Gibson Guitar, American workers?? WTF!!!

[guspech750]

Just saw this on ChicagoSVT forum. As we sink further into the Shter!!

By Judson Berger
Published September 02, 2011
| FoxNews.com


Gibson Guitar Corp. is claiming the Obama administration wants more of its woodwork done overseas, as a bizarre battle heats up between the government and one of the country's most renowned guitar makers.

The dispute started in 2009, when federal agents raided the company over suspect wood shipments from Madagascar. Gibson took that case to court but has denounced the administration with a vengeance after agents returned late last month to raid several Gibson factories -- this time out of concern that Indian export laws had been violated.

Though some reports on the dispute have cited environmental concerns, court documents suggest the latest battle boils down to a simple, non-environmental question -- which country is working on the wood?

Gibson's CEO has said repeatedly that the only reason his company is in trouble is because U.S. workers are completing work on guitar fingerboards in the United States. In an interview earlier this week, CEO Henry Juszkiewicz claimed that the U.S. government even suggested Gibson's troubles would disappear if the company used foreign labor.

The Justice Department is hamstrung from talking about the case because it's an ongoing investigation. Justice spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle told FoxNews.com only that agents were looking for evidence of "possible violations" of a law governing imports of plants and wildlife.

Hornbuckle also confirmed that no charges have yet been filed in either of the two cases.

Court documents help explain the root of the tree dispute. According to search warrants associated with the latest raid, federal agents in June intercepted a shipment of Indian ebony apparently bound for Gibson in Tennessee. The documents noted that Indian law "prohibits the export of sawn wood," which can be used for fingerboards -- but does not prohibit the export of "veneers," which are sheets of woods that have already been worked on.

The search warrants alleged that the intercepted shipment was "falsely declared" as veneer, something that would have been legal. However, the documents said the ebony was in fact unfinished "sawn wood," supposedly illegal.

This led to the raid on Gibson facilities late last month.

Juszkiewicz said in a statement that the U.S. government has effectively suggested "that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department's interpretation of a law in India."

A representative at the Indian Embassy in Washington could not be reached for comment.

But Juszkiewicz has since claimed that his company's wood exports do in fact comply with Indian law, even if American workers are doing some of the work.

In an interview on the company website, Juszkiewicz said Gibson "for decades" has purchased fingerboard wood that is two-thirds finished.

"The fact that American workers are completing the work in the United States makes it illegal," he said, citing the government's position.

Juszkiewicz maintains Gibson is still complying with the law.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/02/gibson-feds-want-guitar-woodwork-done-by-foreign-labor/?test=latestnews



---
- Sent from my iPhone
Eaton Swap = Wreeeeeeeeeedom!!

[sailsmen]

Ed Dept does no knock SWAT Team search detaining occupant and terrorizing children over student loan for person that does not live there.

Wild Life with a State trooper serves warrant on young child for rescuing bird.

Numerous lemonade stands have been shut down and citations issued.

Man charged with killing bear that threatened his children.

Big Gov't has to justify it's existance by enforcing all the hundreds of thousands of laws and regs. 55,000 new laws have been passed in my life to date. Cut off the money and you restore freedom.

IT IS CALLED TYRANNY!

[Vortex]

Just saw this on ChicagoSVT forum. As we sink further into the Shter!!

By Judson Berger
Published September 02, 2011
| FoxNews.com


Gibson Guitar Corp. is claiming the Obama administration wants more of its woodwork done overseas, as a bizarre battle heats up between the government and one of the country's most renowned guitar makers.

The dispute started in 2009, when federal agents raided the company over suspect wood shipments from Madagascar. Gibson took that case to court but has denounced the administration with a vengeance after agents returned late last month to raid several Gibson factories -- this time out of concern that Indian export laws had been violated.

Though some reports on the dispute have cited environmental concerns, court documents suggest the latest battle boils down to a simple, non-environmental question -- which country is working on the wood?

Gibson's CEO has said repeatedly that the only reason his company is in trouble is because U.S. workers are completing work on guitar fingerboards in the United States. In an interview earlier this week, CEO Henry Juszkiewicz claimed that the U.S. government even suggested Gibson's troubles would disappear if the company used foreign labor.

