Big CITES news!

Zelja

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I haven't even tried buying & shipping a rosewood equipped guitar guitar since the CITES regulations concerning rosewood came out. I still have too many scars from shipping a guitar with the plastic pearloid fret markers (mistaken for real pearl or abalone) to even attempt to ship something on the actual banned list. It has stopped me from buying guitars from the good folk on this very forum. So, yeah, I am all for finsihed musical instruments being exempt from the ban.

Terrible for the environment? I reckon the environment has far bigger issues than the trade of finished musical instruments, especially used/vintage instruments. The ban on wood for the copious amount of use on furniture is totally welcome. As Al said, it is understandable that the regulators went the broad brush approach initially.
 

adorshki

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It might be a good time for a reminder about the rationale for the "en masse" listing of the remaining unlisted rosewood species back in '17:
History had demonstrated that as soon as a wood species was CITES listed, profiteers began to prey upon the next most accessible species.
It was an ongoing domino-tumble and much time was wasted in getting the next newly pressured subspecies listed, always one step behind the unethical exploitation of the natural resources.
It was finally decided to end the charade of moving on to the next vulnerable species and even the outright misrepresentation of already listed species as unlisted ones.
And now they've got time to discuss the intelligent application of the new listings.
Hopefully it will be a constructive answer to the (relatively) short-term pain the instrument market was experiencing.
 

tommym

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good news for guitar players, terrible news for the environment.

At the end of the day "airplane" will most likely be proven right in his assessment of the situation.

Sustainable Woods, Tree Farms, Recycling, etc.. sound nice in theory, but the realities are quite different.


Tommy
 

airplane

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Alarmist hyperbole.

maybe...

my personal opinion is this: when these certain species are protected, the big brands might start to think about the future and try to find other options.
of course, the amount being used for the guitar market is (probably, i don’t know and most of you too) very small compared to furniture industry and stuff. BUT if you consider how many guitars are made every day by the big names, plus all the bull**** fakes being produced in china, the amount of wood is still huge!

on the other hand, i‘m a purist and i love guitars and rosewood and mahagony.. living in switzerland (not EU) and being surrounded by the european union, my life would get a bit more complicated if i couldn’t travel with my guitars. and buy guitars in germany which is 5 minutes away from me and a awful lot less expensive than switzerland.
 

airplane

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i should add that i‘m a naturalist at heart and i think about sustainability and i work with protected species (animals tho, not plants) on a daily basis so i probably see things a bit differently to most people when it comes to the natural world.
 

mavuser

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i guess they figured now that all cannabis is now completely legal in all of Canada, legalizing a 1982 D-50 probably wasnt such a gamble
 

mavuser

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“Being born in Canada is like hitting the lotto!” -Mike Babcock

guy knew what he was talking about, aye?
 

adorshki

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You know, I always liked Canada.
Hey they gave us Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell, and one of my all-time favorite music videos, "Trail of Broken Hearts":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqWK8CEKrjQ
K+D+Lang+-+Absolute+Torch+and+Twang.jpg


What's not to like?
:friendly_wink:
 

mellowgerman

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Paging Nuuska! Have you heard the good news?!

I will say that I understand and respect there being international legislature and restrictions in protection of different types of wood. However, I don't see any reason why vintage instruments that contain rosewood should undergo any kind of restrictions, as that wood was harvested long ago. That said, I'm not sure there would be any easy way to go about distinguishing and confirming the vintage of an instrument for the corresponding international authorities without the original bill of sale...
 
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Quantum Strummer

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“Being born in Canada is like hitting the lotto!” -Mike Babcock
guy knew what he was talking about, aye?

It's funny that I'm reading this while sitting in the same coffee shop where ~5 years ago I stood in line to order directly in front of Mr. Babcock, who at the time was still coaching the Red Wings. He endured some Wings chitchat from his fellow customers with professional patience. :)

-Dave-
 

Nuuska

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Paging Nuuska! Have you heard the good news?!

I will say that I understand and respect there being international legislature and restrictions in protection of different types of wood. However, I don't see any reason why vintage instruments that contain rosewood should undergo any kind of restrictions, as that wood was harvested long ago. That said, I'm not sure there would be any easy way to go about distinguishing and confirming the vintage of an instrument for the corresponding international authorities without the original bill of sale...


Hello

YES - I have been following this discussion - and if it really comes through next year - then i will be a step closer to S300

I will probably never ever find one like that one you helped me with - at that price anymore - but if your friend changes his mind in future . . .
 

mellowgerman

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Hello

YES - I have been following this discussion - and if it really comes through next year - then i will be a step closer to S300

I will probably never ever find one like that one you helped me with - at that price anymore - but if your friend changes his mind in future . . .


I will keep an eye out for you. The LTG collective will help you find the right one!
 

Nuuska

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I will keep an eye out for you. The LTG collective will help you find the right one!

What is the right S300?

There was this one in USA few months ago - price was 375USD - all mahogany - a player, not collectible. Mellowgerman was helping me to get it, but because of CITES the shipping turned impossible and he found someone else for it.

screen-shot-2018-06-03-at-22-54-20.jpg
 
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