Guitar shipping advice

[Cliff]

Hey,

I'm having all my guitars and other worldly belongings shipped from San Francisco to Seattle. They're all in hard cases, and I'm going to surround them with packing paper to ensure there's no movement inside the cases. The movers will pack the outside of the cases. Is there anything else I need to worry about? Should I detune the strings before packing? What, if any, sort of truss rod adjustments should I expect to need to make once they've acclimatized in Seattle?

Thanks guys!
Cliff

[straycat]

Just loosen the strings pack them with paper inside the case where there are gaps.
No way of knowing what adjustments if any will be needed. My guess is none during this time of year.

[Axewielder]

The string detuning doesn't accomplish much, unless you detune too far and the trem disengages from the studs and grinds around on the face of your body. Ask me how I know about that.

[toejam]

The string detuning doesn't accomplish much, unless you detune too far and the trem disengages from the studs and grinds around on the face of your body. Ask me how I know about that.

How do you know about that?

[Axewielder]

How do you know about that?

I've got a BCR that suffered that fate. It was being shipped to a previous owner and the trem came loose that way and did some damage near the trem route. The body was nearly mint otherwise. That owner disclosed the damage and then sold and shipped it to me (at which point I discovered OTHER undisclosed, unrelated condition issues ).

[j2379]

yes if you detune a guitar with a trem thats on posts, sometimes its best to slack the strings and PULL out a trem spring or 2. most of the time once the same springs are put back its not that far off.

[neilli]

Here's the list that I always send to prospective buyers for their approval, and to guys who are shipping to me:

• Loosen the locking nut and reduce the tension on the strings a bit. Not all the way off, just a little.
• Use bubblewrap to wedge the body and ‘lift’ the neck so the guitar can’t move in the case, and so the headstock tip is as far away from the base / sides of the case as possible.
• Wrap trem arms, keys and other other bits and pieces in bubblewrap and tape them inside the pocket so they can’t scratch the guitar
• If the guitar has a non recessed Floyd, I put bubblewrap under the bridge so it can’t impact the face of the body
• If the case still shuts easily, I’ll put a sheet of bubblewrap on top of the whole guitar
• Shut the case and tape it closed
• Wrap the case in bubblewrap
• Pack the box out so the case can’t move, with bubblewrap / peanuts at the ends

It makes me chuckle how much effort many of us make to protect guitars we ship, whereas when I get new stuff from Jackson, it's just in a case, in a box. Nothing extra at all..

[toejam]

I've got a BCR that suffered that fate. It was being shipped to a previous owner and the trem came loose that way and did some damage near the trem route. The body was nearly mint otherwise. That owner disclosed the damage and then sold and shipped it to me (at which point I discovered OTHER undisclosed, unrelated condition issues ).

Nice.

[toejam]

It makes me chuckle how much effort many of us make to protect guitars we ship, whereas when I get new stuff from Jackson, it's just in a case, in a box. Nothing extra at all..

And it's sad that most guitar manufacturers do just that.

[Axewielder]

Here's the list that I always send to prospective buyers for their approval, and to guys who are shipping to me:

• Loosen the locking nut and reduce the tension on the strings a bit. Not all the way off, just a little.
• Use bubblewrap to wedge the body and ‘lift’ the neck so the guitar can’t move in the case, and so the headstock tip is as far away from the base / sides of the case as possible.
• Wrap trem arms, keys and other other bits and pieces in bubblewrap and tape them inside the pocket so they can’t scratch the guitar
• If the guitar has a non recessed Floyd, I put bubblewrap under the bridge so it can’t impact the face of the body
• If the case still shuts easily, I’ll put a sheet of bubblewrap on top of the whole guitar
• Shut the case and tape it closed
• Wrap the case in bubblewrap
• Pack the box out so the case can’t move, with bubblewrap / peanuts at the ends

It makes me chuckle how much effort many of us make to protect guitars we ship, whereas when I get new stuff from Jackson, it's just in a case, in a box. Nothing extra at all..

Cool, thx for the list. I may tweak it a bit, I think I prefer a suspension of packing peanuts over bubble wrap outside the case to avoid sloppy gaps. When you buy a lot of guitars like us you tend to start getting picky about these things.

I bought a new mid-range MIK BC Rich with no case, and the factory packing job was phenomenal. It was double-boxed with custom foam packing. Top notch.

[Cliff]

Thanks all! This is great advice.

[neilli]

..I think I prefer a suspension of packing peanuts over bubble wrap..

My concern with peanuts is that they tend to settle to the bottom, plus I'm never 100% sure they've got all the way down - at least with it wrapped and taped, you know exactly what's going on inside the box..

[straycat]

I wouldn't use bubble wrap on a high end guitar with a nitro paint job because the plastic can react to the nitro and soften the paint and leave marks all over it.
Poly it makes no difference.

[Axewielder]

My concern with peanuts is that they tend to settle to the bottom, plus I'm never 100% sure they've got all the way down - at least with it wrapped and taped, you know exactly what's going on inside the box..

OK that's it...it's bubble wrap vs. foam peanuts: New polls! New threads! New debates!

[LaoWai]

Here's the list that I always send to prospective buyers for their approval, and to guys who are shipping to me:

• Loosen the locking nut and reduce the tension on the strings a bit. Not all the way off, just a little.
• Use bubblewrap to wedge the body and ‘lift’ the neck so the guitar can’t move in the case, and so the headstock tip is as far away from the base / sides of the case as possible.
• Wrap trem arms, keys and other other bits and pieces in bubblewrap and tape them inside the pocket so they can’t scratch the guitar
• If the guitar has a non recessed Floyd, I put bubblewrap under the bridge so it can’t impact the face of the body
• If the case still shuts easily, I’ll put a sheet of bubblewrap on top of the whole guitar
• Shut the case and tape it closed
• Wrap the case in bubblewrap
• Pack the box out so the case can’t move, with bubblewrap / peanuts at the ends

It makes me chuckle how much effort many of us make to protect guitars we ship, whereas when I get new stuff from Jackson, it's just in a case, in a box. Nothing extra at all..

^This,

I’ve checked in three guitars as luggage for international flights doing similar, and all arrived just fine. I didn’t use external box though, just the case

Bubble wrap is better as you can pop them afterwards.