The Justice Department is hamstrung from talking about the case because it's an ongoing investigation. Justice spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle told FoxNews.com only that agents were looking for evidence of "possible violations" of a law governing imports of plants and wildlife.

Hornbuckle also confirmed that no charges have yet been filed in either of the two cases.

Court documents help explain the root of the tree dispute. According to search warrants associated with the latest raid, federal agents in June intercepted a shipment of Indian ebony apparently bound for Gibson in Tennessee. The documents noted that Indian law "prohibits the export of sawn wood," which can be used for fingerboards -- but does not prohibit the export of "veneers," which are sheets of woods that have already been worked on.

The search warrants alleged that the intercepted shipment was "falsely declared" as veneer, something that would have been legal. However, the documents said the ebony was in fact unfinished "sawn wood," supposedly illegal.

This led to the raid on Gibson facilities late last month.

Juszkiewicz said in a statement that the U.S. government has effectively suggested "that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department's interpretation of a law in India."

A representative at the Indian Embassy in Washington could not be reached for comment.

But Juszkiewicz has since claimed that his company's wood exports do in fact comply with Indian law, even if American workers are doing some of the work.

In an interview on the company website, Juszkiewicz said Gibson "for decades" has purchased fingerboard wood that is two-thirds finished.

"The fact that American workers are completing the work in the United States makes it illegal," he said, citing the government's position.

Juszkiewicz maintains Gibson is still complying with the law.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/02/gibson-feds-want-guitar-woodwork-done-by-foreign-labor/?test=latestnews



---
- Sent from my iPhone
Eaton Swap = Wreeeeeeeeeedom!!

Trade agreements between two countries are supposed to be enforced. US Attorney's Office wouldnt waste their time unless there was a clear violation of import laws.

[FordNut]

Simple solution... Gibson moves their factory offshore.

[MrBluGruv]

Simple solution... Gibson moves their factory offshore.

I'm just afraid that would mean they wouldn't use American labor for the work to get done though. :/



This is indeed a sticky situation if Gibson has violated international trade law, but time after time after time of government coming down on domestic business just makes me wonder more and more about things. I could understand, if there had been years and years of looking the other way on the gov's part, you could compile quite a number of businesses that were employing some shady practices, but I mean geez it's like it never ends with the "crackdowns," at least when it comes to wholly-domestic enterprises...

[Motorhead350]

When I took a tour of their place in Memphis, they said they got all their wood from here. Guess they lied.

[FordNut]

Simple solution... Gibson moves their factory offshore.


I'm just afraid that would mean they wouldn't use American labor for the work to get done though.

That's a fact. Then the labor would be less expensive and they could lower the prices on their products.

Not that I'm in favor of that approach, but the US Government makes it so difficult for businesses to operate in this country I can't see why any of them stay.

[MrBluGruv]

That's a fact. Then the labor would be less expensive and they could lower the prices on their products.

Not that I'm in favor of that approach, but the US Government makes it so difficult for businesses to operate in this country I can't see why any of them stay.

Yep.

Everyone complains so much about how "big business" rakes in the big bucks and keeps it to themselves and therefore government intervention is needed to stop that cycle, yet when it comes down to it government ensures that the only way a "big business" can make profit at all is to send its money OUTSIDE the country at almost every stage.

So what's it gonna be? Profit for some, which will eventually be spent in the economy, therefore enriching other industries and ultimately expanding the economy, or profit for none, and everyone is reliant on a mother-state?

Call me crazy, but if I had to choose between the two major parties right now, I'm pretty sure I'd pick the one where at least SOMEONE stands a chance and making real money aside from the government itself...

[sailsmen]

It is called Crony Capitalism. There are so many laws and regulations it is impossible to "obey" them all. Those that pay off the politicians get left alone and those who don't get put out of business. Just look what happened to MS.

[sailsmen]

Is this the same Justice Dept that paid gun dealers to illegally sell guns to Mexican Drg Cartels?

[sailsmen]

Pure Politics by the Justice Dept in Keeping with everything that arises out of DC.

Op-Ed

Michael Kinsley: The Washington lobbying dance

Bill Gates initially resisted the notion that Microsoft needed to hire a lot of lobbyists and lawyers. Ultimately, in refusing to play the Washington game, there was a feeling that Microsoft was being downright unpatriotic.

