So, given the recent announcements in the US regarding the total ban on ivory imports, and US enforcement of import and sale restrictions on ebony (for example, https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2013/01/11/federal-laws-keep-pressure-on-small-instrument-makers/ ), has anyone encountered any difficulties in returning to the US from overseas with pipe bits / chanters made of ebony? Or entering any EU country, for that matter? Nearly all of my chanters are of ebony, and I’m not sure the makers could produce CITES documentation for any of them.
No.
Never even been asked about the pipes. Just go straight through customs, nothing to declare. Sneaking haggis over borders is much harder.
You coming out this way for a visit? Everyone I know in the US always goes to Ireland, but never they stop by Scotland to say hi. 
I guess the point is that that may be about to change (well, maybe not the haggis bit).
I don’t know. I was under the impression that they are just changing the paperwork and the bureaucracy but enforcement is what it is. It has been illegal to bring ivory and certain species of wood in for a long time. But I don’t envision Customs and Immigration officers rounding up people with suspicious looking cases in airports and demanding to see their instruments.
Thanks, Emily - I guess I’m more worried about customs zealots in the US, particularly after new restrictions have been announced which may raise the level of scrutiny for all instruments, and particularly in places like JFK airport, where they make a point of giving everyone an extra-special warm NY welcome.
Why not? The recent case of that fellow, a respected professional muso, who had his life’s collection of bamboo flutes confiscated and summarily destroyed on entry to the US because certain raw bamboo is in the CITES list is a cautionary tale.
Why not? The recent case of that fellow, a respected professional muso, who had his life’s collection of bamboo flutes confiscated and summarily destroyed on entry to the US because certain raw bamboo is in the CITES list is a cautionary tale.
That’s exactly my worry, that in the absence of documentation (which I’d wager almost no piper has for ebony pipe bits) the presumption of guilt on the part of these officials means that there’s no arguing and no recourse, and it all comes down to whether or not they had a lunch break and is it your lucky day (or not so much). It may be that instrument ebony doesn’t and never will come in for this kind of grief, but you just never know.
Maybe I’ll just stick to bringing a delrin flute on the next trip…
My wife is from Hamilton, Lanarkshire so we always pop over on the Stranraer ferry for a few days every time we go.
Short answer - yes, it is an issue. Guitarists playing vintage instruments have had this issue for a while as they use various rare woods and animal products from several now endangered species.
I’m not very far from Hamilton.
Just say it’s blackwood. Who’s gonna know?
99.999% of the time, no-one. But they do have the skills on hand to identify different species of ebony, so the potential is there.
It’s always worth doing a little bit of research.
This is the most recent stuff I can find pertaining to instruments with tropical hardwoods: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-lacey-act-musical-instruments-usda-report-amendment-20130531,0,6818725.story#axzz2x4Vi8gms
The most recent federal legislation concerns elephant ivory specifically, not wood. Perhaps a worry if you have ivory on your pipes but not hardwoods.
here’s the latest:
[Statement by Ray Hair, Int’nl President of the AFM, Mar 19 2014]
“…Since July 2013, AFM Legislative Director Alfonso Pollard met regularly with US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) senior staff regarding Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES) issues as relates to musical instruments. The AFM and related interests have been working CITES senior staff toward a musical passport solution for artists traveling internationally. The meetings have focused on the need for a comprehensive travel permit for instruments made from rare woods and endangered species components. DURING THOSE MEETINGS, UFWS GAVE NO DETAIL ABOUT THE TIMING OF THE ORDER’S RELEASE ON ELEPHANT IVORY. …”
..and there we have it…musicians finally reduced to the status of “travelling menagerie” 
bureaucracy is beautiful 
This topic, as might be imagined, is a big one in the Highland pipe scene.
Every year thousands of pipers from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc fly to Glasgow for the World Pipe Band Championships.
In many of those top bands, every set of pipes is mounted in elephant ivory.
One very rarely hears of trouble, but we pipers know that it only takes ONE agent at ONE airport to stop a band going through and seize all their pipes.
One piper had his pipes seized, and eventually got them returned, lovely vintage pipes from a top late 19th century/early 20th century maker, but they had taken a hammer to them and struck off all the ivory mounts. The wood, as you might imagine, was ruined.
One piper went to the hassle and expense of obtaining a CITES certificate for his pipes. He made the mistake of bringing this to the attention of an airport guy, who didn’t know what CITES was, and seized the pipes so that he could contact his superiors. All the other pipers just went right through with no trouble!
Thing is, the airport people can’t tell elephant ivory from mammoth ivory or marine ivory or possibly even from imitation ivory. How are they going to tell ebony from African Blackwood or cocus?
Many of the older Highland pipes are ebony (though the pipers themselves imagine that they’re African Blackwood). Any black-wood instrument might be seized.
I swear, I’m about to buy a set of McCallum pipes made out of this stuff, for international travel! (The Highland pipes I play are double-cursed, being ebony and ivory.)
That looks like some kind of strange bar graph.
I hope he sued! 
When I went to the airport with the highland pipes, things went pretty smooth. One guy even said “Play us a tune!” But that was national travel…
That looks like some kind of strange bar graph.
Lol it does. I want one now! Reminds me of Seth Hamon’s chanters.
I hope he sued!
On what grounds? Cross a border without the paperwork, you’re breaking the law and the instrument is subject to seizure. The guy is lucky he got the wood back - I suspect that he shouldn’t even have got that.
What if he did?