Good Vibrations, Strings Attached: the Political Ecology of the Guitar

Sociology and Anthropology 4(5): 431-438, 2016 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/sa.2016.040514 Good Vibrations, Strings Attached: The Political Ecology of the Guitar James B. Greenberg Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, USA Copyright©2016 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract This article examines the guitar trade (i.e. learn their key details. Here, I shall discuss two sets of these: making, collecting and dealing) to examine the political The Convention on International Trade in Endangered ecology of the guitar from forests to construction: delving Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (hereafter, CITES), and the both into its environmental impacts and attempts to protect U.S. Government’s Lacey Act, enforced by the United States endangered species, it focuses on the impact of two pieces of Fish and Wildlife Service (hereafter, USFWS). legislation have on guitar making, the international guitar trade, and guitar ownership: the Convention on International Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); and the Lacey Act Amendments of 2008. In so CITES lists approximately 30,000 species of plants and doing, it examines the underlying problems (deforestation, animals in three appendices, depending on threat [1]. endangered species, illicit trade in wood, and unfair trade Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction. advantages) that these pieces of legislation were meant to Appendix II “includes species not necessarily threatened address; and the politicization of these efforts that has the US with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in Congress deadlocked. This account also analyzes the order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.” practical difficulties that legal compliance presents, and [2] Appendix III “contains species that are protected in at finally examines what alternatives may exist. least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade.” [3] The some 1,200 Keywords Political Ecology, Deforestation, CITES, threatened species listed in Appendix I require special Illegal Wood Trade, Endangered Species, Lacey Act, Unfair CITES permits to import or export. [4] What listing in Trade Appendix I may be illustrated with Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) which owing to its tonal qualities and great beauty had been the first choice for the back and sides of fine classical guitars. In 1992, Brazilian rosewood was 1. Political Ecology of the Guitar listed in Appendix I. This meant that any guitar made with any Dalbergia nigra after 1992 could not be imported or Fine guitars are made with a variety of different woods exported without a CITES permit-which would only be sourced from throughout the world-some species of which issued if it could be proven that the wood utilized in making are comparatively common and plentiful; others which are it had been harvested prior to 1992. exotic, rare, precious, and even endangered. While the Spanish guitar makers were hit particularly hard by this former category includes spruce and cedar used for listing. Because woods must be dried under controlled soundboards; the later category is comprised largely of conditions over many years before they can be used, or it tropical hardwoods, such as ebony, mahogany, and may crack, luthiers not only commonly bought supplies of rosewoods. Typically, these woods flow from forests into the wood many years in advance of use, but also believing that hands of guitar makers through long commodity chains that wood held its value even better than money, they considered include loggers, local buyers, mills, middlemen, wholesalers, wood to be form of long-term savings. The best bargains on and exotic wood merchants. Because many of these species wood were had by recycling wood from old furniture or by are threatened or endangered environmental concerns have buying wood from other makers who either needed cash or given rise to not only to national laws governing their were being sold after their death by their relatives. exploitation, but to international conventions and agreements Unfortunately, this wood was rarely documented. Even if governing their import and export. Those engaged in import they it had purchased from wood dealers, few makers kept or export of guitars must comply with these regulations and receipts for more than a few years. Following the listing of 432 Good Vibrations, Strings Attached: The Political Ecology of the Guitar Brazilian rosewood on Appendix I, although there had been a wild more than 100 years ago, must provide either short period during which people could register their wood, documentation or expert appraisals of the instrument’s age. most makers were either unaware of this, or for a variety or [7] reasons chose not to so. The upshot was Dalbergia nigra As difficult as all this may sound, these regulations only listing on Appendix 1, caught many makers with stock-piles describe the US side. For example, as one luthier from Spain of unregistered Brazilian rosewood that they could no longer explained who had to obtain CITES documents for on the legally export. However, as listing in Appendix I only antique guitar made in Granada in 1823 that he restored for a applied to exports, makers still could use their Brazilian client overseas that first he had to go to the office that rosewood to make guitars; these could only be sold handles CITES to obtain the proper forms. As the guitar was domestically. over 100 years old, it qualified for Antique Musical As one might expect, games were played. Long before Instrument Certificate of Exemption. He filled out the forms. Dalbergia nigra was listed in Appendix I, because so many However, as an antique guitar also needed a letter woods both in the Dalbergia family as well as unrelated authenticating its age, so it had to be inspected by an species look very similar to Brazilian rosewood, many of approved expert. These documents then had to be sent to a these look-a-likes were passed off as true Dalbergia nigra. regional office for approval; and, then forwarded to Spanish Even experts occasionally could be fooled, as the differences Ministry of Antiquities for their sign off that the guitar was between some species can only be discerned under the not a national treasure, and so was eligible for export. The microscope, and with closely related species may require process involved numerous visits to local offices, petitions to chemical or DNA testing. The export requirements for the central office, and so took over three months. CITES permits not so strangely encouraged makers to do just The issue of restoration can be a tricky business. This the opposite, and call genuine Dalbergia nigra one of these guitar required replacing a strip of the top (made of spruce), other woods. Enforcement in Spain was fairly lax up prior to but had it involved Brazilian rosewood, adding even a bit of 2002 when one very well-known builder in Madrid was new dalbergia nigra could have invalidated the claim to the caught reusing the same permit for the exportation of many CITES antique exemption. As this was explained to me had guitars. So, the Guardia Civil (Spain’s national police) began this 1,823 guitar been missing its ivory nut, if the luthier a two-year long investigation, and in October 2004, raided were to replace it with a piece of 10,000 year old mammoth twenty-one guitar builder’s workshops in Madrid and seized ivory, under CITES the moment the luthier fashioned it into thirty-three tons of Dalbergia Nigra. Among the upshots of a new nut, legally the mammoth ivory became a new piece of this crackdown, as one representative of the major wood ivory- and not only illegible for a permit, but grounds for import companies in Spain explained to me is that although confiscation. their stocks of Dalbergia Nigra had been legally declared; and, despite having been given CITES certificates for them, The Lacey Act nevertheless, their stocks of Dalbergia Nigra, were Aside from customs declarations, CITES permits had been embargoed. Not because they had done anything wrong, but the principle paperwork that guitar importers routinely faced. because authorities had no way to guarantee that their legal Because of the time-consuming nature of obtaining CITES stocks could not be sold under the table and replaced by permits, many guitar dealers avoid importing guitars made undocumented wood still circulating in the black market. with woods that required these permits unless the seller can Although this wood still legally belongs to them, but they readily provide them. In 2008, Congress amended the Lacey cannot sell it, or even move it from one part of their Act of 1900 that was originally passed during the McKinley warehouse to another without permission, which has not administration as part of an effort to protect wildlife from been forthcoming. poachers. The Lacey Act prohibits trade in any wildlife, fish, Faced with work involved to obtain CITES permits-guitar and plants that are illegally taken, possessed, transported, or collectors and dealers have become increasingly leery of sold. Although the Lacey Act was originally intended for use purchasing any guitar made with any dalbergia nigra within the United States to combat the interstate market for components. While one might think that guitars made with such species, the 2008 amendments expanded its scope not Brazilian rosewood prior to 1992 would not fall under its only to be international, but also to include all the species regulations, this is only partially true. The USFWS makes listed in CITES and in the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

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