Paul Haggis & Jenn Ladd of Bluedog Guitars
out front on it and just warning us
that there were going to be changes
to the models and we’ve had certain
models being hung up in delivery,
and it might just be as simple as a
faceplate,” Haggis continues. “We’ve
had great success with [Taylor’s]
eight-string baritone guitars and
the only rosewood on those is the
faceplate because it’s a mahogany
top, Tasmanian blackwood back and
sides, and everything else is legit. So
they’re hung up now over what to
do with the faceplate. A few models
they warned us ahead of time would
be discontinued. They had rosewood
on the GS Minis and things like that
and they’re moving to substitute
woods across the board.”
Because the CITES regulations
apply to any amount of restricted
wood, some builders, such as Vir-
ginia-based boutique brand Huss &
Dalton Guitar Company, are having
to decide what is worth the hassle.
“They’ve always used Honduran
rosewood for their bridge plate,”
explains Haggis. “That’s it – just the
bridge plate and so now they’re
[wondering,] ‘Do we change what
has been a signature building point
for us?’ They’re really up front about
declaring everything and who it’s
going to and even the experienced
luthier looking inside with the proper
tools would have to know how a
maple bridge plate looks different
than a rosewood bridge plate. But
the builders themselves, they’re
having to specify the actual weight
of any material that’s going onto a
guitar, because the whole idea is if
they’ve pre-registered any woods
supply they’re getting, then they
have to account for anything they’re
sending out, which is basic supply
management – wood in, wood out.
We’ve seen builders having to list on
a specific form, if it’s a guitar going
into the U.S., ‘two pieces for the back,
two pieces for the sides, four pieces
for the binding,’ and then the weight
of the actual material. So it’s very
onerous for the builders and we’re
talking pages of paperwork.”
So for Canadian MI retailers, the
biggest hassle comes with getting
CITES permits from Environment
Canada for the products they had
in-store prior to Jan. 2, 2017. Products
that retailers have and will receive
from their suppliers after Jan. 2 nd
should be accompanied by a CITES
certificate, which the retailer will
then repackage with the product if
they resell that item outside of Cana-
da. All CITES permits must be issued
before the item is exported and will
not be issued retroactively. The per-
mit forms can be obtained through
the Environment & Climate Change
Canada website at
www.ec.gc.ca/cites.
“We had to send them a listing
of everything we had and then they
gave us a number of permits to be
used when we then re-exported.
So a re-export certificate is what
we have in-hand and I’m happy to
say we’ve been able to use them
successfully in sending the guitars
back into the States that were orig-
inally built there,” explains Haggis.
“It was lengthy, but you know, I feel
for Environment Canada. They’ve
done a stellar job reacting to the
volume of questions that must be
coming at them. We were just patient
and fortunately we were able to
get really good examples from our
suppliers of what we have in terms of
records and specifications as per the
instruments. So there is some trust in-
volved just to make it all run smooth-
ly and so far it’s working well.”
As mentioned, the manufac-
turer should include a certificate
for exporting (if made in Canada)
or re-exporting (if made outside of
Canada) with every new product
sent to Canadian retailers. Where
the new CITES regulation may be-
come the largest hassle for retailers
is with the international sale of
used and vintage instruments. If a
Canadian retailer brings in a used
or vintage instrument after they’ve
already obtained the permits for all
their pre-Jan. 2, 2017 inventory, then
they need to go through the permit
process again for that single vintage
item if they plan to