Official Luthiers Forum!

Lance, can you give us the price for a set of those fossile pins?

John

Lance,

I realize that you are not taking this guitar to the show. For future reference, yes I am sure. When you deal with a government agency the first 2 words you will hear are "show me", as in "I want paperwork". I have lots of FWI tusks sitting in my old cooler and I have no positive way of telling what is fossilized and what is not other than knowing my sources. Color is a good indication but probably not foolproof as far as the government is concerned. I get paperwork on the larger tusks I buy if I request, but it only tells me the ivorys origin, not age. If the tusk is light in color, there is no positive way to tell the diference between fresh, (or white). and pre CITES,( or FWI). Because of that you do need paperwork to transport in and out of the US AND other countries. If you leave it in the US, you are OK. If you want to transport in or out of country you need the paperwork to be safe. They don't check everyone but if you are stopped and questioned you will need the paperwork. Elephant and Mammoth have different grain so even if you are hasseled you can usually figure it out with a knowledgeble customs agent, although it can take some time. Elephant needs papers, Mammoth can be transported and bought/sold in and outside of US.

Sorry if I go a bit overboard on this but one of the reasons I started palying with guitars is because I was tired of dealing with government paperwork over the last 25 years. Once you are in their system it is hard to get out and it eats up a tremendos amount of time that I would prefer to spend making a guitar.

Tim