Michael Kinsley

April 5, 2011





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My first day of work at Microsoft, 15 years ago, I wore a DOJ baseball cap that a friend had given me when she heard I was going to work in Redmond. DOJ stood for Department of Justice, which is where my friend worked. I wore the cap into the office on my first day, intending this to be a little joke. The Clinton Justice Department had recently filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft, threatening huge fines and even a breakup of the company. But I learned a lesson: Nobody thought the hat was very funny.

Outside of Washington, they take politics and their consequences seriously, more seriously than in the nation's capital, where it's all "just business," as they say in "The Godfather." My new colleagues were appalled and hurt by the lawsuit. They felt that they were helping their country (as well as themselves) by developing great software. They didn't think their company was the monster being portrayed by Justice Department lawyers.

When George W. Bush became president, the suit was settled on terms generally considered favorable to Microsoft. But the suit and the settlement did the company significant damage, distracting it for several crucial years and forcing it to learn and practice caution, while rivals could continue to behave in the headlong tradition of this new industry.

For many years before the lawsuit, Microsoft had virtually no Washington "presence." It had a large office in the suburbs, mainly concerned with selling software to the government. Bill Gates resisted the notion that a software company needed to hire a lot of lobbyists and lawyers. He didn't want anything special from the government, except the freedom to build and sell software. If the government would leave him alone, he would leave the government alone.

At first this was regarded (at least in Washington) as naive. Grown-up companies hire lobbyists. What's this guy's problem? Then it was regarded as foolish. This was not a game. There were big issues at stake. Next it came to be seen as arrogant: Who the hell does Microsoft think it is? Does it think it's too good to do what every other company of its size in the world is doing?

Ultimately, there even was a feeling that, in refusing to play the Washington game, Microsoft was being downright unpatriotic. Look, buddy, there is an American way of doing things, and that American way includes hiring lobbyists, paying lawyers vast sums by the hour, throwing lavish parties for politicians, aides, journalists, and so on. So get with the program.

So that's what Microsoft did. It moved its government affairs office out of distant Chevy Chase, Md., and into the downtown K Street corridor. It bulked up on lawyers and hired the best-connected lobbyists. Soon Microsoft was coming under criticism for being heavy-handed in its attempts to buy influence. But the sad thing is that it seems to have worked. Microsoft is no longer Public Enemy No. 1. No one blamed it for the recent Japanese tsunami, for example, or demanded hearings on its role in the housing industry collapse.

Best of all, the finger of blame has moved on — to Google, which now gets the blame for everything. It is an evil monopoly that uses its power to extend that monopoly into new areas. It must be stopped before all its competitors are wiped out. And so on. This is all very familiar to anyone who worked at Microsoft in the late 1990s, and (it must be admitted) very enjoyable. Microsoft last week piled on, bringing charges against Google at the European Union, accusing it of a variety of nefarious practices, including some the EU had formerly accused Microsoft of.

Warren Buffett famously says that it's better to learn from other people's mistakes than your own. Google learned from Microsoft. It did not diss Washington. It has had a Washington lobbying operation almost from the very beginning of the company, way back in 2003. In 2008, Google opened a glamorous new D.C. office, described by Google's senior manager of global communications and public affairs as "a showcase of the company and what it means." The very fact that Google has a senior manager of global communications and public affairs suggests that Google might not be quite the non-corporate corporation it sees itself as.

And if Google can just hold on a bit longer, the pointing finger already is moving again, this time to Facebook. But Facebook will be prepared. Even before its stock goes public, it is making noises about hiring President Obama's former press secretary, Robert Gibbs, and has hired the former chief of staff of the National Economic Council, Marne Levine.

As the Microsoft example suggests, the Washington culture of influence peddling is not entirely or even primarily the fault of the corporations that hire the lobbyists and pay the bills. It's a vast protection racket, practiced by politicians and political operatives of both parties. Nice little software company you've got here. Too bad if we have to regulate it, or if big government programs force us to raise its taxes. Your archrival just wrote a big check to the Washington Bureaucrats Benevolent Society. Are you sure you wouldn't like to do the same?

