I for one would like to think that especially lute players would be people who have the capacity to think and consequently have due respect for our environment. Of course there are existing lutes which were being built using expensive materials like ebony, ivory and such. These materials did not necessarily produce a better instrument, just a more expensive one. In ordinary terms a show off. The funny thing is that of the 20 odd lutes that I own and of the 52 lutes I have constructed myself The best ones were always made out of locally grown woods such as maple, cherry, prune, yew, spruce, apple, pear, and spruce and even elm which are neither scarce nor expensive.(perhaps nowadays excepting yew) I have used various Brazilian rosewoods for the backs in the past and I have found them to produce good lutes but nowhere near the pliable, adaptable sound of simple lutes made of good quality home grown materials. With my preferred lutes I would not have had any problems whatsoever crossing whatever border. Lucky me. Op 27 aug 2011, om 22:59 heeft [email protected] het volgende geschreven:
> Howard, David, Stephen, > One would hope that overzealous- "draconian, inflexible enforcement..." > doesn't impact any of our beloved & highly esteemed luthiers. Gibson > Guitars may have deeper- much deeper- pockets than the average > luthier-so I thought this article was of some concern; ( "United Breaks > Guitars", - it also breaks lutes.) But as a lute list, we are of course > well advised not to veer too far off topic- especially if discussions > are in danger of falling into the hopeless deep end of politics. > Apologies if my link led to any of that. (Can't be too careful these > days.) -Dan > __________________________________________________________________ > > From: "David Smith" <[email protected]> > To: "howard posner" <[email protected]> > Cc: "Lute List" <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 12:04:11 PM > Subject: [LUTE] Re: An article from today's Wall Street Journal > Thank you! > regards > David > Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 27, 2011, at 10:10 AM, howard posner <[email protected]> > wrote: >> On Aug 27, 2011, at 7:12 AM, Stephen Stubbs wrote: >> >>> Just another example of the Social Justice experiment still going on > in USA. >>> >>> Basically, >>> >>> Corporations are Bad. >>> Social Justice is Good. >>> >>> The last major Social Justice experiment made it all the way into > the USA Constitution as the 18th Amendment, (the Prohibition Amendment > making it very difficult to obtain alcoholic beverages legally) on > January 17, 1920. >>> >>> It took the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933 to repeal the 18th > Amendment. >>> >>> I don't expect the irrational experiments being done by the current > Attorney General of the USA (Eric Holder) to continue after the next > President and Congress take office in January 2013. >>> "The Other" Stephen Stubbs >>> Champaign, IL >> >> >> I hate to burst your bubble when you've obviously been saving up this > little Republican bumper sticker for the right moment to plaster it on > the lute list, but you got the subject wrong: this is about actions to > enforce an international treaty by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service > (Interior Department) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement > (Department of Homeland Security). It's the second time in a couple of > years that Gibson has been raided on suspicion of using wood from > protected species. >> >> It has nothing to do with the Attorney General, the Democratic Party, > corporations, or social justice (neither did Prohibition, which was an > attempt to enforce morality; social justice legislation would be > something like the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which is still in effect, > even in rural Illinois, regardless of whether it's considered untoward > government interference to tell a business that it can't exclude > customers because of their skin color). >> >> The documentation issue is a difficult one. On the one hand, > draconian, inflexible enforcement is unfair. On the other hand, if > enforcement authorities don't demand rigorous documentation it's far > too easy to smuggle illegal substances. This would defeat the purpose > of environmental protection treaties, which are understood to be > important by everyone in the world except members of the Republican > Party in the USA. I have owned pre-CITES instruments made of woods > that have since been protected (my charango made of elephant-tusk > ivory, strung with Barbary Sheep gut, in an rhinoceros-skin case lined > with otter fur, comes to mind). In the course of trying to sell a > rosewood instrument a few months ago I made a point of telling > potential buyers there could be problems taking it across borders. A > couple of overseas buyers expressed interest and then disappeared; I > don't whether the CITES problems scared them away. Sometimes we are > inconvenienced by concerns (such as biod! > iv! >> ersity and deforestation) more important than our own little > problems. >> >> Anyway, if you really needed to offer an off-topic political rant, > you should have saved it for a time when it was actually a propos of > the subject. I'm going back to my morning coffee. You enjoy your tea > party. >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- >
