Are You Resigned to the Mexi Paul?

Gibson Guitar CEO warns that jobs may be sent overseas in aftermath of DOJ raid

In August the Department of Justice raided Gibson Guitar facilities in Memphis and Nashville, alleging a violation of the so-called Lacey Act, a law which bans the importation of certain kinds of wildlife, plants and wood.

And although two months have passed, Gibson Guitars CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has taken an unusually aggressive posture against the DOJ. On Wednesday, he told The Daily Caller there could be casualties from the DOJ’s actions, first of which he said may be higher guitar prices.

“It’s a zero-sum game,” he said. “You don’t create money out of thin air. So a dollar goes to lawyers in Washington, D.C. is a dollar that comes out of our consumers’ pockets, period.”

But he also cautioned that American jobs could be lost and sent overseas.

“You know, there’s a very real possibility we will have to move at least some processing [jobs] overseas,” Juszkiewicz said. “I’m trying to avoid that. But you know, I have to do what the business requires, and that’s a very realistic possibility.”

For non-guitarists the MexiPaul is a play on the term "Mexi Strat" for a Fender Stratocaster guitar made in Mexico as opposed to a Fender Stratocaster made in the USA, using the Gibson Les Paul.  Mexi Strats are widely regarded as inferior to American made Strats, but as the reviews linked above will suggest, they're not really that awful.  Still, it would be a shame to drive the largest and best known makers of guitars in the US to manufacture their guitars abroad because of what seems a distinction without a purpose.

Alex tells  me I should get a Mexi Strat.  

Previous posts on the Gibson guitar  grab:

Feds Raid Gibson Guitars

Update on Gibson Guitar Grab

Feds Promise Not to Persecute Guitar Owners

A View from the Beach: The Rally for Gibson