Here's a story I've told before, but without the name. Lanny Davis was special counsel to the president in the Clinton administration and a personal friend of the Clintons. He called me shortly after I got to Microsoft to say how sorry he was that we hadn't connected when I lived in Washington but that he hoped to stay in touch. Oh yes, and he felt terrible about all the bad publicity and unfair government harassment my boss, Bill Gates, was getting. He would love to give him some help and advice. Could I put the two of them together? The answer, of course, was that I couldn't. But the odd thing was that, at that point, I had never even met Lanny Davis.

Michael Kinsley, a former editorial page editor of The Times, writes a column for Politico. A version of this column also appears on that website.

[sailsmen]

August 31, 2010

Department of Justice ditches red, white and blue stars and stripes
Bruce Cunningham



Well, how interesting! It seems the U.S. Department of Justice has changed its website. Gone are the colorful red, white and blue U.S. flag decorations on the page,



replaced by stark black and white.



And at the top of the page, is a rather interesting quote:



"The common law is the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people."


Catchy, huh? Just one tiny little (too small to be relevant obviously) point -- the quote is from C. Wilfred Jenks, who in the 1930's was a leading proponent of the "international law" movement, which had as its goal to impose a global common law and which backed ‘global workers' rights.'


Call it Marxism, call it Progressivism, call it Socialism -- under any of those names it definitely makes the DOJ look corrupt in their sleek, new black website with Marxist accessories to match.

See for yourself: http://www.justice.gov/


How very interesting that 'they' couldn't find a nice quote from one of our Founders. People, we have lost our Republic. We need to get it back ASAP.

Hat tip: American Spectator


Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/department_of_justice_ditches. html at March 26, 2011 - 02:04:43 PM CDT




Justice Loses Its Stars and Stripes

By The Prowler on 7.16.10 @ 6:08AM

What's black and white and "red" all over? The Department of Justice's newly designed website. Gone are the standard red, white, and blue motifs, replaced by an all-black backdrop. And prominently placed on virtually every page of the site is a quote credited to a man who facilitated a greater role for socialists and communists at the U.N., and the global "workers rights movement."

The redesigned website was launched without fanfare, but was noticed internally by several career lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of political reprisals. "We were told that the media team and the senior leadership that signed off on the design thought that the patriotic shtick from the Ashcroft days was a bit much for an agency that isn't supposed to be political," says a DOJ lawyer, who inquired about the redesign. "It was a real effort not to laugh at that."

Prominent now on the site are links to "Justice.gov en Español" and the "The Recovery Act and the Department of Justice." But most jarring is the quote that is appears on virtually every page of the website. "The common law is the will of mankind issuing from the life of the people," which, some DOJ staff say, is tied to a man who ushered in the socialist and communist theories that now permeate the United Nations.

Another DOJ lawyer says, "It's taken from an inscription along one of the outer walls of the department ["The common law derives from the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people, framed by mutual confidence, and sanctioned by the light of reason"], but no one is sure where the quote came from."

The quotes that ring the building were selected during the construction process back in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Some attorneys believed the quote is pulled or adapted from the writing of Sir William Blackstone, the 18th Century British jurist, who wrote the Commentaries on the Laws of England, which influenced not only British law, but also the American constitutional and legal system. But other Department of Justice employees say the quote originates from British lawyer, C. Wilfred Jenks, who back in the late 1930s and after World War II was a leading figure in the "international law" movement, which sought to impose a global, common law, and advocated for global workers rights. Jenks was a long-time member of the United Nation's International Labor Organization, and author of a number of globalist tracts, including a set of essays published back in 1958, entitled The Common Law of Mankind.

Most telling: Jenks, as director of the ILO is credited with putting in place the first Soviet senior member of the UN organization, and also with creating an environment that allowed the ILO to give "observer status" to the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and to issue anti-Israeli statements, which precipitated efforts by the U.S. Congress to withdraw U.S. membership from the ILO. The U.S. actually did withdraw in the mid-1970s due to the organization's leftist leanings.

"It was Jenks's efforts that helped make the ILO a tool of the socialist and communist movement," says one of the DOJ lawyers. "We used to joke about how fitting it was that this was Janet Reno's favorite quote to use in speeches, and now the Obama folks think it encapsulates out department's mission."

