American luthiers: how is the BRW policy change going to affect you?

[ecguitar44]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

The magic question is, How does one know which piece(s) of wood the documentation refers to?

Scout's honor?

Pinky swear?

[Tim McKnight]

Originally Posted by fitness1

Or a rental program - don't see this listed as a no-no either.....

That's genius Todd!

[SongwriterFan]

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

I guess there will be a lot of family members receiving some reeeeeely nice guitars in the not so distant future.

Are you adopting?

I can always hide some of them there guitars in Texas for ya.

[BBWW]

This is just messed up.

[BBWW]

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

B_U_M_M_E_R ... is all I can say at this point. I guess there will be a lot of family members receiving some reeeeeely nice guitars in the not so distant future. Perhaps we should start a bartering program? I did not see that mentioned ... as being outlawed ... YET!

Tim remember that discussion we had about the wood in my guitar…maybe it was African Blackwood!

[tadol]

The original question was how this would affect the landscape of american lutherie. Pretty minimally, I think. This has been on the books and coming down the pipe for over 20 years now - so no surprises for anyone there. Near identical rules have been in place in europe for some time, and there are still luthiers busy working over there. Anyone who has invested alot of money in braz rw should be on top of all this - just like anyone who invests alot of money in anything. This is a harbinger of what our future holds with many materials that are scarce, or rare, or endangered, and we all need to figure out how we're going to make it work. And anyone who doesn't want to deal with it all can choose from many hundreds of other materials to build with -

I certainly am not trying to sound holier in this debate - I am just as concerned as many others, since I have 2 braz rw guitars, one that I know I can't get any docs on since its a handbuilt, older and the builder is out of biz, and one that I intend to follow up with a question for the small shop to see if they've gotten any plan together to assist past purchasers of their braz instruments a way to obtain some kind of documentation. I expect that those of us that bought second hand may have some additional costs to obtain this, and I also expect that guitars with this documentation will sell for more than those without. This may just become a problem for my estate - someday -

In truth, I think Bruce has the best question - how are they going to link the documentation to sets, boards, reclaimed material, or even logs, that don't have serial numbers or unique identifiers? And what kind of paperwork will a buyer need to get to protect their investment in a new build? I guess I'd think the luthier community would be best off putting a plan together so we as players could offer our support in getting the government to approve it, rather than trying to undo something poorly developed they'll put in place.

[CoolerKing]

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

B_U_M_M_E_R ... is all I can say at this point. I guess there will be a lot of family members receiving some reeeeeely nice guitars in the not so distant future. Perhaps we should start a bartering program? I did not see that mentioned ... as being outlawed ... YET!

That's actually a pretty good idea.

[Tim McKnight]

Originally Posted by SongwriterFan

Are you adopting?

I can always hide some of them there guitars in Texas for ya.

I thought we already did? Perhaps you just lost the paperwork?

[Tim McKnight]

Originally Posted by BBWW

Tim remember that discussion we had about the wood in my guitar…maybe it was African Blackwood!

Since my memory is fading faster than I care to admit, I'll take your word for it.

[JoeCharter]

BRW stands for Belizean rosewood.

[Alan Carruth]

The problem of linking the certified wood to the guitar is not such a big issue. As I understand it, you get a certificate that covers the wood you expect to use within the next three years. This will be so many sets; let's say ten for purposes of discussion. You get to sell ten BRW guitars in the next three years. If you want to sell more, you need another certificate. In theory, I suppose, you could certify some BRW that was impossible to build with, and then make the actual guitars from other sets of wood. If you think the F&WS is really credulous, you might try using the same ten sets of lousy wood to get the next certificate. Maybe you'll even get away with it. Wanna roll the dice?

[Bruce Sexauer]

Alan, who owns ten sets of lousy BRW? Anyway, you made my point, thank you.

This is as good a time as any to admit that the "Stumpwood" is not, and never was Dalbergia nigra. Looks like it, but doesn't smell like it at all. Those of you have have worked actual BRW know what I'm talking about. I call this stuff South American Brownwood, and if you search the forum for that you will see that I have been doing that for some time. It is very stable, makes great guitars, and is rare as can be, especially quartersawn like most of mine, and I'll continue to offer it as a great upgrade.

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

Alan, who owns ten sets of lousy BRW? Anyway, you made my point, thank you.

This is as good a time as any to admit that the "Stumpwood" is not, and never was Dalbergia nigra. Looks like it, but doesn't smell like it at all. Those of you have have worked actual BRW know what I'm talking about. I call this stuff South American Brownwood, and if you search the forum for that you will see that I have been doing that for some time. It is very stable, makes great guitars, and is rare as can be, especially quartersawn like most of mine, and I'll continue to offer it as a great upgrade.

Yeah, I've got a guitar coming with some "tropical brownwood", or something like that.

[MBE]

Originally Posted by Larry Pattis

Yeah, I've got a guitar coming with some "tropical brownwood", or something like that.

"Crafted with select tropical hardwoods."

[BBWW]

Does it only have to "Look" like BRW to be confiscated and the burden of proof as to what it is falls on the owner? If the label says "Tropical Brownwood" and they say it's Brazilian. You still have a problem.