60 degree temperature difference? Help!!!

pikingrin

pikingrin

what is this?
I've ended up more confused after doing a few hours worth of digging on this... I picked out 2 guitars last week and had them shipped - a PRS semi hollow and a Fender thinline Tele, semi hollow as well. They were supposed to arrive this past Saturday and they didn't ship because a power supply - yeah, a power supply - for a pedal I bought was on backorder so the whole thing was held. $5600 order and it was held because of an $18 power supply...:cursing: *rant over*

Now, instead of being delivered in 40+ degree weather, it's going to be dropped on my front doorstep in 3 degree weather (not counting wind chill) and the two guitars have been sitting either in a FedEx warehouse or on a FedEx truck since yesterday - pretty sure neither of those areas are climate controlled. I will be here to bring them in immediately but I have no idea how long I should wait to unbox them. Temp outside should be around 3 degrees and it's 67-68 in my house...

All I've read has talked mainly about urethane finishes checking but should I treat these like I would an acoustic guitar? I've been waiting since last Monday to play these puppies and don't want to wait longer than I have to to get them out but I don't want to screw the finish/structure up by opening the boxes too soon...

Sorry for the book (and bringing another dead horse to beat), I'm just freaking out a little. This order was easy to place but it's been a fiasco trying to get it...:facepalm: All help is appreciated!
 
I would think that if you bring them inside in the boxes, leave in the boxes for a few hours to slowly warm, then out of the boxes, but left in the cases (assume they shipped in cases) for another few hours, they should be fine.
 
mjbphotos said:
I would think that if you bring them inside in the boxes, leave in the boxes for a few hours to slowly warm, then out of the boxes, but left in the cases (assume they shipped in cases) for another few hours, they should be fine.
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Agree with this - as someone who didn't do it :( -- but this is what my luthier tells me I should have done.
 
Yeah...don't even open the packing boxes....just let them sit there for at least half a day or more at room temp.
Then go to the next step and remove them from the boxes but leave them in the cases if the cases still feel cool/cold to the touch.

I'll be honest....I've had one bad experience with a wintertime guitar shipment...where there was a crack in the finish when I got it, but I returned it for a refund.
These days, when I buy guitars in winter of the dead of summer....I have them sipped to my work address where at least they won't end up sittiing outside on my doorstep all they long.
 
Maybe I'm naive, maybe living in this wonderfully mild climate has my judgement skewed about the bitter cold, but are yall overreacting a little? Don't open the boxes? I understanding not opening the cases and jamming right away. But he can't even open a cardboard box? How much insulating is a cardboard box doing?
 
They shipped in gig bags, both of them. Did you know that if you buy a PRS they don't come with a hardshell case (maybe the more expensive ones do but not the S2 series)? And that even if you buy one for it they still ship them in the gig bag because "hardshell cases aren't built to be thrown around during shipping"? The dealer I bought from at least took the cost of the cases off the price of the guitar but still. They shipped a Jaguar a few months ago in a 3rd party hard case, why not now?

At any rate, waiting a few hours to open main box than another few to open internal box, etc, is what I've read for solid body guitars. I found a thread on a Gibson forum about their hollow bodies in cold temps but there wasn't any real definitive answer. I just have a bad feeling that the area around the F hole in both guitars is going to be checked to shit just because the lack of material and how the temps could affect that area more drastically than the solid portion of the body(?).

Greg, apparently the cardboard insulates (or not) more than you think. With a sealed box it can maintain whatever ambient temperature it has been in for a good while and, although the outside of the box can warm quickly, the air inside takes quite a while. Better safe than sorry, I guess.
 
You'll have to kerb your excitement then. When they arrive, put them in a normal warm room. Leave the house, get to the pub and get absolutely completely off your tits to celebrate. Then you'll just go home, fall into bed and wake up with beautiful new guitars at room temperature. Sorted.
 
