Wayne,

Quote:

How can I or anybody document these instruments?



You can’t, and neither can the manufacturer. That’s the point. So if you decided to spend the winter traveling abroad with one of your 12 strings, you’d be risking losing your guitar and facing fines or jail time for violation of the Lacey Act.

It wouldn’t take a conviction, …just an accusation. You could probably win in court since you have original documents, but the legal fees would be more than the guitar is worth.

It’s easy to poo poo this type of statement, but if someone had said you’d be fined $90,000 for raising $200 worth of rabbits over the period of a year because you didn’t have a federal license to raise rabbits, …… we would have probably poo poo’d that too.

What really frustrates me is there’s so many people, even on this forum, who are willing to defend ridiculous laws that prosecute American citizens and companies for violation of laws in other countries. Especially when the other country isn’t even pushing for prosecution, as in the Gibson case.

This country was founded on the principle of taking the government to task, especially when it’s wrong. Just because there’s a law against something doesn’t make it wrong. Just illegal.

We’d all probably be surprised at how many laws we’ve broken without even knowing it. Even in our bedrooms! LOL. But ignorance is no excuse!

Bob
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http://soundcloud.com/bobcflatpicke/music-in-the-mountains