Suggestions to highlight quotes from the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights or quotes from the Founders, the Federalist Papers or prominent American jurists were quickly shot down by the Department of Justice's media and new media teams, according to DOJ sources familiar with the design process, and the White House communications shop was given input to the overall design as well.

[Mr. Man]

Just build the finger boards with American wood and F the rest of the world. Problem solved.

[Motorhead350]

Gibson guitars to politics. Im outta this thread.

[FordNut]

Just build the finger boards with American wood and F the rest of the world. Problem solved.

Then the quality of their guitars goes down. Foreign made quality product or American made inferior product. Which would you buy? Especially if the foreign made quality product was cheaper? I suspect most real musicians would buy the better product, no matter where it is made or what it costs.

[FordNut]

Gibson guitars to politics. Im outta this thread.

That happened in the first post.

[sailsmen]

That's the whole point of the thread. Our Gov't is 35% of GDP. In order to Play you got to Pay. Pay Lobbyist and Politicians or you will get put out of business and won't be playing no Gibson Guitar.:mad2:

Any wonder why jobs are being "shipped" overseas?

[sailsmen]

What is very disturbing is DC Cops left their jurisdiction and escorted these SEIU "Protestors" into another County. SEIU represents Gov't Workers. Who was the most frequent visitor to the WH in 2009? Mr. Stern the Pres of the SEIU. An SEIU Director was appointed to the Debt Commission.
Could it be SEIU does not want to pay back it's loan to BOA?

By Nina EastonMay 19, 2010: 6:15 AM ET
FORTUNE) -- Every journalist loves a peaceful protest-whether it makes news, shakes up a political season, or holds out the possibility of altering history. Then there are the ones that show up on your curb--literally.

Last Sunday, on a peaceful, sun-crisp afternoon, our toddler finally napping upstairs, my front yard exploded with 500 screaming, placard-waving strangers on a mission to intimidate my neighbor, Greg Baer. Baer is deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), a senior executive based in Washington, D.C. And that -- in the minds of the organizers at the politically influential Service Employees International Union and a Chicago outfit called National Political Action -- makes his family fair game.

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Waving signs denouncing bank "greed," hordes of invaders poured out of 14 school buses, up Baer's steps, and onto his front porch. As bullhorns rattled with stories of debtor calls and foreclosed homes, Baer's teenage son Jack -- alone in the house -- locked himself in the bathroom. "When are they going to leave?" Jack pleaded when I called to check on him.

Baer, on his way home from a Little League game, parked his car around the corner, called the police, and made a quick calculation to leave his younger son behind while he tried to rescue his increasingly distressed teen. He made his way through a din of barked demands and insults from the activists who proudly "outed" him, and slipped through his front door.

"Excuse me," Baer told his accusers, "I need to get into the house. I have a child who is alone in there and frightened."

When is a protest not a protest?
Now this event would accurately be called a "protest" if it were taking place at, say, a bank or the U.S. Capitol. But when hundreds of loud and angry strangers are descending on your family, your children, and your home, a more apt description of this assemblage would be "mob." Intimidation was the whole point of this exercise, and it worked-even on the police. A trio of officers who belatedly answered our calls confessed a fear that arrests might "incite" these trespassers.

What's interesting is that SEIU, the nation's second largest union, craves respectability. Just-retired president Andy Stern is an Obama friend and regular White House visitor. He sits on the President's Fiscal Responsibility Commission. He hobnobs with those greedy Wall Street CEOs -- executives much higher-ranking than my neighbor Baer -- at Davos. His union spent $70 million getting Democrats elected in 2008.

In the business community, though, SEIU has a reputation for strong-arm tactics against management, prompting some companies to file suit.

Now those strong-arm tactics, stirred by supposedly free-floating (as opposed to organized) populist rage, have come to the neighborhood curb. Last year it was AIG executives -- with protestors met by security guard outside. Now it's any executive -- and they're on the front stoop. After Baer's house, the 14 buses left to descend on the nearby residence of Peter Scher, a government relations executive at JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500).

Targeting homes and families seems to put SEIU in the ranks of (now jailed) radical animal-rights activists and the Kansas anti-gay fundamentalists harassing the grieving parents of a dead 20-year-old soldier at his funeral (the Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the latter). But that's not a conversation that SEIU officials want to have.

