Rosewood Restrictions

Can any maker or dealer share their experiences with this new regulation so far? Has any shipment of wood or finished instruments been stopped, or even confiscated? Can papers be acquired for any instrument, even the ones that are already in stock? With Rosewood being used for fretboards and bridges on a wide range of ukes, from cheap Chinese imports up to the Hawaiian K brands, is it impossible now to have such an instrument shipped across international borders? Can dealers in Canada or Europe still import brands like Kala, Pono, or Kanilea, or are their businesses doomed (or forced to restrict themselves to instruments without Rosewood)? Are companies changing their models to other woods like Ebony (which may end up on that same list even faster with this measure)?

I will fill you in on our recent experiences. Last year we filed for a rosewood permit compiled of hundreds of models from various brands. Took many hours to list all the species and weights and estimate instruments being built through the year for our master file.

Then as we aited for that, earlier this year, all of our international shipments got pulled one day, not because of rosewood, but because of shell. Pearl/ abalone is not endangered, but apparently it still requires a permit of $93 per shipment. Oddly, I learned this after well over 5,000 international ukulele shipments in the last 5 years. So they gave me a warning and said next time the fine would be $5,000-$25,000. Funny but to get the permit you just go onto the F&W website, tell them what you’re shipping, and pay with your credit card. No real regulating to it. But we are doing that now on some instruments without charging the customer.

Even more odd is that is what I next found out from F&W. If an instrument has rosewood and shell, beyond the rosewood permit, the shell permit will double to $186, simply because it has rosewood, even with the rosewood permit.

Now there is an exemption you can file for that allows a small business to ship shell without needing a permit. Stipulation is that you can not ever ship any products on cites international. So no rosewood can ever ship international. So weird these rules, anyway…

Given this new information we applied for that and coordinated with most of our suppliers to make models without rosewood. Some of them had already been planning this. Kanile’a, KoAloha, Pono, and Kala are some of the main manufacturers working with us to replace or amend their instruments to have the main models available without rosewood. Mostly ebony, Kala will be using walnut on many import models. These would not require any permits.

For many makers this will not be such a big deal. For us it’s been really hard to navigate and has taken a large portion of our business for the time being. It’s a shame that they didn’t give the industry more time to adjust before putting this law into affect, but it will start to get easier. That is, until ebony joins the list….

I'm all for regulation environmental protection. Unfortunately this blanket regulation doesn't address the main problems. Corruption within third world government agencies will not slow and neither will the demand for rosewood furniture in these Chinese markets that are buying logs by the minute. But I can’t solve the worlds problems. I’ll try my best to follow the rules and still maintain our business with great customers around the world.
 
Andrew, does this mean that builders should avoid MOP markers?
 
I think we will have exemption soon for shell permits. But if you plan on using rosewood and being able to ship internationally you might want to look at alternate resources. Otherwise beyond the rosewood permit, the shell permit will be $186 more. But you can always take your chances and play stupid. I'm not sure if it's just our local F&W or if they are cracking down nation wide. Maybe environmental agencies are trying to show profitability at this point in fear of elimination, idk. We've probably shipped 10,000 ukes with shell internationally and just got schooled on this a few months ago.
 
I've got one coming to you so I won't use MOP on that.
 
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I've got one coming to you so I won't use MOP on that.


hey David use Andrew as your shipping agent....not sure if this possible but you got to get your ukes overseas..huge market there.....:) good luck but I just remembered you are a Lawyer...so you the can read and understand the rules too....
 
hey David use Andrew as your shipping agent....not sure if this possible but you got to get your ukes overseas..huge market there.....:) good luck but I just remembered you are a Lawyer...so you the can read and understand the rules too....

You're right, Len. Andrew has great access to the market. As for the lawyer thing, I'm over it. I've tried to dig into the CITES and USF&W rules and just got a headache. Since I can almost hit the one and only USF&W Forensics Lab with a rock thrown from my deck (not that I would try, of course), I'm committed to following the rules if I can figure out what they are.
 
