UK ban on trade in ivory in force from 6th June 2022

[jazzyvee]

Even though i’m affected by this new law, i am supportive of the reasons behind the amendment. Though it is inconvenient and possibly an expensive thing to fix.
I guess on the plus side the guitar has an added security factor in that, if it was ever stolen and sold on, as well as being fined for theft and receiving stolen goods, both are facing a £250,000 fine and up to £5 years in prison each. Ouch what a hot potato!!!

[jazzyvee]

I have potentially found a couple of inlay artistes to visit to see what they could do.  One guy said he thinks it would be about 2 hours work so hopefully I can find time to take it for him to look at first to see what he would do if I gave him the job. After I have seen a few other inlay artistes I will decide.
Any suggestions for materials other than ivory for the teeth.  I know there is synthetic ivory but I think i'd rather have something that has no reference to the name ivory.

I've been playing this guitar almost every day since I posted this thread as I have 3 guitar sets under my fingers for some festival gigs.

[mica]

Silver is always a good choice!

[keith_h]

How about a material that picks up some of the colors in the scales? From the photos some of the whiter and grey pieces look like they would give have good contrast without being too dark.

[lbpesq]

I would imagine teeth and claws could be replaced with some nice white/cream MOP that would still look good.

Bill, tgo

[jazzyvee]

I'm booked in for Saturday morning for an assessement. Can i be confident that the ivory is the only CITES restricted items on the guitar?

[jazzyvee]

That being said, we are providing the customer with photos of the ivory being removed, the synthetic ivory being inlaid, and a sample of the synthetic ivory for comparison/testing if needed.

I think I will ask for that to be done when the time comes also just to be cautious.

[mica]

Cocobolo is on Appendix II but as lumber. As a finished product it should be exempt.

[jazzyvee]

Thanks Mica.

[jazzyvee]

I have just got back from the inlay guy and he said he could do the work but has a few concerns.

• Some of the claw inlays are really close to the edge of the fretboard and there is a danger of losing the ebony at those places
• A couple of the inlays are really close to, or seem to go  under the frets which means they may need to be removed and reseated without damaging the rest of the inlays.

So he has taken a few photos and will let me know what he thinks he can do to avoid affecting the fretboard negatively.
One of his suggestions was to see if Alembic could make another fretboard with CITES friendly materials. But I am sure that would be a prohibitively expensive option especially since this one has leds too. Maybe mica could PM me a guide price for that option.
Also, removing the existing fretboard and replacing with a plain ebony is another option, however I expect it could reduce the intrinsic value significantly as the inlays are what makes it uniquely special.

[jazzyvee]

I went to a local guitar show today and found a small guitar making business and had a long chat with the owner about removing the ivory and he is confident to do it with no detriment to the guitar. I had to pop home to get it for him to check out as they are not local to me and he was able to make better assessment. So all being well it should be done sometime towards the middle of the year. He is thinking of replacing with mother of pearl.

[lbpesq]

The latest is that African Mahogany was just added to the Cites list.

Bill, tgo

[jazzyvee]

I've found a luthier now to remove the ivory from this guitar and replace it with something else. It's a Luthier calked Crimson guitars who and way down in Dorset the south west of the country. I had a long chat with him at a guitar show yesterday. One of my friends is an endorsee for them which helped my decision making, plus i have seen many of his youtube videos over the years on many aspects of guitar making and setups etc. Since it's a rare guitar he asked if he could video the whole process for their youtube channel. I said yes since that would be an asset to prove the ivory has been removed. I just need to decide on what material to replace the ivory with. The plan is to take the guitar to him this afternoon when they finish at the guitar show which is fairly close to where i live and it could be done really quickly. Will keep you filled in on how it progresses.


https://www.youtube.com/@CrimsonCustomGuitars/videos

[pauldo]

Looks like a professional outfit and the video documentation will be nice for verification.

[edwardofhuncote]

So this guy walks into my shop, and says; "hey buddy, whudduh you charge to de-claw a dragon...?" 🤯🤑😄