Shipping a 4003

[Kopfjaeger]

Yeah, I always freak out when receiving or shipping any of my basses. All my instrument shipping has gone smooth as silk but when you hear the random horror story of shipping gone wrong, it weighs on my mind just the same. If I was in control of the shipping event, I'd opt to ship in the spring or early fall, especially by ground since winter and summer temps vary so much from region to region. By air, I doubt that matters too much since I doubt the cargo portion of the plane is temperature controlled to mimic average ground temps. I could be wrong.

Yup, agreed, all my instruments were shipped in tune both to and from. At their destination they were out of tune but only slightly. They were in the ball park.

When I shipped my Blackstar to Paul. W. for its refinish, all I had was a ratty beat up case. My new style RIC hardcase was out with a local luthier. I hated sending it off in such a lousy case but I packed it with Styrofoam and duct taped the case closed. Paul sent it back stuffed with baby diapers. Two thumbs up!! it was snug as a bug in a rug for it's cross country trip!!

Sepp

[PJRL]

I have shipped them as well. If you have a good fitting case that holds it in place you should be fine. I shipped a Les Paul in a case that was loose and I used small plastic shopping bags to tighten it up. I then closed the case and shook it around to see if it could move and adjusted as needed so it was nice and snug (around the body not the head stock).

[aerome]

I once received an early Taylor 12 string from a luthier in Georgia after a repair. UPS had broken the neck somehow. Even though insured it took over 6 months to get paid. The education I received from the folks trying to help was to ship two-day as the handlers are less gorilla like. This was around 1995 or so. I always cringe when thinking about the shipping. Just picked up a 620 and will have my fingers crossed until it gets here.