At the time of the raid,
Gibson Guitars CEO Henry Juszkiewicz told Hugh Hewitt on his radio show
that the feds confiscated tonewood imported from India for the guitar
Gibson manufacturers which would result in a cost of $2 to $3 million
for his company.
At a great expense in
legal fees and time, Juszkiewicz fought the federal government tooth
and nail. But in August 2012, he settled with the Department of Justice
by agreeing to pay a penalty of $300,000 and a $50,000 community
service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
At the time, Breitbart
News suggested that the federal government targeted Gibson because
of the conservative ideological stance it had supported. But according
to the Gibson Guitar website, the tonewood was returned and made into
the Government Series II Les Paul guitars:
Great Gibson electric guitars have long been a
means of fighting the establishment, so when the powers that be
confiscated stocks of tonewoods from the Gibson factory in
Nashville—only to return them once there was a resolution and the
investigation ended—it was an event worth celebrating. Introducing the
Government Series II Les Paul, a striking new guitar from Gibson USA
for 2014 that suitably marks this infamous time in Gibson’s history.
Gibson’s line of those
guitars start $1,099 and are topped by a pickguard hot-stamped in gold
with the “Government Series” graphic, which is a bald eagle hoisting a
Gibson guitar neck.
“Each Government Series
II Les Paul also includes a genuine piece of Gibson USA history in its
solid rosewood fingerboard, which is made from wood returned to Gibson
by the US government after the resolution,” the website states.
Actual
Models shown HERE
