Way back during the second half of the '70s when I started importing guitars from the U.S. it was mainly crumpled newspaper that was used to keep guitars from moving around in the shipping boxes. When business started to increase it became harder and harder for dealers, who were basically all still small businesses, to get sufficient packing material and the styrofoam 'peanuts' were introduced in the 'vintage guitar' world just like anywhere else. At that point in time a large percentage of the shipping of guitars was done between dealers; remember that this was long before the internet and buying a guitar by mail order was not considered something that the average customer was accustomed to. So a lot of the ‘small time’ dealers were trading guitars among each other to get the stock that would sell within their own ‘territorium’.
The ‘peanuts’ were considered a nuisance by most of the dealers till one of them came up with the brilliant idea of cutting off ladies panty hoses (or stockings) at the knee, fill ‘m up with ‘peanuts’ and tie a knot at the open end and use them as ‘reusable’ stuffing material. He asked other dealers to do the same, which many of them did. When you received a shipment you took the ‘stuffed panties’ out of the shipping box, put them in a storage box and use them again when you had to ship something yourself. So for some time there was this small community of people who were seriously trying to keep their workshops, and consequently the world, free from floating ‘peanuts’.
However since I was on the other side of the ‘big pond’ there were a lot more guitars coming my way than I was sending out, so I ended up with more ‘stuffed panties’ than I could use. With the introduction of more modern packing materials this simple concept of re-using ‘peanuts’ eventually disappeared, but it was great while it lasted.
I still have a box filled with ‘stuffed panties’ somewhere up in my attic and every once in a while I use some when I need to ship something, but I’m afraid that when I’m no longer around there will be somebody cleaning up the attic and wondering what kind of ‘weirdo’ must have lived in the house!
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl