Shipping a Vintage Archtop to Canada in the Winter

[doc w]

I plan to have a 30s Gibson L-12 shipped from the Boston area to me in Canada, probably some time in January or February. I live in Ottawa, Ontario which many of you know can be extremely cold in winter (minus 15 or even colder is not unusual) and also very dry. These conditions are among the worst for any acoustic guitar.

Have any of you done this? What do I have to take into account. Is there a chance it will be left sitting around in a freezing cold warehouse or do most courier services keep things at a reasonable temperature?

[2bornot2bop]

I’d not risk it unless it’s shipped “next day air.” At that point the guitar would likely sit in customs for 24 hours. But ground shipping, 4getaboutit!

[va3ux]

I live in southern Ontario - Niagara Region where the climate is somewhat moderated by proximity to Lake Ontario. It gets cold here but generally not as cold and dry as Ottawa. This past January I had an Eastman archtop shipped from California to here via Fedex Ground and it was in transit for about a week. The guitar passed through plenty of cold areas in the US before it finally made it here. It was around -10C here at the time. I just let it sit in it's case for about a day before I opened it up. No problems or issues.

The guitar probably went through several cycles of warm/cold exposure as it moved out of unheated trucks into heated warehouses and back into unheated trucks.

[Rene Asologuitar]

I would not do it, especially on winter.
Rene

[va3ux]

Doc

Now that I think about it, I've been in several courier distribution centres over the years and they are all heated. So the guitar is not likely to sit in a freezing warehouse at all. But it will be in a freezing transport truck at times. Fedex overnight is expensive but it might be worth it in this case, just to minimize the overall exposure time.

[wintermoon]

generally your instruments do best in an environment that you feel comfortable in but just plain cold won't typically do any damage, it's sudden temp changes that can cause checking/cracks.
Going from an unheated truck in the cold to a warm warehouse typically won't due any harm either if the guitar is well packed in a case in the box, it takes quite awhile for the heat to penetrate, so it'll warm up over time.
Now immediately opening a box/ case in a heated room that just came out of a freezing truck where it might have been sitting, different story altogether, not advisable.

[RJVB]

Take a nice trip to drink some tea and eat some lobster?

Have the instrument shipped with the strings off or completely slackened, and the bridge packaged separately (its position marked with low-tack tape before taking it off ). That should also allow to use plenty of bubble wrap which should be a pretty good insulator against temp changes.

Ask the seller if he has an unheated, dry room where he can keep guitar and packaging material a day or too, to ensure he doesn't trap unnecessary humidity which could condensate (and then freeze) if ever the package does sit in the cold for a longer time.

[Jim Soloway]

You have it shipped to one of the parcel shipping/delivery services in Ogdensburg NY and you drive the 70 minutes to pick it up and bring it home in you nicely warmed car clearing it through customs (and paying the sales tax) on the way. There's one called OburgShippng.com that's right near the border crossing. If you wait until Christmas travel is over, you'll be about 3 to 4 hours total round trip including the border crossings in both directions.

[va3ux]

You have it shipped to one of the parcel shipping/delivery services in Ogdensburg NY and you drive the 70 minutes to pick it up and bring it home in you nicely warmed car clearing it through customs (and paying the sales tax) on the way. There's one called OburgShippng.com that's right near the border crossing. If you wait until Christmas travel is over, you'll be about 3 to 4 hours total round trip including the border crossings in both directions.

This is probably the best solution.

I used to do the same thing. Living in the Niagara region I used to have guitars and other U.S purchases shipped to a service in Niagara Falls, NY, then drive across the border to retrieve it. Shipping was far cheaper and I knew the guitar was in good hands until I 'got over the river' to pick it up.

[RJVB]

I hear that this year's North-American winter is just a little bit more winter-like than it has been in the past 20y or so, so driving might be an interesting expedition too?

[Jim Soloway]

I hear that this year's North-American winter is just a little bit more winter-like than it has been in the past 20y or so, so driving might be an interesting expedition too?

As long as it's not during an actual blizzard, most Canadians are pretty used to that and are well prepared. Winter is a pretty normal occurance here (and the OP lives in a snow belt).