How to pack instruments for shipping.

Darryl Hattenhauer

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Thanks, Dave Guard Man. (Do you know who Dave Guard was?)

It's interesting reading even if you aren't going to ship something.

By the way, Mike Stanger, who used to work for Gibson, says that UPS and Fed Up will be reluctant to settle insurance claims if you use crumpled newspaper. Personally, I don'r see how peanuts could be as good as blister pack.

Any other opinions out there in Guild land?
 

GardMan

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I must say those links make me think twice about taking any of my guitars on the plane! I usually packed the cases up with extra t-shorts, socks, etc (clean, of course!)... I have heard of guitars getting skewered by forklifts (think it happened to ne of Stan Roger's)but never heard of the headstock breaking off before.

In fact, my '72 D35 will no longer travel... that's one of the reasons I gave my wife for getting a new old Guild off eBay... (Needing different guitars for different tunings also works).

My G37 actually came just in a box w foam peanuts and newspaper... no case. The box got punctured... but whatever did it missed the guitar (fortunately). Next time I buy an instrument w/o a case included, I will send the seller one of mine to ship in.

I always get asked about the name... I'll have to learn some Kingston Trio tunes and go on the road. Alas, we are not related, and I am in no way as talented. Another interesting, and perhaps real, connection of my name is to the Pont du Gard in France... a Roman aqueduct built in 2-4 BC.
 

john_kidder

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Another great set of packing tips is here: Archtops.com No need for flatop folks to worry about removing the bridge, but the rest is great advice.

My only addition is that I also use about six feet of parachute cord (1/8" braided nylon) in a figure-eight pattern around the neck and the bouts of the case to make sure it doesn't open, accidentally or "accidentally".

The beauty of newspaper in the case (as opposed to peanuts, etc.) is that's really a very flexible cushioning layer and can be mashed into the really small spaces down around the neckblock. Peanuts are good as loose fill for empty space, newspaper is good as compressed packing in tight spaces. AND, it will not mess up the finish.

Yes, headstocks do break off, it's sort of a whiplash effect. Pad 'em up with whatever you've got.

Best guitar shipping/travel tip I've heard was from a very experienced festival player, who travelled with a large padded gig bag and a hardshell case. When he gets on the airplane, he packs his clothes, toiletries, etc., in the gig bag, and packs the guitar (properly, as above) in the hard case for shipping. On arrival, he transfers the personal stuff to the hotel drawers (or to the hard case), and does his gig-to-gig, stage-to-stage local travels with the gig bag. Nifty idea - I plan to try it out next trip to Europe.
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Jeff

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Headstock breaks, kinetic energy??

The term kinetic energy came to me a while back. The tension from
the strings, tuned to pitch, in effect stores a goodly load of energy in the guitar necks.

This energy is looking to get loose all the time. Not a problem under normal circumstances since the neck is engineered to handle the tension.

Add inertia from a drop or blow & the stored energy suddenly gets a boost or spike & finds the weakest link in the system. Apparently the spot where the Headstock angles back is a common weakest link.

I've seen new production guitars that are splined at this spot during the manufacturing process, I'd be curious to know if this actually adds any meaningful strength.

Barring a direct blow to the neck, Releasing the string tension during shipping logically should go a long way towards eliminating headstock breakage. Still, I'd guess we would all be surprised how little force it would take to break the headstock off of a guitar neck. Probably a moderately sharp rap on a table would do the trick even without stored energy.
 

West R Lee

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No Coastman......I think P is a closet old hippie.....he just happens to be one that still has his brain intact....and working very well I might ad. Wish I could say the same. :p

West
 

Mr. P ~

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coastie99 said:

P........... If you did that, you'd have to s**t through your ribs !!!

I never thought about it that way!!

I do have a surprising amount of active brain cells considering everything. I will tell you this though, the retreival rate on my hard drive is Freeaakking slooooooooow.

pst...and between you and me man.....Dave's not here!!
:shock:
 

West R Lee

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No man...............................I'M DAVE!

You just got me to thinking about Ashley Roachclip of the Jefferson Hairpie :D .

West
 

Mr. P ~

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You've probably guessed already........1952. I am two days older than dirt! Darn proud to have lived this long too! 8)
 
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