Gibson denies ‘smuggling’

GIBSON Guitar Corp renewed its plea of innocence yesterday after US agents raided its Tennessee plants and seized rare ebony wood from India used to make some of the world’s most coveted guitars.

“We were not engaged in smuggling,” chief executive Henry Juszkiewicz told CNN television. “We have been importing fingerboard stock on a regular basis from India for 17 years.”

It was the second raid in as many years targeting the makers of guitars such as Epiphone, Les Paul, and others favoured by such artists as Paul McCartney and U2’s The Edge.