Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Sorry, I know this has been covered but...

I have read all the post about letting a new guitar arrival acclimatize to room temperature for 48 hours.

My problem is that I have 48 hour accept or refuse period from the distributor and I leave town in 24 hours, so I would like to give the guitar a critical look over.

The outside of the box had a note that if the guitar was received in temps below 33 do not open the inner carton for 6 hours. Not a problem in Phoenix, Arizona today.

The guitar got into town to the Phoenix Fed Ex facility last night so it has been in above freezing temps for at least 24 hours now.

Regardless, the RIC notice on the outside of the box states that the guitar should not be opened for 48 hours.

She has been warming up inside now with the case closed for 9 hours now.

Good to go or don't inspect her, hope she is OK and take a look when I get back in four days?

Thanks for you patience in fielding this question again

Open the case quickly and feel if any of the metal parts (pickups, tailpiece, etc.) are cool to the touch, that will give you a good indication whether you can go for it!

You should be O.K. Follow Jeff's advice, but that guitar will have acclimated by now.

I agree. It has become popular these days to err on the side of caution. I am surprised that small appliance manufacturers don't recommend using safety glasses when using a can opener. Even ice in a cooler would melt prior to a 48 hour wait. Right now it is -2 outside. If I received a new guitar, of course I would wait for it to warm up before opening the case. But I think that 48 hours is an overly cautious amount of time. After all the threads I have read concerning this, I have never read even one instance where a guitar was damaged from opening the case too quickly. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but only that I have never heard of an instance.

What has always concerned me more is taking my bass out of my air conditioned house with 45% humidity to play an outdoor gig on an 85 degree day with 90% humidity. And even at that, my basses have always remained stable. After all, what are you gonna do? Even though I love my bass, it is a tool that allows me to pick up a few extra bucks and have some fun. If I can't use it due to the climate, what's the point?

I think I will start a thread asking if anyone has experienced damage due to drastic temperature/humidity changes. If you have, please go here