Fretting over guitar wood can create disharmony

Musicians travelling between Canada and the U. S. used to only have to worry about instrument damage. Now, they have to fret about what kind of wood their guitar is made from. The onus could be on them to prove that nothing was harvested illegally; if they can’t, their instrument could be confiscated.

Such are the unintended consequences of otherwise well- intentioned amendments made four years ago to the Lacey Act, a U. S. law designed to guard against the importation of protected species. The sponsors of the amendment, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, are working on welcome clarifications so that border agents don’t seize instruments made of wood harvested before 2008.

“We’re committed to creating a safe harbour for instruments made before 2008. This law was never intended to apply to those instruments,” said Alexander. “We are also working to give companies more certainty about importing wood, by requiring the federal government to inform importers of foreign wood whether the law applies to them or not.”

Mick Jagger, Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Bryan Adams, Lana Del Ray and Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon are among the musicians who agree with the intent of the law, which ensures that musical instruments are made from sustainable, legally harvested wood.

Responsible musicians are already keenly aware of avoiding guitar picks and pickguards made from endangered tortoise shell, or inlay and trim made from other endangered species. But knowing the exact sourcing of their ebony fretboards is beyond the reasonable expectations of the average owner of an instrument.