When I asked Stephen Lerner, SEIU's point-person on Wall Street reform, about these tactics, he accused me of getting "emotional." Lerner was more comfortable sticking to his talking points: "Millions of people are losing their homes, and they have gone to the banks, which are turning a deaf ear."

Okay, fine, then why not continue SEIU protests at bank offices and shareholder meetings-as the union has been doing for more than a year? Lerner insists, "People in powerful corporations seem to think they can insulate themselves from the damage they are doing."

Other reasons why SEIU might protest
Bank of America officials dispute Lerner's assertion about the "damage they are doing," citing the success of workout programs to help distressed homeowners, praise received from community groups, the bank's support of financial reform legislation, and the little-noticed fact that Bank of America exited the subprime lending business in 2001.

SEIU has said it wants to organize bank tellers and call centers -- and its critics point out that a great way to worsen employee morale, thereby making workers more susceptible to union calls, is to batter a bank's image through protest. (SEIU officials say their anti-Wall Street campaign has nothing to do with their organizing efforts.) Complicating this picture is the fact that BofA is the union's lender of choice -- and SEIU, suffering financially, owes the bank nearly $4 million in interest and fees. Bank of America declined comment on the loans.


0:00 /4:27Banks: The new punching bag
But SEIU's intentions, and BofA's lender record, are ripe subjects to debate in Congress, on air, at shareholder hearings. Not in Greg Baer's front yard.

Why the media wasn't invited
Sunday's onslaught wasn't designed for mainstream media consumption. There were no reporters from organizations like the Washington Post, no local camera crews who might have aired criticism of this private-home invasion. With the media covering the conservative Tea Party protesters, the behavior of individual activists has drawn withering scrutiny.

Instead, a friendly Huffington Post blogger showed up, narrowcasting coverage to the union's leftist base. The rest of the message these protesters brought was personal-aimed at frightening Baer and his family, not influencing a broader public.

Of course, HuffPost readers responding to the coverage assumed that Baer was an evil former Bush official. He's not. A lifelong Democrat, Baer worked for the Clinton Treasury Department, and his wife, Shirley Sagawa, author of the book The American Way to Change and a former adviser to Hillary Clinton, is a prominent national service advocate.

In the 1990s, the Baers' former bosses, Bill and Hillary Clinton, denounced the "politics of personal destruction." Today politicians and their voters of all stripes grieve the ugly bitterness that permeates our policy debates. Now, with populist rage providing a useful cover, it appears we've crossed into a new era: The politics of personal intimidation.

[wx4caster]

Offices of Gibson were raided 2 years ago ..... to date, no violations found.

[Ms. Denmark]

Then the quality of their guitars goes down. Foreign made quality product or American made inferior product. Which would you buy? Especially if the foreign made quality product was cheaper? I suspect most real musicians would buy the better product, no matter where it is made or what it costs.
Foreign workers may work cheaper but I don't buy your argument that their work is any better than American work. How are your foreign soldered door switches holding up;):)

Mr. Man

[sailsmen]

Foreign workers may work cheaper but I don't buy your argument that their work is any better than American work. How are your foreign soldered door switches holding up;):)

Mr. Man

That is not the argument. His point is Foreign workers will use the higher quality wood. Has nothing to do with working cheaper or better.

It would be interested to find out if India had raided the Indian Co for illegally exporting the wood.

[FordNut]

Foreign workers may work cheaper but I don't buy your argument that their work is any better than American work. How are your foreign soldered door switches holding up;):)

Mr. Man


That is not the argument. His point is Foreign workers will use the higher quality wood. Has nothing to do with working better.

It would be interested to find out if India had raided the Indian Co for illegally exporting the wood.

Exactly... Cheaper labor with higher quality parts, not necessarily higher quality workmanship.

[massacre]

So glad my Flying V was custom built in the 80s by Gibson Custom Shop.
Pretty sure the Custom Shop stuff is still made here.
The Epiphone stuff I'm sure isn't made here...

[Motorhead350]

Ok back in the thread to answer Rob.

Epiphone is made in the same place as Gibson. Fender is the company that makes their cheapest guitars in Mexico. Gibson makes all brands in The United States... as far as ES hallow bodies. Solidbodies, not sure.