Greg_L said:
Maybe I'm naive, maybe living in this wonderfully mild climate has my judgement skewed about the bitter cold, but are yall overreacting a little? Don't open the boxes? I understanding not opening the cases and jamming right away. But he can't even open a cardboard box? How much insulating is a cardboard box doing?
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It's not that the cardboard box has any special insulation...but the closed box and the foam peanuts or bubble wrap will prevent the warm air from reaching the guitar (or what is in the box) too quickly.
I've left things in boxes when it was bitter cold when it sat outside all day. When I tried opening the box say....two hours later...the stuff inside was STILL ice cold....so yeah, it takes awhile to warm up and leaving it in the box does keep that warm-up process slow, which is what you want.

It was fucking 10 degrees at my house this morning...and it's going to be even colder tonight...down to 1 degree. :eek:
 
I don't know how you crazy bastards live in those cold climates. Give me heat and warmth and sticky humidity any day.
 
Sunday we broke 70...But I've always said, "You can always throw on another layer if your cold. There's only so many you can take off before they arrest you!" :eek:
 
10 degrees in KC right now, on its way down to -1 overnight tonight. Colder than a well digger's ass. Colder than the ticket-taker's smile at the Ivar Theater on a Saturday night. Colder than a witch's teat. It's chilly, is what I'm saying.
 
Oh fuck, they'll be fine! I have been living and gigging in Duluth, MN for longer than I'd care to mention. Whether I'm throwing the guitar in the trunk and leaving it there while I go to work for the gig that night or getting home at 03:00 too drunk to bother carrying crap, my guitars will pretty regularly sit in severe (!!!) cold and then move to nice and warm rooms. You can't expect them to stay in tune until they reach room temperature, but if there is any real damage to the guitar itself or the finish, then it was a failure in manufacture. They're just plain tougher than that.
 
It's down to -1 here so far. Nice brisk wind outside, too, windchill of -23 and supposed to be -30 tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the heads up, Ashcat, I think I will still wait though. It's been a pain in the dick so far, it would be my luck that the necks would fall off or something like that.
 
-1! That's insane. I can't wrap my head around that kind of cold. Coldest I've ever felt was maybe like 5-10F, and that was in England, and I wanted to die. Anything less than 50 is too cold for this gulf coast guy.
 
We're at -20 something with windchill now, which is actually warmer than it has been the last couple days.

I should say that I do try to be better about leaving my guitars in the cold, but sometimes there's just nothing for it. I always try to get them into the club as early as possible so they can come up to room temp before I have to play them, but again that's mostly for tuning reasons. I worry more about my electronical things - mostly condensation causing shorts or other damage, but also just that they often heat themselves, which can cause much quicker and more extreme temperature swings which can cause things to crack, break solder connections, etc. I have played gigs where my entire rig was sweating profusely, and it was kinda scary...
 
The enemy of wood is moisture not heat. The heat will accelerate the change so if you are worried about it just turn you heating/air con off before they arrive and back on again slowly after an hour or so. The aim is to get the moisture level stable and avoid a rapid change. Managing temp changes is part of it.. I have no heat at all in my workshop and the temp varies over 12 months from -3 to 35 degrees Celsius but It never varies by a few degrees in a single day. Thats all you really have to worry about unless you live in very extreme climates when you may want to aid the gaining or loss of moisture in the wood.
 
ashcat_lt said:
Oh fuck, they'll be fine! I have been living and gigging in Duluth, MN for longer than I'd care to mention. Whether I'm throwing the guitar in the trunk and leaving it there while I go to work for the gig that night or getting home at 03:00 too drunk to bother carrying crap, my guitars will pretty regularly sit in severe (!!!) cold and then move to nice and warm rooms. You can't expect them to stay in tune until they reach room temperature, but if there is any real damage to the guitar itself or the finish, then it was a failure in manufacture. They're just plain tougher than that.
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:thumbs up:

Thats the kind of advice that keeps me in business.

Thanks..:)
 
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