banjopicks wrote:
Hesh wrote:
Had a Gibson Custom Shop 1957 Les Paul Gold Top face plant in its shipping box on my front porch and it was all caught on my security system video. The FedEx Driver left the box upright leaning on a porch support on a windy day. Obviously not a sailor....
So I was very happy to find no damage especially when Gibsons tend to break at the headstock pretty commonly when they fall in my experience.
Elderly had expertly packed it detuning but not all the way as Jon suggests above and then mobilizing the headstock surrounding it tightly with packing materials as others have suggested.
It was not a box in a box but a case in a cradle in a box and it all did well surviving the fall.
As for acclimation I buy stuff in the winter too and I bring it in and pull the case out but don't open the case for a couple of hours. Then I crack the case and wait a few hours. In the winter I may take 12 hours to bring something out of a case. Dave says what I do is not necessary and I don't have to wait that long.
I don't think this time of year you have to worry too much about acclimation it's the bigger swings in temp that are the real danger and can craze finish from the thermal shock.
I've been of the belief that the faster the shipping the less possibility of mishandling. From the looks of some of the boxes I've received this may not be the case... So I don't know how to avoid the shipping company that hires Alice the Goon from Popeye as a loader.
Congrats too Brad!!!
So I was very happy to find no damage especially when Gibsons tend to break at the headstock pretty commonly when they fall in my experience.
Elderly had expertly packed it detuning but not all the way as Jon suggests above and then mobilizing the headstock surrounding it tightly with packing materials as others have suggested.
It was not a box in a box but a case in a cradle in a box and it all did well surviving the fall.
As for acclimation I buy stuff in the winter too and I bring it in and pull the case out but don't open the case for a couple of hours. Then I crack the case and wait a few hours. In the winter I may take 12 hours to bring something out of a case. Dave says what I do is not necessary and I don't have to wait that long.
I don't think this time of year you have to worry too much about acclimation it's the bigger swings in temp that are the real danger and can craze finish from the thermal shock.
I've been of the belief that the faster the shipping the less possibility of mishandling. From the looks of some of the boxes I've received this may not be the case... So I don't know how to avoid the shipping company that hires Alice the Goon from Popeye as a loader.
Congrats too Brad!!!
I waited 4 hours before opening a new banjo in February. I could hear it and see long cracks forming before my eyes. I'd wait 24 hours if I had it to do over again.
We have hundreds of folks monthly bring us instruments in the dead of winter and often the instrument has been in a cold car all day. I ask them where's it's been and if it went from house to car that warmed up to our shop it's usually OK. It's the ones that got very cold over time that are the problems. So what we want to avoid is thermal shock making a gradual approach to acclimating a better idea. I can remember an extreme case of someone dropping off and we told them that we didn't want to do triage now and instead I would gradually bring it up to temp, triage it and call them with my thoughts.
Dave tells a story of someone opening up a case in the dead of winder before anyone could stop them at another business not ours and they watched in horror as the finish crazed right in front of them. He said you could hear it cracking and snapping too. Oh the horror
Lots of people these days like relics and I hate them. Who wants an instrument with fake playing wear and abuse all over it.... I woulds guess that thermal shock is part of the relic process but I don't know having never been interested in relics.
