Official Luthiers Forum!

I have a guitar that I have to ship halfway across Canada....I am a little concerned about the cold temperatures...I am using a guitar case made from a foam product to ship it in...Seems to be sturdy enough...Are there any precautions I should take..I am looking at using DSL as the shipper...Any thoughts on this...Larry

The biggest problem shipping in a case is where the neck sits in the support area.Pad that area good to prevent rubbing the finish there.And i like to loosen the strings some in case it is dropped hard to prevent the headstock from cracking from string tension.As far as cold,that shouldn't be a problem as long as it is allowed to aclumate for awhile after it gets in it's new invironment in the case.I like 24hrs before opening back up.

I have no experience shipping in cold weather, except an anecdote that may help. I had a Hagstrom Espana classical forty years ago. It was about 30F below in Minnesota, and I went to a lesson, driving in a car that did not have a very good heater. Upon arriving at my lesson, I opened the case, and the finish crackled all over in front of my eyes as the warm air hit the frozen guitar. So, you may want to advise your client to not open the case for a few hours after storing indoors. I am sure that there are some finsihes that are more susceptible than others. I suppose all of the factories ship to cold climates without much problems, but they may now also avoid finishes that tend to crack.

Yes, acclimate before opening. And...cold weather often equates to low humidity as well. I put my cases inside a plastic bag and ship overnight to help with that. They get handled a lot less with overninght too.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Thing is, when you ship by air, you guarantee that the guitar will spend some time in minus 40º F. temperature and very low humidity--in an airplane's unheated, unpressurized cargo hold. Ground or air--it's a matter of choosing your poison.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

You might try wrapping the case in one of those emergency mylar (?) types of blankets before you put it in the box. They are usually just a few bucks in the sporting goods department of Walmart. I've used them with good success against heat.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com