Rosewood an Endangered Species.

Hey Guys, not sure if this is old news or new news, but this was in an email sent to me by a Canadian guy I used to game with.

I have no idea if this will ever be relevant to us here in Oz. But its a bit of a worry.


“I know there are a few guitar players in our group so I thought I'd post this.
We just had my son’s guitar fixed over the holidays and I spoke to the Luthier who worked on it.
He said new border restrictions come into force Jan.2/2017 (this week).

I live near the U.S./Canadian border between Detroit and Windsor and I'm told that due to the new import regulations on rosewood (which is now listed as an endangered wood) that if you were to buy a guitar in the U.S. (example: at Guitar Center) and bring it back across the border to Canada, that you would now need to have a permit in advance or Canadian Customs will confiscate your new guitar due to the rosewood fretboard being an endangered wood.

And if you are traveling and returning to Canada with a used guitar that has rosewood you should get a permit before you leave Canada. “

Canada is a long, long way away from where I will be playing any of my guitars but will keep this in mind, just in case.

I'm thinking that we will most likely be seeing more guitars that use alternative species of woods for fretboards from now on, Gibson switched over to using Granadillo wood for their fretboards on the LP Studio guitar necks that they manufactured in 2010, my LP Studio is a good example, personally, I think it's a pretty cool idea to start using alternative woods, since Rosewood is an endangered species.

Not just Canada. It's a change to the CITES database of endangered woods, and all true rosewoods (Dalbergia genus) are being moved from Appendix III (at risk only in a few certain locations so low regulation) to the Appendix II list (at risk but not threatened with extinction - so higher levels of regulation). Brazilian rosewood is on the Appendix I list (threatened with extinction and so very heavily regulated). Bubinga (another fairly common fancy fretboard wood) is also now on the Appendix II list.

The CITES agreement is subscribed to by almost every country (only a handful don't) so it's going to be a problem for everybody from now on.

It's not a ban on rosewood use, but any rosewood products made after 2nd Jan 2017 will need a CITES permit to cross international borders. The extent to which this affects individual products will depend on the laws of the countries involved. The US is known for being very strict on the subject and I'd imagine Australia is as well. So even the PBG kit rosewood necks will now need a CITES certificate to prove that the rosewood came from a sustainable managed source.

I have no idea whether this means that each guitar will now have to have its own CITES certificate, or whether responsibility stops with the manufacturers and importers. If it's down to individual products, then manufacturers' date codes will need to be very clear or well known, so that you can prove that a 2014 rosewood necked guitar was made in 2014 and not 2017, and so doesn't need a certificate if you take it to another country. But how does this work with luthier and kit- or parts-built guitars?

It looks like India has objected to the general rosewood listing, as has Indonesia (for a limited period), so it may be that some Indian and Indonesian rosewood varieties might be exempt (if only for a short while) - but then there's still the problem of discerning one type of rosewood from another. Or rosewood from another similar looking wood?

Of course it only applies when border crossing, so maybe touring bands will simply have to use maple-necked instruments to be sure of hassle-free touring, or simply have to hire or buy new instruments in every country.

Looks like it's going to be a fun time!

Not. :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DrNomis_44

Gibson switched over to using Granadillo wood for their fretboards on the LP Studio guitar necks that they manufactured in 2010

---

Also known as African Blackwood. That's part of the Dalbergia genus, so I suspect that is now on the Appendix II list as well. A lot of the alternative fretboard woods like Cocobolo, are also of the Dalbergia genus, so will now be on the Appendix II list.

The real danger lays with over zealous Customs officials. A few years back a guy on my knife forums had a knife seized by Customs as it had a deer antler handle. it was VERY expensive knife ($4k hand made and full of exotic materials and semi-precious stones). Anyway the wanker at Customs wanted to take a sample of the antler (destroying the knife) for testing at cost of 2k to the owner or they would destroy (take home) his knife as 2 species of deer were on the CITES list. Both species of deer were so tiny that you couldn't make a knife handle from their tiny antlers, fortunately the knife owner went straight to the Minister and had his knife released from custody. I can see Customs officers having a very nice collection of guitars in the future.

Interesting write-up by a Spanish guitar-making company (don't worry, the PDF's in English) on the CITES changes and its impact. Although it refers to the EU, it generally applies to any other country - though some may have their own import/export regulations going over and above these.

http://thetonebar.co.uk/wp-content/u...ernational.pdf