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Thank You Omph. And thank You SS.
It is a gamble to ship guitars. I shipped 2 masterpieces that day. Same FedEx store. One arrived perfectly, the other one didnt.
I am so sorry to the original poster that I seem to have TOTALLY hi-jacked your post. Not my intention at all.
One thing I wanted to say..
The next time I ship a guitar (and as much as I say it wont happen, it will..), I am going to pack the guitar in its case the same way I did this one. Pillows top and bottom of the headstock and dont give the body any room to move about in the case. I will put that in its correctly sized shipping carton. THEN..
I will buy another carton, that is at least 4" larger top and bottom, front and back and left to right. Fill the bottom of the carton with 2" packing peanuts. Place the packed carton into the larger shipping carton. Then fill the rest of the 2" gaps with packing peanuts. Left, Right, front, back and top. Seal the carton and ship.
I believe this will insure that the inner carton will "Float" in the outer carton giving an exponentially higher level of shock absorption. 2 layers of shock absorption.
It wont exactly be gorilla proof. But I think this will help.
I hope that helps someone else avoid the same disaster than I am going through now.
Thank You for all the well wishes and advice I've gotten.
No matter how I slice it, I will lose a lot of money here. But believe it or not, the thing that really gets me is this guitar was really amazing. And these dont come along too often in this kind of condition.
Thanks Guys.
JD
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02-15-2024 03:57 PM
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Joe you are really levelheaded in this and my good friend who was supposed to get this guitar is I sure bummed out by the process. He was looking forward to a Wesmo. It still makes me wonder about ever shipping guitars but in many cases, there is no other real option depending on where the guitar is located. I think if I wanted a guitar from you Joe I would just drive out and buy it in person. It would be a 13-hour drive and cost about $300 in gas. I have flexible schedule so make sense. I realize not many people can or look at this way but it would avoid many issues.
I also know that a well packed guitar in the proper boxes should survive the trip with not problems...............but shiiiiiitttt happens. Falling 20 foot off a conveyor belt is classic.
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Any way you slice it, this is a tragedy right up there with anything Sophocles could cook up.
On the "best way to pack an archtop" subject, I've heard people say that you don't want to put anything around the headstock for this reason. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I guess the thinking is that if there's an impact to the case near the top, there's a bit of an air gap between the guitar and the case.
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many recommend that the headstock be super tightly packed in. my take on shipping is to put some padding under and over the headstock, but unless the body is completely immobilized w a tightly packed in headstock, you're asking for trouble. if the box/case takes a big hit and the headstock is immobilized, and the body is a little loose the body will move and the force will transfer to the headstock.
just my .2
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With a Gibson packing extremely well around the headstock is an absolute priority. What will get the Gibson headstock everytime if it’s not secured is a forward fall with a sudden stop with full string tension. Everything else will stop and the headstock will want to keep moving forward. If it can move forward, that weak spot will give and the break will occur.
Originally Posted by andrew
I’ve been considering making a video to show what I think is important and what isn’t when packing an archtop for shipping. I realize my day will probably come, but at this point I’ve shipped hundreds of Gibson guitars without a headstock/neck injury. I’ve seen them happen to many guitars packed by others though and one common feature to all of them is that the headstock was not secured inside of the case and often the box was also poorly padded around the case.
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Does 2-Day or Overnight (depending on zip) make a difference, compared to Ground? Maybe the less "handling" the better? Originally Posted by ThatRhythmMan
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You don’t want ANYTHING to move inside the case. Vintage cases are generally loose fit and will require more packing around the body. Modern cases tend to fit well enough that minimal additional packing is necessary. Originally Posted by wintermoon
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agreed, but I've seen my share of headstocks almost packed in concrete w/ a loose body by folks that are concerned w/ headstock breaks. Originally Posted by ThatRhythmMan
not good.
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Expedited shipping certainly seems intuitively preferable, but I’m not sure that it necessarily matters that much as far as how much they are handled. When ground shipped they spend a lot more time on a truck though. Originally Posted by tomvwash
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yes, I don't buy into the overnight shipping that so many do, imo it's a waste of $ and riding in a truck won't typically do any damage. Originally Posted by ThatRhythmMan
it's stuff like the conveyor belt fall the deacon mentioned that's an issue.
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Would seem strange to pack the headstock tight and leave the body loose….is that even possible with a Gibson case post 1990? All of mine have fit well. It seems that’s what it would take for this to occur at any rate….headstock packed super tight with tons of play in the body and a courier *intent* on breaking a guitar. With that much play in the body it would be a silver lining if the braces were intact after that abuse.
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Ground shipping does have more transfers though. So I agree nothing dangerous about being on a truck but being loaded and unloaded in 5 different warehouses on a cross country trip increases risk. Still not enough for me to require overnight unless the guitar is sufficiently valuable. The only guitars I've overnighted are my dot neck L5 and my D'Angelico. Originally Posted by wintermoon
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Uggh! So nasty to see especially on a blonde. So sorry this happened to you Joe. I've no doubt it was well packed and you will prevail. That doesn't cover it though. Life is pretty good at curves isn't it?
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Guys so sorry to hear and see this.
I hope it all gets resolved in the best way possible.
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Air shipping is much safer. Less handling and less temperature fluctuations.
Mark Campellone has shipped 100’s of guitars and the ones damaged were ground shipped. I know he did some winter ships and the customer only wanted to pay for ground and they showed up checked.
Shipping planes actually are temp controlled because of medications shipping. Much nicer then a freezing poop brown truck.
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I wonder how common it is for a guitar to suffer a broken headstock during shipment? Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?
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I think, in terms of the shipper paying for repair versus paying the depreciated value, the latter is going to apply to a total loss of the instrument which would not be the case here, since it's very repairable. Properly repaired by a skilled luthier, that guitar will be fine for decades to come. Even still, it will lose resale value appreciably. If it comes to that, I would argue strongly for the instrument having the "depreciated" value it had when it got into the shipper's hands, not after the shipper was done with it.
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I guess we have the birth of BooBoo Jr. Here is BooBoo Sr. the father.
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And this was damaged during shipment or…..?
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UPS shipping Originally Posted by SlowJoeJones
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you’ve had TWO L5’s break at the headstock during shipment?!? Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
truly bizarre.
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Heartbreaking photos. That said, who do y'all recommend as insurers? I've seen mixed reviews (though mostly positive) for a few of the major ones, but generally folks seem to like having these policies. Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
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Someone mentioned Heritage Insurance in this thread. I rechecked mine for shipping coverage, Andersen, and thought this was not included, but it is. They advise or insist on double boxing, which Joe D also mentioned. Originally Posted by jasguitar
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You can also add a rider for instruments onto your homeowners policy. Generally covers guitars in shipping. Not sure about loss of value. Heritage is typically the go to carrier.
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Agreed - when I pack a guitar in the case, both the headstock and body are firmly cushioned, but with a little give. In the end, though, you just have to hope.... Originally Posted by wintermoon
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