Advice needed regarding exporting a guitar from the UK to the USA (CITES - Rosewood issue)

The majority of interest in a guitar that I have for sale has come from outside of the E.U., but due to the presence of a rosewood fingerboard it has become clear that it is going to be difficult to export.

Has anyone here in the UK had much experience\success when exporting guitars with rosewood materials overseas, to the USA in particular?
How much of a hassle is the extra paper work, time and costs in regards to getting a CITES permit?

Thanks in advance!

 

Yeah, these things always cause a headache or two...
Anyway, I have found help from an individual who has dealt with a very similar situation in the past. Very fortunate!

 

I'm not sure if I can offer much of an insight into the process at this stage. I'm not even sure if my submitted application will be successful!

The process of filling it in is not too long or complicated, but it was good to have access to some already completed examples. You can ignore a good third of the sections since you're not dealing with live specimens.
The attached instructions are quite helpful and there is plenty of CITES reference material on various websites, but it can be difficult to hone in on exact information for musical instruments.

In my particular case, I am 're-exporting' the guitar. The purpose of exporting is under 'T' for 'trade\commercial purposes'.
You are required to explain that the guitar was built and purchased pre-CITES 2017 regulations\convention, and provide evidence of this e.g. serial numbers, certificates, receipts, photos, scans of catalogues...
You are required to make a statement that there is no Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) present in the construction of the guitar. I wrote down the generic name for Rosewood - Dalbergia spp. - since Ibanez hasn't provided exact sources for their fingerboard materials. I also explained that it is likely that they used Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) since it is the industry standard for fretboards since Brazilian Rosewood became a mostly banned material after 1969.

That's very kind of them to offer that service. Who knows how long it will take the APHA to process all of those applications?! I was warned that it could take well over three months to complete. Yikes.

 

A small update - I was surprised to receive the permit from the APHA just after Christmas. I must have done something right!
It only took a little over two weeks to acquire. Nice.

 

Another update.

The happy buyer received the guitar yesterday.
The CITES permit was not processed - all copies were still attached to the shipped packaging.

Perhaps a waste of time and money. This could be an early indication of them not bothering with musical instruments...the rules are due to be changed in the near future.