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I spotted this on Ebay and thought it was an interesting interpretation of the regulations pertaining to Honduras Mahogany.

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NOTE: I have opened this item up to international bidding. How?, For Honduran mahogany ONLY, CITES allow unrestricted international shipment of manufactured goods like a acoustic guitar components. If this item is won by an international bidder it will be processed into a Dreadnought guitar set. I will trim it to with in 1/4in of white outline showed and the sides will be profiled (cut down) to a standard D size.
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Any comments?

Cheers

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Bogus claim that could get the wood confiscated. An acoustic "guitar" back/side set is considered veneer regardless of where it's "trimmed". Finished goods like furniture or guitars are accepted from the CITES rule, but veneer, lumber and logs are not.

I think Larry's right. Check out the US Fisheries and Wildlife website:

http://www.fws.gov/citestimber/mahogany/mahoganyimpexp.html

Mahogany cut to shape of a guitar back and sides doesnt constitute a finished product and thus doesn't conform with CITES restrictions on export from the US.

So where is the line drawn? Is a fretboard lumber? What if it's unslotted but radiused? What if it's just tapered? Would Honduran be exportable if I made it into a guitar neck? How about a neck blank with just a 2D profile cut onto it?

These restrictions lead to weird things. Like the fact that I buy my EIRW lumber as inch-thick mouldings because of the export restrictions in India. I have to joint off 1/8" of crown moulding profile from all of it.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Bob, those questions are best asked of the Canada authorities. While CITES establishes guidelines each country makes it's own rules on import/export. Keep in mind that meeting one countries export rule, buying a permit and certificates does not mean the item will be received legally at the import border. Always best to check rules for both export and import destinations.

http://www.cites.ec.gc.ca/listedecontrole/index.cfm?lang=e&f useaction=species.swDetailedInfo&code=7624

I was told by "the authorities" that rough machined guitar parts would not be restricted.   I was looking into CNC carving of mahogany neck blanks in the Dominican Republic where there are fairly large quantities of short lengths of both Honduras and Santo Domingo (aka Cuban) mahogany. The shorts are mill ends and hardly ever make it up to North America because they are too much trouble to handle. The big mahogany importers like big sticks that then can move around with their big forklifts.