Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

To help out a fellow forum member, I purchased 2 guitars (Epiphone Casino and a Gibson J-160) here in Albany via craigslist and plan to mail them to him in Texas. What is the best way to go about this? I was going to detune the guitars, put peanuts in the headstock cavity, put newspapers along the neck under and above the strings, and then put the case in a box with protection. Then, have that box reboxed and mailed out.

Trouble is, I cannot find guitar sized boxes... and yes I have tried the local guitar stores. They don't seem willing to give them out. Anybody have some other ideas?

Should I mail them FedEx or UPS? Should I just take the guitars in their cases to a UPS store and ask them to box them up themselves? Is this going to cost an arm an a led? HELP! It would be helpful if I had some direction by Saturday, if possible.

Thanks (for both me and the other forum guy!)

Ben: A number of the FedEx stores that I have shipped from have been able to make boxes to fit. There are also department stores and moving companies that have similar size boxes.

I would make sure that the guitar you have packed is not able to move within the guitar case. I would keep it strung to pitch.

I have had better luck with FedEx than UPS, but I have had a number of successful deliveries with the latter.

When I can't find a box, I usually just bring the guitar to the UPS store. It gets a little expensive, but sometimes guitar boxes just aren't available when you need them.

+1 on leaving the guitars tuned to pitch.

I've ordered boxes from www.uline.com before. Anybody tried them? They worked for me. Of course, if your local music store will give you a box, that'll work. It kills me when they say that they will SELL you one. Like they weren't going to throw it away, lol.

for the box try behind local sporting goods store or gym supply, they have sometimes big boxes - sometimes so huge that you will have to trim them..
i would do fedex unless you have already ups account setup - once have been trough the first damage claim with ups you will see what i am talking about. clearly they are in business of taking money for insurance but not in business of paying for the damage.
if the boxes are not enormous i would also consider usps priority mail, they have this interesting tendency not to employ ex-convicts.

I have obtained numerous guitar and amp boxes from local music stores. In fact I had an employee watching for what I needed and call me when he had something. I have also just went to the dumpster behind the store on occasion to get what I needed. I believe that RIC owners manual recommends leaving the guitar tuned. I crumple news paper to support both front and back of the headstock. This was covered in my Larrivee owners manual. Next is to support the body to prevent it from moving especially in way so that the headstock cannot bump into the top of the case.

The dumpster behind Mandolin Bros. is my favorite place to go carton shopping.

The dumpster behind Mandolin Bros. is my favorite place to go carton shopping.

You're a classic, JB!

sloop_john_b wrote:The dumpster behind Mandolin Bros. is my favorite place to go carton shopping.

Dumpster Diving again?

wmthor wrote:

sloop_john_b wrote:The dumpster behind Mandolin Bros. is my favorite place to go carton shopping.

Dumpster Diving again?

They've got nothing but the best! Guild boxes, Gibson boxes...

sloop_john_b wrote:They've got nothing but the best! Guild boxes, Gibson boxes...

Ever find a box with the guitar still inside of it?

wmthor wrote:

sloop_john_b wrote:They've got nothing but the best! Guild boxes, Gibson boxes...

Ever find a box with the guitar still inside of it?

A few times, but it was usually around the cash register, and I had to pay them for it.

jwilli wrote:I've ordered boxes from http://www.uline.com before. Anybody tried them?

yep, John ya took the words out of my mouth!

Uline sells a Guitar specific box- the dimensions are 50X20X8 and are about $7 each. From time to time I will order 5-10 of them, as I am always shipping guitars out, it seems. And times when I run out (like this past week!) I have to go beg at the local music store for an ill-fitting used box.

http://www.uline.com/Product/ProductDet ... rds=guitar

Plus, most boxes from Guitar Center or whatever will have a huge GIBSON headstock logo, or Fender, ESP guitars etc etc..printed on the side, which can be loosely translated to mean "please steal me!" though it's never actually happened to me, I worry about it.

Buy a fresh new box from Uline, if the guitars have cases, fill any empty gaps with bubble wrap. On Rics I only wrap the headstock to keep it from moving, then put a large plastic bag over the whole guitar case, put bubble wrap around the case in a "ring" and bubble wrap top/bottom of case. Even all that is overkill, a proper case is more than sufficient.

I used to work at a UPS/Mail Boxes Etc. sort of packing store. By the rule, we would have to "overpack" to avoid any slight possible issues, but it was always overkill, way more than it really needed, plus it was bloody expensive.


PS....as far as insurance, it only works when you pack PROPERLY. By the book, that means a bare minimum of 2" of proper packing materials around every area of the packed item. For example a 4" square item would need to be surrounded by 6" square of material,and in a 7" square box. They are horribly strict about this. ALL of the packages take a four foot drop to the conveyor belt shipping out, so your item better be ready to handle it.

admin wrote:I would keep it strung to pitch.

Do not do this, especially with a Gibson. Many guitars (Rickenbackers are one) are not at very much greater risk from being shipped tuned, but Gibsons most definitely are. Due to the design of the headstock - steeply angled, one-piece mahogany with a large truss-rod access cavity - the inertia of the head alone can be enough to snap it when combined with the string tension, if the case is dropped. The strings pre-load the wood to around 60lbs or more in the direction it's most likely to snap in anyway. If it's not tuned up, this doesn't happen. Even if you pack the guitar and the headstock so it can't move about, you cannot both pack it tightly enough to stop the head moving the roughly 1/4" that it can take to snap it, AND not pack it so tightly that the case will transfer too much force to the guitar if it gets dropped, crushed or bent.

Even on guitars without this particular feature, leaving them tuned can cause further damage if a small amount occurs for some other reason (eg either the wood or a joint cracks), and turn a minor crack that would be easily repairable into major structural damage that is much less so. Acoustics are particularly prone to this.

Slacken the strings almost fully, but not completely - to just above the point where any loose hardware might come off and cause damage. On an archtop guitar with a floating bridge it's a good idea to either tape the bridge lightly to the top to stop it moving, or remove it altogether and put it in the case pocket - this also reduces the height of the guitar inside the case and makes it less likely to get crushed.

Yes, I know that many manufacturers recommend shipping at normal pitch. Having worked as a repairer for many years and seen some of the results of doing so, I really have no idea why! Don't just take my word for it, read what Dan Erlewine, one of the most experienced and respected repairers on the planet, has to say about it.

Wow! Thanks everybody for your help! I appreciate it.