Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I guess it was bound to happen eventually. After buying, selling and shipping guitars for several years, I finally had one show up broken. The guitar in question was a nearly new Gretsch Rancher in black. The eBay seller apparently didn't detune the guitar for shipping. He did an excellent job of boxing the hardshare case, but the headstock was broken off completely. I'll email him photos to night and request a PayPal refund. Bummer!!!!

Major bummer. Whatcha gonna do with that refund????

I'm hoping that the seller will be reasonable. He's obviously going to be upset that he sold a $400+ guitar with case for $300 and then it broke en-route. The guitar is worthless as is, and it will cost over $30 to ship the $0 guitar back to him inside the $39 case. As far as my refund, have you got a guitar that only costs $339?

Wow,that is a bummer.Excuse my ingorance,but why would the headstock break because it wasn't detuned?I know alot of people say detune when shipping but others like Ed Roman say don't detune(when sending to him,blows setup,floating bridge can fall off etc).Please give me the low down on this detune thing.Thanks.

Mitch: I always detune for shipping, but not everyone does it. I recently received a Gretsch acoustic (identical to this one) that shipped from a Gretsch dealer perfectly tuned with no problems. I was also surprised to receive a Gretsch Country Gent recently that played perfectly out of the box. I normally worry that temperature changes and vibration during travel could cause problems for a neck if the strings haven't been detuned.

Mitch: Just to clarify, I only detune slightly. It's not enough to let hardware move around on a guitar with a floating bridge or tailpiece.

Of course broken headstocks can be repaired by a competent luthier. I am guessing that the guitar in question is probably not worth the expense though? That's a major drag eh Randy? Sorry to hear about that. I sure hope you don't get into a tussle with the seller. Hopefully he bought shipping insurance.

Brian: I don't know whether shipping insurance would cover an instrument that self-destructed inside its case with no sign of external damage to the shipping carton or the hardshell case.

I'm sure that a luthier could glue the head back on and touch-up the finish, but I personally do not buy repaired guitars.

Randy,
I am very sorry you received a broken guitar. I truly am.
But I'm a little lost here. What does de-tuning (loosening the strings) have to do with a broken off headstock?

I see that you wrote "I normally worry that temperature changes and vibration during travel could cause problems for a neck if the strings haven't been detuned."

Maybe. But I'll admit I'm skeptical about that.

Oh well. Hope it works out in the end. Good luck.

Mark: Most people detune before shipping, regardless of what Mr. Hall or Mr. Roman might recommend. I do not know whether it truly makes a difference, but it is clear to me that this headstock broke off due to the forward pull of the strings. There's no way for me to know if the guitar had a hairline crack before it was shipped. Perhaps it would have self-destructed just sitting in a stand. I don't know. This is my first experience with a guitar damaged during shipping. I may be jumping to the conclusion that it wasn't detuned, only the seller knows for sure. This is going to be his problem anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.

detuning before shipping = wasted time

the neck is designed to have string tension

if you must detune then just go to E flat and no more

Randy, my friend, sory to see that happen!

Jeff: I only back off the tuners slightly before shipping. It only takes a few seconds. When my guitars are at home, tucked away in their cases, they are always properly tuned. I've only found one tailpiece broken in over thirty years of guitar collecting. This was a flimsy trapeze type on a '68 Vox Violin Bass.

Please to explain why you would think strings have enough tension to break a headstock, shipping or no? Methinks the tolerance is not quite so tight, pardon the pun.

Charly: I can't think of any other reason why a headstock would snap off. It cracked side to side all the way through (under the truss rod cover) and pulled up towards the fingerboard (splintering the rear of headstock). It was in a sturdy hardshell case that gripped the body tightly, providing no way for the guitar to move inside the case. There was about 1.5" to 2.0" clearance around the headstock in all directions. Something broke it, and the only thing pulling on it was the string tension. Perhaps it was already cracked before it was packed.