Packing and Shipping

   Whether you are buying or selling a guitar, the packing process is one of the most important steps in a guitar deal. Sadly, many people try to rush through this step, or cut corners to save a buck or two. This is not where you need to get cheap or put yourself on a time limit to get it to the shipping store before close. I charge a 100 because I put 1-2 hours into packing a guitar, taking pictures for the recipient, and for documenting the guitar pack, in case of an accident. I use the best boxes, and "over pack" my guilds with the best materials. I keep consistent contact with my buyer from the time of sale, until i drop it off, and send them a picture of the drop off receipt,  with the tracking number. 

    Let's talk about the box itself.  It is very important to use a real guitar box when shipping. Guitar boxes should measure at, or near,  these dimensions, 20x8x51 inches. As the buyer or seller of guitars, it is good to know where to find guitar boxes. You can always buy a guitar box from UPS or Fedex, but they charge around 30 dollars. If you do pay for a box from them, make sure it's a real guitar box, and not two or three small boxes taped together. You can find boxes for free at any local music store in your town, or at the big box music stores like Guitar Center, Sweetwater, and Sam Ash. You will need to check their dumpsters for  guitar boxes. I have a Guitar Center about 30 minutes from me, and I have made a habit of checking their dumpsters for guitar boxes and packing materials, anytime I go into that town. Another great place to look for packing materials is in the dumpsters of a best buy or any furniture store. Check these places once or twice a week, while you are out running errands, and build up a surplus of supplies at home. Store them in the attic or garage, and you will save yourself lots of time and money, when it's time to ship. It's good to have a few different kinds of tape on hand when packing. I prefer the heavy duty brown tape sold by UHAUL rental stores for the outer tape. Blue painters tape for packing the guitar on the inside of the case. This lets you remove the tape from packing materials without destroying said materials. Last you will need a roll of clear tape for taping down your shipping labels. 

   Next there are a few precautions to take with the guitar itself, before packing. Loosen the string tension off each string. There needs to be some light tension left on the strings, but do not ship a guitar fully tuned up to EADGBE. If there is a 9V battery mounted inside the guitar's sound hole for a pick up system, remove it. Your hand can fit inside the hole with most or all the string tension loosened, and take the strings out of their nut slots. If the 9 volt battery is housed in a small, Velcro lid, soft case, then you do not have to take the battery out. If the guitar has a guitar strap end pin installed, then remove it before packing. Some pick up systems have large end pin jacks, that can be removed for shipping, like the DTAR system guild used in the Tacoma, Washington years. Take these items, along with anything that lives inside the case compartment, and place them in a zip lock baggie, then put it back into the compartment. You do not want strings,  picks, capos, truss rod adjust tools, pins, or batteries, working their way out of the compartment and onto the spruce top or sound hole of your Guild during shipping. 

   Next you will start packing out your guitar inside the case before putting it into the shipping box. I will share a link here to a one minute video that REVERB produced, that does a good job of showing you how to pack the guitar inside the case.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDrUu5C0VQ&t=3s 

I prefer a few more turns on the tuners, to loosen the strings, more headstock padding and support. I also like to wrap the case in plastic or trash bags to keep it from getting visual damage to the outer case. Once you put the guitar case inside the box, you will need a lot more than a couple pieces of crumbled newspaper to make the case stationary. But the goal there is to be able to shake the box around, and to not hear it moving or sloshing around inside the box. 

   Below are a few sets of packing pics from some of my guild sales. It will give you a visual for applying my guitar packing steps and tips. The last thing I do to my box is write "fragile" and "guitar" on each side of the box. I have either packed, or had delivered to my house over 200 guitars in boxes. Each time I see a delivery worker, I like to ask them: "what can i do to make sure my guitars are handled carefully, and arrive without damage?" The most common answer I get is, "if we know it's a guitar in the box, we take special care when handling it" So I started writing on my boxes years ago. This way everyone knows what is inside my boxes. 

   When your guild guitar arrives at your house, you need to take caution when dealing with cold weather. If it's winter or springtime, when the nights are still cold, these guitars sit on shipping docks in harsh weather. We do not want your guitar to develop weather checking in the nitrocellulose finish. So if it has been freezing outside all night, you DO NOT want to open your guitar inside a home that is 70 degrees. Temperature acclimation can take anywhere from 4 to 24 hours. I know we are very excited to see our new guitars, and we really want to play them as soon as they arrive. But you will be sorely disappointed with yourself, and the guitar, if you open the box and case to quickly. Many guitar dealers actually stop shipping for the cold months of the year. With the proper caution and knowledge, you can ship guitars year around. I would suggest bringing the box in the house, and letting it sit in the box for 2-4 hours before un boxing. Then let the unopened guitar case sit in your house another 2-6 hours, before you pop the lid. I will offer specific instructions for each guild i sell, depending on temperature and region of the USA. 

   Please flip through a couple sets of my guild guitar packing pictures. If you have any questions about packing and shipping, please message me. I am always open to new ideas, and learning new packing techniques. So if you have any tips for me, or see something I am doing wrong, please message me with your information. We all want our guilds to arrive safely, so let's work together, as the buyer and seller, to make that happen.