Buying from different climate

Browsing through the listings, I saw a beautiful lute that piqued my interest. Then I noticed it was in Anchorage. With such a delicate instrument, I'd be nervous about what such a drastic environment change could do.

Anyone have experience with big environment changes to an acoustic instrument? I know experiences with lutes themselves will be minimal; but they tend to have minimal finish on the soundboard, and just shellac on the bowl.

Chris

Probably like most of us, I would avoid shipping in the winter. But, Anchorage is in Southern AK, and has weather that is quite different than what you might think of for AK winters. Spring is only a month away. If you were to have it mailed the beginning of the week, it would probably be on the plane heading south that day. I definitely wouldn't mail it on a Friday. I'm pretty sure everything is airmailed out of AK.

Tom

Let it acclimate and I'd bet it will be fine. It's not the temp, it's the sudden change in temp that's problematic.

When I first started buying and selling guitars I freaked about shipping anything and someone reminded me that the big companies ship thousands of guitars a year all year round, all around the world, in all kinds of climates. Certainly modern candy-coated (poly) guitars don't have the concerns of a fine vintage lacquer masterpiece, but there are plenty of those shipped all the time as well.

When I sell a guitar I pack it up the night before following all the rules (loosen strings, no bubble wrap in the case, support the neck, etc.) then let it sit overnight. Remember, the box is dead-air insulation, as is the packing, as is the case. That means that even if the box is moved from hot to cold it will take a bit for the core (the instrument) to change temperature. That is good.

What gets people into trouble is when the guitar sits in a cold warehouse over the weekend, gets shipped on a 0-degree day, and they bring it into their warm house rip open the box and open the case, thus letting all that warm air hit the finish. I've read of people sitting in shock as they watched the lacquer crack, the sound forever etched in their minds.

Acclimation is key. BTW, did you know you should acclimate hard drives, too? I could tell you stories.

I'm with GAD on this one. I've bought and sold/shipped probably 300 to 400 guitars over the last 15 years. About 95% of that has involved shipping. I've never had even one instance of issues due to severe weather. I did have one I shipped that arrived with a cracked neck but that was my own fault. I packed it poorly. The USPS stood behind the claim and I came out o.k.

When I ship I basically do everything that GAD mentioned. I also contact the buyer and convince them that the shipment should take place Monday thru Wed. I always use USPS Priority Mail and that pretty much insures it will be received by Sat. and avoid sitting in cold warehouses or trucks over a weekend (same thing goes for Holidays).

Lastly, I always remind the buyer that they should let the guitar sit in the box inside their home for several hours, then take the case out of the box and let it sit unlatched for a few hours, then unlatch the case and let that sit a couple hours and then finally open the case and inspect the guitar. Of course, I have no way of insuring they do that but I've had no issues yet.

When I receive a guitar I follow the steps laid out in the last paragraph.

I don't know if this is true or not but I've often wondered if shipping in hot/humid weather isn't potentially more problematic than shipping in cold weather.

I once had a shipper leave a guitar for four days on my front stoop, in July, in Virginia, while I was away on vacation, even though delivery was supposed to require signature. High's were well into the 90's, with typically high humidity.

Not only did the guitar not get stolen, it was perfectly fine.

"no bubble wrap in the case,"

Why is that? I've received shipped guitars both with and without bubble wrap in the case and didn't know that was a "no-no".

Normally I wouldn't be too concerned; but the combination of Alaska and lute raised the thought. Lutes are just so lightly finished, compared with guitars, as well as being much lighter in construction. I've asked for more info; especially whether there's a case.

Jerry1 said:

"no bubble wrap in the case,"

Why is that? I've received shipped guitars both with and without bubble wrap in the case and didn't know that was a "no-no".

Click to expand...

Depending upon the type of finish on the guitar, & the chemical makeup of the bubble wrap, you might end up with the bubble-wrap pattern imprinted on the guitar's finish.

Why no bubble wrap on guitars or in guitar cases:

GAD said:

Why no bubble wrap on guitars or in guitar cases: .....

Click to expand...

Or octopuses

In my own experience humidity changes tend to be more of an issue than temperature. I do, though, follow the precautions mentioned above. (Case in point: just last week, during a cool* snap, I let a minty & quite rare (though not all that valuable $$-wise) hollowbody guitar rest in its shipping box in my den for a couple days before taking it out.) A guitar acclimated to low humidity—for me this means in the 30% range—typically takes time to re-center itself once in my ~50% humidity house. I just leave such an instrument in its case for awhile before putting it on a stand for another while. Then if necessary I'll make adjustments to it.

-Dave-

(*Cool for this weird non-winter, that is.)

Hea d back from the seller; its in great condition, BUT, no case. I shudder to think what could happen to a complex shaped instrument like a lute being shipped that far without a case.

I wonder how much flights to Anchorage are?

AcornHouse said:

Hea d back from the seller; its in great condition, BUT, no case. I shudder to think what could happen to a complex shaped instrument like a lute being shipped that far without a case.

I wonder how much flights to Anchorage are?

Click to expand...

No worries - just wrap it in bubble wrap!

I was thinking along the same lines but more like pillows or something like that, and then into a regular cardboard box to ship it in.
Maybe put the padded instrument inside a 50-gallon bag just to "keep things in place", and fill up voids in box with packing peanuts.
Go USPS for best chances of damage-free shippment as Richardp69 mentioned in a recent thread.
Still have to trust seller to do it up right, but sounds like you can talk to 'em about it, so just trying to offer an idea.

:friendly_wink:

Well, I pulled the trigger on the lute. Nervous about getting it shipped from Alaska (0-10°) to Ohio (40-60°) and no case, but it's too nice for the price. I'll post a NLD when it arrives and settles in.
https://reverb.com/item/4368512-lute-lynn-elder-2003-yellow-orange-shellac

Very cool instrument, Chris!

walrus

I'll say this about the shop I'm getting it from. He sent pics of the packing process; cutting up a cello foam case and bubble wrap, then double boxing. Should be shipped out Monday.
Also talked to the builder, who confirmed that it is his, and had yew for the bowl wood, which I'd suspected. He also said that it had a violin-style oil varnish, rather than shellac, so I shouldn't have any issues with finish cracking.