String players whose bows sport ivory tips are already well aware of the difficulties posed when traveling with a CITES-restricted material. When rosewood was added to the CITES list in 2017, the musical world groaned once again. Though it is a relative rarity to have an entire stringed instrument made of rosewood (this is far more common in the guitar world), it is often used for fittings. Traveling musicians faced a permitting process and feared the seizure of their instruments at international borders.
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At a meeting this week, however, a key CITES committee approved an exemption for finished instruments and parts and accessories made of rosewood to be transported freely throughout the world without permits. Raw-material rosewood will remain a CITES-regulated material.