DDR4LYF wrote
Why is it not legal anymore?
There are laws that govern what materials may be moved across the borders of the USA (and other countries - a while back I was looking at buying a particular guitar from a store in the UK and they told me, before I'd got around to asking, "don't worry, we have certification for the Brazilian rosewood on our instruments"). This is to combat the trade in endangered species (flora and fauna). There are different schedules of materials. In some cases worked material may be traded but not unworked. In some cases there is an exemption if you can show (and the onus is on you) that the wood was felled before a certain date.
Gibson's factories were raided last year (IIRC) for illegal woods (from Madgascar, where the indigenous forests are disappearing rapidly).
These laws have implications for the community of musicians (not just guitarists). Most good violin bows, for example, are made from Pernambuco, a wood now restricted by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). Redwood (seqouia) is already controlled to some degree (you can't feel a tree, you can use wood from a tree that can be proven to have fallen from natural causes). Brazilain rosewood is now under fairly tight control (see above) and the CF Martin company are now buying back old Martins (certain years and models) because this is the easiest way for them to get legal Brazilian rosewood. Some mahoganies are now listed.
I have been looking at getting myself a couple of bone saddles from a company in the USA. They may sell me bone (cow bone) but not ivory. Even though the ivory they have has certification to show that it was harvested before a certain date, and thus was not illegally imported, they may not export.
These laws are becoming more widley implemented and more complex and restrictive. There are various schools of thought on these laws and how desirable and/or effective they are. I don't want to go into those issues here. The fact is these laws exist, and they have implications for guitarist and so we should at least be aware that they do exist and that there are implications.
