Shipping an Acoustic Guitar

freshmattyp

freshmattyp

New member
I just sold a guitar on E-Bay, now I have to ship the damn thing. Any suggestions for making sure it arrives in one piece? I know to put some padding below the headstock in the case and to detune. Anything else I need to be aware of?
 
Detune the strings. I know you already know this, but it is the most important thing you can do, so it is worth repeating.

Get a box from a guitar store. Pad it well in the case, and put it in the box. You want it to NOT move in the case, and you want for it to take a fairly large hit for the case to move in the box. The easiest thing is to surround it in the box with packing peanuts, though that is really messy for the guy who has to unpack it. Myself, I use a bunch of smaller boxes and bubble wrap to support the case. When you are done, you should not hear anything moving in the box.

Ship UPS or FedEx air. Do NOT ship USPS or FedEx ground. At least, not if you want the guitar to arrive in one piece. I know that a bunch of people are about to come in here and start talking about all their bad experiences with UPS, but they have a much better record than anyone, and to be frank, 99% of the problems people have had with UPS are because they packaged their stuff poorly. Package it right, and it is not a problem.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Standard shipping procedure (from my experience with mail-order places like Musician's Friend) seems to be "double boxing" (putting the item in a box and then putting that box into another box (a hardshell case would probably do for the inner box)...of course you don't want anything to be bouncing around...you could use crumpled-up newspaper to fill in any spaces (and keep everthing in place).
 
gordone said:
Check these links out - From Frank Ford's frets.com


From the Larrivee Site

Good luck with your sale! I have an OM/PW, and I'd hate for anything to happen to ANY SCGC guitar.
Click to expand...

Good tips.

Make sure there is absolutely NO movement within the case and pad it accordingly. Look at it this way; what causes brain trauma from concussion? Your brain flopping around in its ‘case’. For a guitar, the neck at the head stock are especially vulnerable. I just shipped my ’52 Martin 00-18 to its happy new owner and had I not padded the newer case’s interior the guitar would have likely been damaged.

Between the guitar and box, try to maintain a 2: perimeter of padding between the case and box and you should be home free.
 
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