we do is bad for something or someone somewhere, just like when lions destroy all the cheetah cubs in "their" territory. Like I say, I could go on; radical environmentalism is a great burden but someone's got to carry it.
People who point the muzzles of their weapons at you in the line of duty when you haven't actually done anything wrong and that would have been a very minor offense anyway need to find a different career path Reid. That soldier was an idiot. |
It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
Edited by - Mike Anderson on 09/04/2011 7:02:31 PM |
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basilking
Lokahi
124 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2011 : 6:23:10 PM
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Lotsa spirited discussion of the Gibson raid, CITES & Lacey laws/implementation over on the UMGF [Martin forum] for those interested.
John Thomas & others have offered significant insight into the issues. There are some apparent dilemmas for those of us who might travel with older guitars; my personal experience [so far] has been ok.
One hopes there will be new protocols in the offing to identify/verfiy instruments made loooong before these regulations and allow their transport without hindrance. And, further delineate what exactly is or is not "ok" to take along as one's personal baggage. |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2011 : 11:27:10 AM
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Basil,
Although one hopes, one will be disappointed with 99.9% probability. Neither Lacey nor CITES will be modified, nor will any protocol be created for deciding what is or is not OK, in one's lifetime or that of one's grandchildren. There simply is no money backing the constituency of reasonableness. Politics is what one knows it is. Especially international politics. Invested in any Euro lately?
...Reid |
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Julie H
Ha`aha`a
USA
1206 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2011 : 8:59:54 PM
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Hiya Reid,
So good to see you on this forum again! In a week or two, we will have Shawn Ishimoto play in our area. I was always fascinated by the way he holds and plays his guitar. It looks a lot more ergonomic than the way we normally play. Check him out.
Love and hugs, Julie
Hi Sarah!!! |
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Topic |
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Feds Raid Gibson Guitar to Save Endangered Foreign
