[A Zarate (guitarzrule718)]

Dear Henry J.,

I am appalled by the federal raids of the Gibson Guitar Corporation! I feel bad for you and the Gibson employees. I want you to know that I support you and Gibson Guitar Corporation 100% I pray that justice will prevail so that you and your employees can continue to make the guitars that we love.

Strength, courage and wisdom to you,
az

[S Sanchez (trekhead)]

Dear Henry,
Not to put too fine a point on this, but - THIS ROYALY SUCKS!!!
There's many of us that are, apparently, involved in this issue simply by virtue of owning a Gison guitar that may have some of the wood the Feds are looking for. What, if anything can "We The People" do to help resolve this as quickly as possible? I understand the need for laws, rules and regulations, but we should not forget that old saying "Power corrupts, absolute power absolutly corrupts." If ever there was a need for a coordinated response from your clients, fans, associates and others, I think this is it.

In addition, there are many well known artist that again, "by virtue of owning a Gibson guitar" are also implicated in this mess. Maybe they too can lend some of that star power to highlight this injustice. In any case, just let us know. a letter writing campaign to whomever is appropriate might help resolve this issue, or at least stop the Feds from dragging their collective feet.

[S Sill (Scott Sill)]

check out this article on WSJ. This could get scary for us all!

http://online.wsj.co...0471223268.html

The feds need to back off; I never knew Obama was a guitar player because he apparently is trying to build some sweet guitars with all this wood.

[J Luekemeyer (ACELUEK)]

I think Obama plays Fender... He has never had good taste.

[D Thompson (rockstar232007)]

J Luekemeyer (ACELUEK), on 28 August 2011 - 08:39 PM, said:

I think Obama plays Fender... He has never had good taste.

Oh,yeah?

[G De Blasio (LtKojak)]

Gerorge Gruhn published somewhere an article after the amendement of 1988 warning about the consequences of such bad piece of legislation.

He envisioned what's happening to Gibson now and illustrated as worst-case-scenario-living-nightmare.

Then, he was laughing stock for a little while... now he may be shaking his head in disbelief saying "I TOLD YA".

Today, you buy a Gibson and can become a criminal, as it's not costumary to sell instruments with a certificate of legal origin of its parts.

With this legislation, a fed can come to your home and confiscate your guitar with the suspect it's been made with illegally obtained raw materials and can indefinately withhold the instrument until YOU present the CERTIFICATES of origin... which BTW you can't obtain because the instrument's been confiscated.

Buy a Gibson, become a criminal. Only in America, folks!

Land of the free? Yeah, land of the IMPUNISHED, FREE goverment harassment!

It's really nice to see how your taxpayer dollars are being used for a nobel cause...

As an Italian living in Italy, I've seen many examples of BAD, REALLY BAD legislation... but I must admit that this one takes the cake. It goes FAR BEYOND GROTESQUE.

Henry, I'm with you in this one. I hope that all those shark lawyers you've got on retain help you to regain the control over your business, before all the families of the workers have to suffer.

[S Bryant (stageman20)]

This is outrageous that Gibson is not even being told what charges they may have. Don't they have the right to a fair trial? There is more important things to worry about than partially unfinished fingerboards being imported to the US. This looks embarrassing, juvenile, and petty of the U.S. Government that they would prioritize and spend what little money the country has left to fund the raid on a company that is HELPING the economy of the U.S. It's no shock that the states is falling apart if this is what they count a a threat. I would play a protest song but I might get thrown in jail for playing a Gibson, lol.

[S Sanchez (trekhead)]

Please write to your legislators. Most of them don't know what's going on. They also don't understand the consequences of this poor legislation. I heard too many actually say, "If i had know that was in there I never would have voted for it," totally ignoring that it's their job to read and consider the ramifications of the laws they are passing (and it's all of them - regardless of party affiliation). At first, it may not make a difference, but once they recieve a few thousand letters all regarding the same issue, they will take notice. This is the kind of issue all of them can jump on board on, but they have to be made aware what's going on. If we can find the time to read this forum and write our thoughts, we can find the time to write to our legislators. I've already done so, but one letter isn't going to do anything - this needs to be a unified effort.

[A Zarate (guitarzrule718)]

Here's another great commentary:

http://www.naturalne...armed_raid.html

[D Bighorn (LesPaulNut)]

Just think how much extra support you'd have with more smaller dealers!!!

I think it stinks, I really do, but when it comes to bullying, you've bullied small dealers and set ridiculous levels of stocking plans for stores to qualify for a Gibson dealership based on $ alone.. Stores that couldn't afford to and have suffered massively, some even gone bump!

Please don't talk about bullying Henry now that the shoe is on the other foot.

[J Linger (JerryL4)]

I have signed the petition that Gibson emailed to me today. Additionally, I have contacted my US House Reps, my Senators, and SOH John Boehner. This is an appalling use of a police state against a successful business. At a time when the administration can't solve the "jobs problem," they have no reason to be interested in economy-destroying actions like this. All Gibson Guitar owners/players should be contacting Washington to end this abuse.