Packing the Princeton for shipment to its new owner

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

As a result of my ruptured disc last fall, I've now sold every amp and cabinet over 30 pounds. I just spent several hours over 2 days preparing my Princeton Reverb for safe (or at least the safest possible) shipment to its new owner, and I thought the details might help others not sure how to pack a vintage tube amp well.

First, I removed the tubes and tube shields, wrapped them all in foam, and put them in small boxes. I also removed the knobs and put them in a bubble wrap bag, and I secured these in the back of the cabinet with the power cord. I bundled them all together with duct tape but did not tape anything to the inside of the cab, so as not to mark it.







I cut 2 layers of cardboard to cover and protect the grille, fitted a piece of foam over the control shafts, and cling wrapped it.



Here it is in its cover, ready to be sealed in the inner box (shortened to fit exactly).



Here's the sealed inner box ready for fitting the foam and putting it into the outer box.





Ready to close up -



and ready to ship.



Let's all keep our fingers crossed.....

[Cunamara]

If you gave them a 72 hour window for returning the amp, it might take them that long to get into it to try it out!

But it's necessary to be this thorough when shipping an amp or musical instrument. It's absolutely unknown what that package is going to face during transit. You might get a package handler who's a klutz, just had a fight with their spouse and is really pissed off, is drunk on the job, accidentally dropped a pallet of packages off of a forklift, was in a truck that got in an accident on its way to delivery...

So good luck to you, the buyer and the shipping company!

[Gitterbug]

Great job! I bet you spent hours figuring out how to do it, then doing it in style. It would be interesting to know the failure rate of tube amp shipments. I recall a Finnish boutique manufacturer complaining that something "always" went wrong. I've just spent literally the whole day finishing and packing seven telescopic Toob/Metro cabs and a host of accessories for a customer in Colorado. When you read UPS' instructions and eye all the small print, you know you'll never win even if the carton has obviously been dropped on its corner. Fortunately, only a couple of cases out of some 800.

[Stringswinger]

Congrats on the sale David! My last piece of gear that weighs over 30 pounds in my Rich Made Stealth 12ER at 35 pounds. It won't go on many gigs and will be a home use practice item along with my Superblock US (Boy howdy, do they sound great as a pair!). Seeing as the RE Cab is only worth about $250 these days, I plan on keeping it till the end. Are you keeping your Rich built cabinet?