WARNING! Guitar horror pictures...........

rmyAddison · #1 05-06-2009, 05:38 AM

Mods, sorry please move to the general thread

This is not a happy story.

Start with this...................
another shot of the box which is compressed, obviously dropped
Pix in Louie's posts below, they were too large, see below

one more
Pix in Louie's posts below, they were too large, see below

What was inside? One of only 29 every made Martin OM-45 Tasmanian Blackwood guitars, uber expensive. The drop did this, the crack is on the other side too, the headstock can be bent back by hand.........
Pix in Louie's posts below, they were too large, see below

The binding at the other end of the neck slightly separated, must have been quite a jolt. Notice the wavy grain, a cheap piece of wood on a 5 figure guitar? Nope, it's called "flamed" Englemann, perfectly bookmatched, tons of silking, the "waves" perfectly match and the top looks three dimensional in person.
Pix in Louie's posts below, they were too large, see below

This shows the cracks on both sides, hand carved gold Waverly tuners "not any more".
Pix in Louie's posts below, they were too large, see below

Some before shots.........

The flamed Englemann top

Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides, beautiful........

Torch headstock, gold hand carved tuners, still a sucker for them..........

This is still "in process" with the USPS, Martin has the guitar for repairs, and the final chapter hasn't been written. Repairs are in the thousands!!

My point in posting was this - When you ship a guitar, assume the worst, overpack, overpack, overpack! The shipper is a heartsick as I am, maximum insurance through the post office $5K, a small fraction of what this guitar was worth. Yes it shouldn't have been dropped, but better packing "might" have saved it, learn from our mis-adventure.

Will post the final outcome down the road...........

Mandarb · #2 05-06-2009, 06:16 AM

What a shame....

wthurman · #3 05-06-2009, 06:18 AM

Moved as requested. I'd also suggest smaller pictures of the box for posting - even at extra high-definition it's almost impossible to view them...

Sorry this happened to you!!!

I'm sure you're heartsick.

rlouie · #4 05-06-2009, 06:22 AM

that is sickening, I'm sure that guitar was in a hard case so that means the shipper had to absolutely crush that box to do that kind of damage.........I don't care how you packed that guitar when you crush a guitar box/case like that you'll inevitably get a damaged guitar............looks like they put the blade of a fork lift into that box................

Rich, I sized the pics for you, you can delete the ones in your first post if you like............

rmyAddison · #5 05-06-2009, 06:30 AM

Wade,

Thanks for moving and sorry about the picture size, they weren't that big on Photobucket, I guess the software here allowed them to go back to full rez and Photobucket limits size.

They are huge, my apologies.

vicov · #6 05-06-2009, 06:31 AM

Rich, your jaw must have dropped through the floor when you saw that, I can't begin to imagine how you must have felt. I hope you get a satisfactory resolution.
Vic

Martin_Nut · #7 05-06-2009, 06:48 AM

Rich,

That is a gut-churning set of pics to look at - sorry! And, you're right, packing around the neck and headstock and filing voids inside the case around the guitar, then packing around the case can help avoid damage. But this one took a shot - WOW. Not sure even the best packing can stop the headstock from whipping around in this sort of instance. Good luck with your claim!

PWoolson · #8 05-06-2009, 06:49 AM

That's a classic whiplash injury. The box likely fell onto it's end (the big crush in the corner) and then fell flat. The falling flat is what will break a neck/headstock.
Too late now, but for future shipping info: Always support the headstock, both front and back, with packing material.

swhoelefp69 · #9 05-06-2009, 06:55 AM

unreal !... that's so sad... i also hope that you get satisfactory results from this... so sorry that happened to you... I'm always shipping/receiving guitars and that is no doubt what we all hope never happens...

rmyAddison · #10 05-06-2009, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWoolson

That's a classic whiplash injury. The box likely fell onto it's end (the big crush in the corner) and then fell flat. The falling flat is what will break a neck/headstock.
Too late now, but for future shipping info: Always support the headstock, both front and back, with packing material.

Paul, this was a trade, I packed my guitar with about a half mile of bubble wrap, in the guitar case, and then completely around the case, and then filled all the voids between the case and the box, thankfully it arrived safely, by FedEx.

Again I'm posting to hopefully save others and stress "overpacking", bubblewrap is cheaper than guitar repairs......by a mile!

ewalling · #11 05-06-2009, 07:32 AM

This is really awful. What is the story? Had you just bought this guitar or had you sent it for adjustments? Either way, any guitar lover would feel for you on this. Fingers crossed for the best solution possible.

rmyAddison · #12 05-06-2009, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewalling

This is really awful. What is the story? Had you just bought this guitar or had you sent it for adjustments? Either way, any guitar lover would feel for you on this. Fingers crossed for the best solution possible.

It was a trade, my 000-42M Clapton (plus some green) for a very rare OM-45 Tasmanian Blackwood, mine arrived safely by FedEx his arrived "abused" by the Post Office. I don't blame the shipper, had it not been dropped there would be nothing to talk about. Martin has the guitar for non-warranty repair, which will probably end up around $4K, ouch!

rlouie · #13 05-06-2009, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmyAddison

It was a trade, my 000-42M Clapton (plus some green) for a very rare OM-45 Tasmanian Blackwood, mine arrived safely by FedEx his arrived "abused" by the Post Office. I don't blame the shipper, had it not been dropped there would be nothing to talk about. Martin has the guitar for non-warranty repair, which will probably end up around $4K, ouch!

so is the trade deal over or are you still interested in the guitar???????????

rmyAddison · #14 05-06-2009, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rlouie

so is the trade deal over or are you still interested in the guitar???????????

We are working something out, hopefully a win-win for both of us, fingers crossed.

When Martin repairs the guitar it will have a new neck, everything else checked/repaired, and will be "as new", but that will be months, something else is "in the works".

beach bob · #15 05-06-2009, 08:42 AM

Major OWIE Rich! Not much more I can add, other than I sympathize. A darn shame that that happened to such a unique instrument. Hopefully the surgery goes well.