Shipping guitars??
Jack Dotson
from Corpus Christi, TX to Connecticut. It will be in it's HSC and I'm
going today to try and find a guitar box for it, but what I'm really worried
about is the whether (humidity). Will the few days it will be in shipping
via UPS ground have any adverse effects? Also, anyone know how the
manufactures ship?
Thanks
Jack
Kathy Myers
Dotson" <jdot...@earthlink.net> wrote:
*********
Hi!
Before I go off about packing, let me just say one thing. . .
ALL SHIPPERS SUCK! And SUCK, BIG TIME!
None of them cares a rat's lunchbox if your guitar makes it
or not! And they will make you fight TOOTH AND NAIL for
remuneration if you need to collect from them! AND - they
will try to confuse the issue by giving you the biggest
run around you have ever heard!
AND. . .
When you are packing the box, remember that ALL shippers
expect that your package WILL FALL FOUR FEET from the
conveyor to the ground! Many times during transit!
SCARY!
So. . . BE ANAL!
Take notes! Keep the tracking info!
First off - LOOSEN ALL THE STRINGS and put some bubble wrap between
them and the neck so they don't move around in there.
Then. . .you want to make sure you SUPPORT THE HEADSTOCK!
Take bubble wrap and pad the headstock! Fill in the hole in the case!
If there are any gaps in the fit around the body, fill them in with paper
towels or bubble wrap.
Put a SHIPPING LABEL INSIDE THE CASE! (TO and FROM and PHONE #s)
Then put the whole thing inside a HUGE trash bag and seal it up!
(this will slow down humidity changes!)
THEN wrap it in bubble wrap! The Bigger the bubble the better!
(wrap it as much as the box will allow! This will NOT be cheap!
You should NOT have to pay for the shipping materials! The
receiver is responsible for those costs! As well as the cost of
the shipping PLUS insurance!)
PUT A SHIPPING LABEL ON THE BUBBLE WRAP! (TO and FROM and PHONE #s)
Then put it in the box!
Stuff bubble wrap in ever nook and cranny!
Tape the box with FIBERGLASS STRAPPING TAPE!
(all around - length/width/center/ends/EVERYTHERE!)
BE ANAL!
Cover all strapping tape with clear packing tape!
BE ANAL!
PUT A SHIPPING LABEL ON THE BOX! (TO and FROM and PHONE #s)
(I glue it on AND tape over the WHOLE label with clear
tape! I do NOT say it's from "BlanchardGuitars!" Sometimes
I even write FROM: Blanchard Sewage Treament Supplies!"
GUITARS ARE STOLEN ALL THE TIME BY SHIPPER'S EMPLOYEES!
UPS and/or FedEx will undoubtedly stick their own label on it,
but make sure the PHONE NUMBERS DO NOT GET COVERED UP!
(phone numbers can save you, believe me!)
When the shipper comes, MAKE SURE THE BARCODE ON THE LABEL
IS SCANNABLE!
DO NOT LET THE BOX OUT OF YOUR SIGHT UNTIL THE BAR CODE IS
SCANNABLE!
DELAY SHIPPING IF THE DRIVER/COUNTER PERSON CAN NOT MAKE
THE BAR CODE SCANNABLE!
BE ANAL!
INSURE IT FOR FULL VALUE PLUS THE CASE!
Take DETAILED notes when dealing with shippers!
Keep a copy of the tracking number!
Wave an Eagle feather over the box as is leaves your possession!
:-)
May the Goddess of Flawless Shipping be with you!
Keep on keepin' on!
Kath
ThirdHandToTheMan
BlanchardGuitars.com
--
Kathy Myers
Administrative Assistant to Mark Blanchard - Luthier
Blanchard Guitars
Crowley Lake, California
http://www.BlanchardGuitars.com
http://www.qnet.com/~markath/purplepages.htm
Howard Klepper
Then. . .you want to make sure you SUPPORT THE HEADSTOCK! Take bubble wrap and pad the headstock! Fill in the hole in the case!
It's not the humidity that's a problem; it's the time they spend playing rugby with the guitar that's risky. FedEx has a better reputation for handling guitars than UPS, but it must be FedEx AIR, not ground, which is really the old RPS.
Kathy, are you having trouble defecating? (;->
Kathy Myers
<nos...@all.thanks> wrote:
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Nice thing to say!
Kath
rob taft
I would agree with everything Kathy says and like another post, I
would pay the extra money to ship it FedEx Air. Less days the better.
Make sure its delivered to an address where you or someone you trust
will be there at the time its delivered. I've shipped several guitars
from Savannah Ga to my office in DC (FED EX next day air) and all of
them have been packed much like Kathy described. All have arrived
intact without a problem. r/rob
Jack Dotson
FEDEX air is too expensive to be an option with the distance involved. I
got a guitar box today that fits like it was made for this case, and I will
get a bunch of bubble wrap and some large garbage bags tomorrow. Man I'm
shipping one and have two being shipped to me, hope UPS does me right.
Thanks again everyone, you've been a great help.
"rob taft" <robt...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:3c2e4129...@netnews.worldnet.att.net...
chas
guns, bees, ashes of the dear departed, drugs, money... one time I delivered
a guityar that wasn't even wrapped- it had the address and postage taped to
the back; It was out of tune so I started to tune it up before delivery, but
was afraid I'd pop a string on the guy- it made it through hundreds of miles
of postal delivery just fine.
chas
Kathy Myers <mar...@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:markath-2912...@56k-socal-02-17.dial.qnet.com...
Jack Dotson
8^)
"chas" <cbre...@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:hMsX7.238083$bs2.44...@news02.optonline.net...
Peter MacDonald
wrote:
>BE ANAL!
>Wave an Eagle feather over the box as is leaves your possession!
>
Damn, I knew I was forgetting something!
Peter
peter huggins
Ebay (all either Stellas or Harmonys). Two of the guitars and the banjo
came thru the process in excellent shape, and one of those had no case;
these were all well packed with lots of bubble wrap around the
instrument, which was then made immobile inside the shipping box either
by styrofoam peanuts or crumpled newspaper, or in one case shredded
newspaper -- that one worked very well, he just ran the newsprint thru a
paper shredder and packed it -very full- with the stuff.
In one unfortunate case the neck joint pulled despite considerable
wrapping--but that was a 1/2 size guitar with no truss rod, and the
seller did not loosen the strings (and God only knows what kind of
temperature extremes the package was put through at the various UPS
transfer points). In that case, the seller cheerfully refunded my money
including the shipping costs, and I got to keep the guitar, a real class
act, Thank You.
The other two guitars were already pretty trashed before shipping. ("AS
IS" means just that -- caveat emptor. . . . )
I have had the best results with the US Postal Service, Priority Mail.
United Parcel Service has a bad rep with many people as regards to
guitar shipping, but if the guitar is packed securely it will survive
the journey, just be sure to detune those strings !
Happy New Year To All Of You -- Hope it`s a better year than this one
just ending.
P.S. :
He is probably too nice a guy to mention it, but Neil Harpe has a
beautiful '20s Stella on Ebay right now, with the floral decals and MOTS
fingerboard. (I bet he knows a thing or two about packing and shipping
instruments....)
Grins, Peter
http://community.webtv.net/guitarmaniax/THISISTHE