UPDATE: Proposed New Ivory Regulations and Impacts on Musical Instruments
May 30, 2014
The Administration’s new National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking threatens to treat the sale of many existing, legally-produced musical instruments as criminal activity.
The Fish & Wildlife Service has announced that new regulations to be issued this spring will prohibit nearly all commercial trade in products containing any quantity of elephant ivory, even those which are not purchased because of their ivory content. The National Association of Music Merchants supports efforts to end the illegal slaughter of elephants and subsequent sale of their tusks for any purpose. However, NAMM is concerned that the proposed regulations will have the unintended consequence of making all sales of iconic vintage musical instruments illegal. A suggested “exemption” for “antiques” contains conditions other than age which render it virtually useless. The facts:
- Acoustic guitars used elephant ivory for saddles and nuts until the mid-1970’s, when international protections became effective. This small amount of ivory accounts for less than 1% of the instrument’s weight. Ivory was also used on mandolins and banjos
- Many fine stringed-instrument bows used a similarly small amount of elephant ivory on the tip of the bow to stabilize and balance the bow. Attempts to replace the ivory tip can destroy the integrity of the entire bow. Bows that include mammoth ivory, which cannot be easily distinguished from elephant ivory, may erroneously be subject to the ivory ban.
- Pianos also used elephant ivory to cover keys.
- Some heritage woodwind instruments used elephant ivory, again in minute amounts, as key pad embellishments and spacer rings.
Elephant ivory has not been used in the manufacture of musical instruments since the mid-1970’s, and current commercial activities are conducted in compliance with international and U.S. law. There is a small and robust market in the U.S. for vintage but not yet antique instruments; they are bought not because of their ivory content, but because, as one retailer put it, “they are amazingly fine instruments.” They are generally purchased to be played, not admired in a trophy case. Indeed, vintage instruments are played by award-winning artists in many musical genres. The ban on sales of existing legal instruments would effectively remove many extraordinary instruments from use in public performances for generations to come.
More information is available at partner organization, League of American Orchestras.
Relevant links:
National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking
For further information, contact
James Goldberg, 202-628-2929, jimcounsel@aol.com
Mary Luehrsen, 914-933-0516, maryl@namm.org