I've got one coming to you so I won't use MOP on that.

Thanks David. Been talking with F&W and we are close to having our exemption for shell. But that's cool, I like blank fretboards and always a joy to show your ukes.

Lol!:agree: Who can understand all that legal jargon of a mess anyway!!!???:confused:

It's hard to explain nonsense.

Is it all shell inlay, or just abalone that is restricted?

All shell, MOP included. Even ablam.
 
Just got a response from Ann Marie at the main F&W branch that totally changes things once again for us. Our local F&W was wrong!

"Great, thank you, Andrew. You will be accepted into the program. To
clarify with the CITES, if the only CITES item in the shipment is rosewood,
then there would be no associated CITES premium inspection fee with FWS and
this would NOT result in your removal from the program. The no CITES
requirement only applies to CITES wildlife. I would suggest speaking to
one of the local Wildlife Inspector's in Honolulu regarding the rosewood.

Also, I bought my ukulele from you guys a couple years ago, a Kala soprano.
:)"

SO, we are now exempt from shell permits, AND we can restart the application for rosewood we dropped after given false info from Hawaii dept.

The fact that our local department was wrong shows how complicated this crap is though. Their main job is to understand this stuff and they still don't!
 
So, does this mean I can use my MOP logo inlay on the peg head? Or should I use wood or plastic?

Yeah, sorry for the confusion. We won't need the permit for pearl now. Or we won't need to pay, I guess we still file the eDec but won't have the charge on international shipments. Thanks Dave. And if anyone has issues shipping pearl and is a small business I can point you to the exemption to file.
 
That's good news for a lot of people! Thanks, Andrew, for the information and, most of all, for the huge effort you've put into figuring out this mess.
 
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Huh? I'm still confused. ;)

Yea me too Chuck. I bought a used baritone with Spruce and Cocobolo (I think Cocobolo is an issue) from the Marketplace. It was shipped from the US to Canada and was held up at customs for a week. I was sweating bullets but I got notification it was processed through and is at my post office for pick up. Whewwwww!!!!!
 
May I please ask you if it is possible to import a used instrument with Honduran and East Indian rosewood from the US to Europe if you can provide an invoice which proves that the instrument was definitely built and / or sold for the first time before the date of the new restrictions? It would also be very helpful to know if there was a possibility of having issued a rosewood permit by the retailer who originally sold the instrument to its first owner when it was new.

I'd be very grateful if you helped me to find out about the regulations which apply when I - as a European buyer - intend to buy a used ukulele from a private person in the US.
 
In another thread it was posted that restrictions were already lifted in 2019 for musical instruments. I hope that we will get Rosewood fretboards again soon instead of various substitute materials. Of course for ukes the koa fretboards rule.
 
Koa fretboards do rule on traditional Hawaiian style ukes, but hardly anyone makes those. The simple no binding, no fancy inlay, no imported exotic woods are my favorite ukes. On another note, I have had a F & W import export license for the last 15 years. I only use it for importing shell. I have had no issues with export. The yearly fee is $100.00 and the import fee is $93.00 per shipment, no matter how large or small.I find F & W is willing to help me when I need it, but I tread lightly. Be very nice. The Honolulu office is always responsive to me when I get bogged down in the most recent form they have created, which they do frequently. It is not that shell, at least most shell, is restricted, it is that all flora and fauna need to be protected and that is their job. They are not the enemy.
 
They are not the enemy.

True. But nobody likes cops. That is until you need one... Speaking of shell, I live where red abalone is (or was) very common along the coast. It literally washes up on the beach. However, it is totally restricted and you can not buy, sell, or use it on anything including ukuleles. However I do occasionally come across someone selling it on the internet which is not a good thing.

And speaking of rosewood, SMD never stopped selling East Indian Rosewood fretboards during any of the restrictions and I believe they ship internationally.

rosewood.jpg
 
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