As I mentioned above, I am a guitar maker, and deal with rare and endangered woods all the time. These woods that are on the CITES list are all regulated. Any of this wood imported must be certified "pre-ban" or certified as harvested from trees that have fallen naturally. There is very tight regulation on this matter, and use of these woods is no longer contributing to the deforestation and extinction process. The regulation is about as tight as elephant ivory, so it is pretty tight. The prices have increased commensurately with the reduced availability. It is not unusual to pay as much as $5000 for enough premium Brazilian Rosewood to make the back and sides of an acoustic guitar. That is just the raw material cost. I also sometimes use elephant ivory for bridges and nuts, and these all come with a sealed certification of its legal pre-ban origin, and the papers must accompany the new guitar when sold, and even during the future owners' possession. No more elephants are being slaughtered for this ivory that is certified. However, there are still poachers and black marketeers that are unscrupulous criminals who engage in this illegal trade. They are strongly punished when caught engaging in this activity, whether it is Brazilian Rosewood or Elephant Ivory. Any manufacturer who is using these products, and is following the regulations, is not contributing to the demise of these species. In fact, they pay high prices to ensure compliance with these regulations, and to ensure that they are not doing harm to the environment.
