How to ship guitars - The StewMac way

AcornHouse

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StewMac has come out with their own shipping system for safe guitar transport. Of course, it’ll cost ya. Although you can get the individual parts relatively cheap, if you have your own stockpile of guitar shipping boxes (I have a little space left in my garage.)

 

twocorgis

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Looks nice, but if it costs like everything else from StewMac, I'll just use my system!
 

GAD

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That's actually pretty cool if you ship a lot. A 10-pack for acoustic is $115. That's cheaper than paying any of the shipping companies to pack for you.
 

wileypickett

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Eleven bucks a box is pretty darn good, IMO. I can buy good quality used guitar boxes (mainy Taylors) at the Music Emporium in Lexington, MA, for five bucks a pop, but that's a good half hour drive for me -- though I'm often in there anyway.

I probably don't ship enough guitars these days to make it worthwhile, but for those who do! (I love Stew-Mac BTW -- I'm a long time customer.)
 

davismanLV

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I think that's just a super deal and looks easy as can be!! Even at the higher cost for the 3-pack (I assume) it's still a good system and something that i would use on occasion. Thanks for posting this, Chris! Seems like something that's been needed for a while..... :encouragement:
 

MLBob

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Pretty cool. Would make a whole lot of sense for someone like me who tends to over-do the packing..... Right GAD ?
But how cool is a is it for the effects geeks that there's a pedal available that helps inflate the airbags ?? :biggrin-new: :biggrin-new: :biggrin-new:

Bob
 

fronobulax

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There has to be a joke about adding an air compressor to your pedal board.

I note many of the folks who discuss shipping spend a lot of time on what happens inside of the case. Presumably that would still be required.

I also note that once again bass players/shippers have to improvise using recycled boxes.
 

JF-30

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I go to the local music stores when I am ready to sell a guitar, I go down and ask them for a box. I always tell them it is one less thing you have to throw in the dumpster. I have only been denied once and that was because they all had just been picked up by the trash man.
 

adorshki

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I also note that once again bass players/shippers have to improvise using recycled boxes.
77484deba23ba374d71cf3b864163b15.1000x563x1.jpg


Bass player?
 

adorshki

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Yep, it was purely a poke-in-the ribs I was pretty sure you'd "get", but I notice that by neglecting to mention Manzarek's use of dual keyboards it gives a false impression that he merely used the bass side of an electric piano:
("keyboardist Ray Manzarek held down the bottom end with his left hand (and right foot) on the Fender Rhodes") but it was actually a separate dedicated 32-key "Piano Bass" he himself described as how he actually covered the bass lines early on, not the full 73 key piano:
"Fender continued to offer the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass and Fender Rhodes Celeste as more portable options, both featuring a compact design and requiring an external amplifier. The Piano Bass consisted of the bottom 32 notes from the 73-key Electric Piano, while the Celeste represented the middle 3 octaves."
(Had to do some deeper-than-usual searching to find a good pic of it)
:smile:
 

Default

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I have used this recently.

I had my sister (who is clueless and can't follow simple instructions) ship some instruments up from Georgia for me. It worked very well for someone who would have just thrown them in a box. The air packing works very well at protecting the cases from impact and shock, and the stiffener in the center prevents crushing. The whole shebang weighs next to nothing so you save a bit on shipping costs. Buying them is made even more pricey because Stew-mac tracks an extra handling fee on top of the shipping costs. I suppose if I ordered more from them, the 80 buck yearly membership might pay off with the free shipping.
 

Guildedagain

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Just buy a guitar, they come in a pretty good box sometimes, worthy of re-use. Then hang on to the blasted things because you're going to ship some guitars out to make up for the ones you bought...

CITES is just a bad memory now, if I'm clear on this, I can ship to the Europe, UK, Japan again without the insanity?

If that's correct, then I need to clear some stuff out, including the big empty guitar boxes I have too many of.
 

Default

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My sister lives about five states away from me, and does not know the slightest thing about shipping stuff. I told her over the phone how to stuff paper in the case to keep instruments from shifting. Does she do that? No. My dad's banjo bounced around in the case on it's headstock. She would not have shipped anything if she had to pack it the way we know how to do. The alternative would be for me to drive 15 hours one way to pick up some relatively worthless instruments. She could not source boxes on her own, because she lives in a small town.
 

SFIV1967

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CITES is just a bad memory now, if I'm clear on this, I can ship to the Europe, UK, Japan again without the insanity?
Not yet, it is still in place until November 26, 2019. And afterwards anything with Brazilian Rosewood (fingerboard, bridge,...) still cannot be traded/shipped over borders.

"...CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) issued an official notification stating that the effective date for the musical instrument exemption from the dalbergia permitting requirement is November 26, 2019."

"...also contains definitions applicable to the exemption. As noted upon the approval of Annotation 15, imports and exports of finished musical instruments, finished parts, and finished accessories will no longer need a CITES permit. The exception applies to all species of dalbergia except Brazilian rosewood, which remains on CITES Appendix I."

Official CITES dokument here:
https://www.cites.org/sites/default/files/notif/E-Notif-2019-055_0.pdf

Ralf
 
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