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OK i know the whole controversy with ivory so we dont have to discuss that here. I love elephants. If I could have one live with me I would. Id name him francisco and we would be best of friends. Now that we have that out of the way Im wondering if anyone knows a reputable source for some pre ban ivory saddle blanks. My mother is currently working on some restoration of some sort of historical something or another and needs some thin ivory for replacement inlay. She wants it to be ivory to restore it as close to original as possible. Not really sure what shes working on. Anyhow I know theres a few of yall that know where to get real documented pre ban stuff and any information would be extremely helpful. Thanks guys.

check with a piano technician...

Another possibility is to use Mammoth or warthog ivory (Boone trading company- they also have preban elephant). To the untrained eye they would look very similar. An old piano might be easier to find than a piano tech these days. Often they are free for the hauling, but a bit of work if all you want are the key tops.

I stripped an old piano and still have a bunch of the overlays. P.M. me and I will give you some..

Mike

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

I think it's absolutely disgusting.

...that you would consider naming an elephant francisco...

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To be someone must be a wonderful thing!

I thought it was a good name. I'm sorry :/ how about Pete the elephant?


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Contact David Warther through his website.
http://www.warther.org

Actually, that's bad on me for being so judgemental. You can name your elephant whatever you like...

Name not so important. House training, VERY important!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I wonder, Alex, where one might find an elephant sized toilet....


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Washington, DC or Ottawa, Ont.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

You may not want to discuss it, but all trade in elephant ivory in this country is now illegal. You can say pre-ban all you want, but none of it is legal to buy or sell.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I thought that pre ban stuff was still legal with documents etc. I'll have to look into that, Don.

(What I was trying to avoid was the whole morality debate. You remember what's happened over it here before......all I know is that my mom is just trying to restore some historical something or another. She does all sorts of history stuff. It'll be an education piece most likely never to be sold. I didn't ask her but it's probably a museum piece or something. She has a lot to do with that scene. Her mother and father in law are caretakers of a historic French fort on the Mississippi River.)


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Even if you could find some pre ban stock, the minute you repurpose it into a saddle or nut, it becomes classified as a new product, losing all preban status.

Didn't know that, Sam. I've never messed with the stuff or had any desire to. I'm learning all sorts of things


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" It'll be an education piece most likely never to be sold."

I could be wrong, but there may be some exceptions for educational use, as there are for trophy hunters who may bring their tusks home with them.

Looks like I'll just have to do some reading on it before she proceeds. It'll be a shame if you can't restore a historic artifact back the way it originally was.


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"It'll be a shame if you can't restore a historic artifact back the way it originally was."

With bone and similar materials you could get pretty close.
People still buy and sell antique shrunken heads, so I wouldn't get too excited about a few old piano keys.

We can just keep it on the down low.

Oh wait

I put it on the Internet.

It's ok though. It's on luthiers forum. Just a bunch of weirdos obsessing over guitars. No one will see what's going on here.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

The way I understand it , as of right now It is illegal in NY and NJ only. There was a lot of states talking about it this year but nothing happend from what I read. Here is the last update I read about it -
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It is not legal to sell elephant and mammoth ivory in New York and New Jersey.

2015 bills pending:
California – AB 96
Massachusetts – SB 440 / HB 1275 – SB has been stuck in committee since April – HB has been stuck in committee since March
District of Columbia – B 251 – just introduced on 6/15/15 – still in committee


2015 bills defeated:
1) Arkansas – SB 928 – defeated – never made it out of committee
2) Connecticut - HB 5470 / HB 5700 / HB 5718 / HB 5731 / HB 6955 – defeated – never made it out of committee
3) Delaware – SB 156 – defeated for 2015, but will carry over to 2016 – never made it out of committee
4) Florida - SB1120 – defeated – never made it out of committee
5) Hawaii - SB 674/HB 837 – defeated for 2015, but will carry over to 2016 – never made it out of committee, so failed crossover deadline
6) Illinois - SB1858 – defeated – never made it out of committee
7) Iowa - SB 30 – defeated for 2015, but will carry over to 2016 – never made it out of committee
8) Maryland - HB 713 – defeated – never made it out of committee
9) Michigan – HB 4509/SB 371 – defeated – never made it out of committee
10) Nevada - SB 398 – defeated – never made it out of committee
11) Oklahoma – HB 1787 – defeated in 2015, but will carry over to 2016 – never made it out of committee
12) Oregon – S 913 – defeated – passed Senate – House committee sent it into a work session and it never made it out
13) Rhode Island – H 5660 – defeated – committee sent for further study and nothing transpired
14) Vermont - HB 297 – defeated – never made it out of committee
15) Virginia - SB 1215 – defeated – as assigned to committee and then stricken from the docket
16) Washington – SB 5241/HB 1131 – defeated for 2015, but will carry over to 2016 – never made it out of committee
17) Georgia – defeated - never received a bill number
18) New York bill defeated that would outlaw the ownership of elephant ivory.

I think this is the same person that Tom posted about in post 9
http://www.guitarpartsandmore.com/

Well then, since you say so.... it has to all be good, right?

Wrong.... maybe we can get this shameless commercial promotion deleted, please? Don't want the OLF to get in trouble for posts that promote the commercial trade of contraband....

Makes no difference to me if the implementation of the ban is difficult to understand, lagging in some locations, etc. ivory is NOT necessary for Lutherie - period. Bone is harder, denser, much more available, buffs up to look fantastic, and very much an upgrade over ivory so why go there.

Still sick about Cecil the Lion (RIP) and think that this dentist should be fed to the lions.... or perhaps the root canal that lasts for all of eternity....

Off to work for me.