Given that 41 Native American people just achieved a settlement for 1 billion bucks from the US Treasury in the wake of tribe, no class actions 100 (!) years old, white man Henry is not doing too bad. Yet. Think of how much all that confiscated ebony and rosewood will be worth upon release in a century from now, by then well dry-aged too.
A century from now they will still be Indian rosewood and ebony, the same fretboard woods that were considered inferior less than 20 years ago.
You can still buy Gaboon or Macassar ebony or Pau Ferro, most luthiers consider them easily superior to the Indian woods. Why isn't Gibson using these instead of "baked maple" and other exotic woods no one in the guitar community has heard of before? Why haven't any of the political commentators pointed this out? Because they don't know shit from Shinola about guitars, they only know political opportunism.
Henry is right about factories in Asia using the Indian woods, though. He's saying this to point out that the enforcement actions against Gibson are unreasonable, and he has the right to say that. But those factories are using those woods because they're cheap! You want to keep your reputation as a premier American brand, why are you pointing out that the Chinese are using the same woods? Why aren't you using better woods?
