Musical Instruments

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hey gang!

I bought my 15 year old daughter this guitar last year and now I need to ship it to Florida for her enjoyment.  I had purchased a soft side case because she was not going to be travelling with the unit, and it has a rounded back to the unit, however now I have no idea how I can ship this thing?  Is my only option to purchase a hard case?  Will it even fit in a hard case?

Help!!

[Miranda]

 Maybe a really big box and a lot of packing peanuts and bubble wrap?

And I would pack it personally, rather than have UPS or FedEx or anyone else do it for me.

[Randy]

Hello Dorothy,

     The best way to ship an acoustic guitar is preferably in a hardshell, flight approved, case.  We do offer these at Best Buy, and BestBuy.com.  Once it is in the case, it is best to ship the guitar and case in a shipping box, which you can find at any ups or fed ex shop, surrounded by packaging material, i.e. peanuts, bubble wrap etc. 

     If you do not have a case, and would prefer to ship it in the gig bag, same principal applies, just make sure there is plenty of packaging material surrounding it, as shippers can have a tendancy to throw boxes around. 

     Also, and very important, make sure to losen all of the strings (detune), or better yet remove them from the instrument.  Leaving the strings on, and in tune, adds alot of tension to the headstock of the instrument and is a sure way to make sure the headstock will break in shipping. 

     Last but not least, if it is going to be sitting in shipping docks in certain parts of the country that are hot, like where we are at in Arizona, it is important to place a humidifier inside the guitar to avoid any heat damage.  Any questions, please let me know. 

Randy Smith   M.I. Supervisor Best Buy, Tempe Arizona 480.303.7251 ext 2266 

Thank you.

[mcguirejarrod]

If you do decide to ship the guitar in a case (which I recommend) leave the strings in tension! I just read a lengthy discussion with Bob Taylor (Taylor guitars) about this exact situation... It is far better to store and ship a guitar at tension. Unless of course it is not in a case.

When you detune the guitar you have nothing to counteract the tension from the truss rod which can actually cause a pretty severe back-bow. Guitars now have been designed to stay in tension.

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Thanks everyone!!!