A strong way to ship a guitar!

[mcduffnw]

Originally Posted by TJNies

I've used much the same techniques. All of my sales have been Martins, and I save the original boxes and packing materials. I still worry about damage, so I supplement them.

As far as additional protection, I have found what works for me.
* Immobilize the guitar within the case, then the case within the box (OE Martin in my situation):
Newspaper fill in the headstock area then wrap the whole headstock in bubble wrap. Not so much that you stress the headstock, but enough to hold in place.
Any other voids get stuffed with newspaper.
* Close the case and shake; if I feel any movement at all, repack until none exists.
* Fit the case (now in a plastic bag) into the bottom support from Martin
Slip in thin styrofoam sheets against all four sides of the body section
Fill the neck area with crushed heavy paper or newspaper.
Fashion foam blocks on each side of the neck area to disallow any sideways movement should the top cardboard fail
* Fit the Martin top cardboard support.
* Close the box temporarily and shake the box; any movement requires repacking until none is detected.
* Tape it up and ship. I have found it good practice to print a second shipping label and leave inside the top of the box, just in case the outside one is damaged.

I know this may be overkill, but it works for me, and adds little extra weight (and retains the outside box dimensions). When the new owner of my former 0000 sinker opened the box, he texted me immediately and said it was the best packing job he had ever seen!

Hi TJNie...and all

Some thoughts from my 20 years packing for my Ebay biz, and 10 1/2 years packing for Guitar Center...literally thousands of items at GC alone. Guitars, Amps, Drum sets, Keyboards, PA Speakers, Mixers, you name it...GC sold it...and I packed and shipped it.

NEVER wrap or touch any part of a guitar with bubble wrap. Sometimes the plastic used in the bubble wrap will chemically react to certain guitar finishes and leave "bubble wrap" pattern marks in the instrument where it touched it.

Newsprint can also sometimes leave ink impressions in, or on the finish as well.

Use plain brown craft paper or plain white, no color prints, paper or paper towels if you want to pad the headstock, and or any open spaces inside the guitar case...but...

You really don't want to pack the guitar to tight in the case either, as if you completely immobilize it, it can cause blunt force shock trauma damage to the instrument. It does not hurt for the guitar to have a wee little bit of wiggle room, as it can help disperse any shock trauma throughout the guitar and then into the case and packing material, instead of just focusing it, with no dispersion/release point, other than into the guitar itself.

Bubble wrap is much better packing material than Styro anything, as it is lighter, more flexible in how you can shape it into and around products and boxes, and much much more crush proof,...if used properly...than Styro products...ESPECIALLY on large and heavy items including guitars.

Basically, if you have seen how Taylor and Martin pack, that is a pretty good blueprint, as they ship many many thousands of guitars a year, with very little damage...and none of the hyper packing jobs you can do will stop a fork lift tyne, and not very often, a 15 to 20 foot drop off of a shipping roller coaster track in the UPS, USPS, or FedEx warehouses.


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

[TJNies]

Originally Posted by mcduffnw

Hi TJNie...and all

Some thoughts from my 20 years packing for my Ebay biz, and 10 1/2 years packing for Guitar Center...literally thousands of items at GC alone. Guitars, Amps, Drum sets, Keyboards, PA Speakers, Mixers, you name it...GC sold it...and I packed and shipped it.

NEVER wrap or touch any part of a guitar with bubble wrap. Sometimes the plastic used in the bubble wrap will chemically react to certain guitar finishes and leave "bubble wrap" pattern marks in the instrument where it touched it.

Newsprint can also sometimes leave ink impressions in, or on the finish as well.

Use plain brown craft paper or plain white, no color prints, paper or paper towels if you want to pad the headstock, and or any open spaces inside the guitar case...but...

You really don't want to pack the guitar to tight in the case either, as if you completely immobilize it, it can cause blunt force shock trauma damage to the instrument. It does not hurt for the guitar to have a wee little bit of wiggle room, as it can help disperse any shock trauma throughout the guitar and then into the case and packing material, instead of just focusing it, with no dispersion/release point, other than into the guitar itself.

Bubble wrap is much better packing material than Styro anything, as it is lighter, more flexible in how you can shape it into and around products and boxes, and much much more crush proof,...if used properly...than Styro products...ESPECIALLY on large and heavy items including guitars.

Basically, if you have seen how Taylor and Martin pack, that is a pretty good blueprint, as they ship many many thousands of guitars a year, with very little damage...and none of the hyper packing jobs you can do will stop a fork lift tyne, and not very often, a 15 to 20 foot drop off of a shipping roller coaster track in the UPS, USPS, or FedEx warehouses.


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

The bubble wrap never touches the finish; the newspaper wraps first with the bubble wrap over the top.
Never been an issue, although I understand your concern.

And while I agree in principle to your comment about needing to survive a forklift, that isn't the whole truth. "A little" play can cause a neck break. You need to disable (but not so much that it has no movement at all - as I mentioned). You may want to read the whole post.

You need to pack to the shipper's requirements to be covered to convince them to reimburse. A forklift causes identifiable damage; a minor drop does not (necessarily). A larger drop will cause major damage to the box that they cannot - hopefully - reject.
I try to reduce the risk of unobvious shipper damage so they cannot reject he claim.

In any case I ship infrequently and my style works for me.