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When you ship a guitar with a floating bridge do you tape, or otherwise secure, the bridge base? If so, what type of tape?
I've never had problems in the past but am always a little nervous.
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05-06-2015 12:17 PM
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i've done it several ways.
- Loosen the strings a minor 3rd, don't secure the bridge
- Loosen the strings a 4th, secure the bridge with painter's or masking tape
- Loosen the strings, put bridge in case compartment, put bubble wrap under the strings to protect the guitar top
I know that folks like buscarino don't even loosen the strings and he ships all over the world so I don't know the real answer but my intuition (and engineering background) say that you should loosen the strings.
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+1
Originally Posted by jzucker
It may annoy the receiver to have to reposition the floating bridge but they would have to anyway unless it was sent with the strings at concert pitch which I believe to be a bad idea, especially if there is air travel or varying temperature regions involved.
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mark bridge positoning w/painters tape [I usually handle the sticky side a little to remove some of the tack--don't use regular masking tape, it can damage the finish]
loosen the strings, put bridge in case pocket w/crumpled newspaper on top to prevent it from working it's way out during shipping. put bubble wrap or cloths under strings as Jack suggests, bring strings to tension enough to keep the ball ends from coming out
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Any recommendations on no-residue tape? I've had blue painters tape leave residue after an hour or 2.
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as I said, handle the sticky side of the tape to remove some tackiness
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to play devil's advocate, buscarino ships all his guitars tuned to pitch and his guitars are in the $20k range. Originally Posted by s1track3d
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never had that issue but a little naptha will remove it easily Originally Posted by MaxTwang
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I would usually stick the tape on meself first to pick up some body oil. I'm not hirsute, and shower at least twice a day so no nasties adhering to the sticky side...I hope. Originally Posted by wintermoon
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I'm with Buscarino on this one. I've shipped guitars coast to coast a number of times, always tuned to pitch and I've always left the bridge in place. Obviously if the string tension is too loose than you might as well remove the bridge so it doesn't slip around. That said, I don't think it hurts to tune slightly down but I think one should spend more time on the overall packing. I've had the pleasure of being moved a half dozen times by the military transportation system and if I can't carry it with me, I shipped it myself to my new address. Only our government can lose an entire couch and never find it. Not to mention turning a dining room hutch into kindling. What happens when the shipping container falls 30' from the top stack. Mind you know one said anything until the crate was opened at delivery. So I took responsibility for my guitars and artwork.
I spend more time making sure the neck and body are adequately supported and secured so they won't move. I have no loose parts in the case. I had one guitar damaged by the case key falling out of the case box and marring the top. I also slip a piece of cardboard under the between the underside of the strings and the frets ala Suhr guitars. I received one guitar from from an Ebay seller where the strings dented the frets in several positions just by moving in the case. By the way this also happened to another guitar that I carried in a gig bag so I have a similar piece in my gig bag.
I double box and pack the best I can so that the interior box won't shift. And if I'm shipping it to myself, I pay attention to the weather or pay for Fedex overnight shipping. My last two moves were from Wash DC to the UP of MI and from UP of MI to NE FL. I added case humidifiers on the way to the UP and desiccant on the way down.
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I have some experience with blue painter's tape on nitrocellulose paint. A seller shipped a nitrocellulose finished guitar to me with blue painter's tape on the bridge. I had to go away on short notice on a project and left it boxed up for about four months.
When I unboxed it, I peeled off the blue painter's tape very very gently, letting the natural adhesion break of its own accord. I waxed the area with pure beeswax in turpentine. I swear that the blue painter's tape left an impression in the nitrocellulose clear-coat that was visible when the light raked across it just right. No nitrocellulose lifted off with the blue painter's tape. But there was the tell-tale impression of a rectangular strip that neither wax nor naptha removed.
It's been 3 years now and I don't fuss over it any longer. I don't know if nitrocellulose heals but I don't notice the impression anymore today.Last edited by Jabberwocky; 05-06-2015 at 03:43 PM.
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Originally Posted by rob taft
a friend of mine just had a few lateral top braces knocked loose after his guitar took a shot to the bridge area with the bridge on and the guitar tuned to pitch.
I can't agree w/shipping guitars w/the bridge on. yeah, you might get lucky a lot of the time, but you're tempting fate.
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You're right, wintermoon. Best packing practice is to remove the bridge and store it in the string compartment. All it requires is one whack to one precious guitar and one wishes that one had removed the bridge beforehand. Besides, we should all learn to set the bridge and intonate the guitar ourselves. Originally Posted by wintermoon
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Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
yeah Jab, this happened to me on a guitar that I was about to ship w/what I thought was safe tape [not painter's]
I pulled it off slowly and it left an indentation in the lacquer.Last edited by wintermoon; 05-06-2015 at 03:45 PM.
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Ok.. side question kinda related.
(personally I am of the loosen the strings, put the bridge in the case)
So I have a guitar I am shipping at pitch. It goes someplace REALLY hot.. and sits in a UPS truck for hours and is baking.
Would NOT having the guitar tuned to pitch increase the odds of it surviving this scenario?
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Yikes! That sounds serious. I was hesitant to call it an indentation as I may have to sell it on one day...but the tape made a shallow indentation in the lacquer just about half the thickness of the tape. I don't see it any longer today so maybe the lacquer did heal... Originally Posted by wintermoon
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Every time my wife says "That has never happened..." I finish the sentence with "...yet." Originally Posted by jzucker
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i dunno about the painter's tape leaving an impression. I have used clear packing tape over the F holes on a 165 for literally months at a time, maybe 6 months being the longest. When I peeled it off, there was a ton of residue left but it all came off with naptha with absolutely no sign of damage. I would think that tape's adhesive is way more corrosive than painter's tape which is expressly made to not cause finish damage on a wide variety of finishes.
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what buscarino claims is that the truss rod against the fingerboard needs the back pressure of the strings to counter-balance it and without that, fingerboard or neck damage may occur.
Dunno who's right but I always loosen the strings.
I bought an archtop once that was dropped and the bridge broke through the body. That was enough for me.
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You'd probably be best off with something called drafting tape. Originally Posted by MaxTwang
Amazon.com : Alvin - Drafting Tape 1/2" x 60yds 3" Core - 2300-A : Masking Tape : Office Products
or, low tack paper tape.
Amazon.com : 3M Scotch 3051 Low Tack Paper Tape: 3/4 in. x 36 yds. (White) : Office Products
And, lemon oil will usually remove adhesive tape residue, but always check an inconspicuous area first.
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My Guild X175 arrived from Elderly with the bridge on, but supported with newspaper packed around it. I don't recall if the strings were loosened.
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Joe Vinikow (sp?) at archtop.com shipping recommendation:
archtop.com: shipping your guitar
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I've made about 330 guitar shipments. A number of these were to myself, so it represents about 270 different guitars. There were some solids, some semis, a few flattops, but most were archtop guitars, and most of those were solid woods. Of all those shipments, there were two seriously damaged and a few with minor, easily-fixable issues upon arrival. Many of the shipments were via USPS, but there were quite a few by UPS, and Fedex.
It's been mentioned that some builders ship without any prep of the guitar. Gibson has sent me a number of new guitars tuned to pitch, in their case, in a box with a cardboard stabilizer at the top and bottom, and those were fine. Their repair shop has sent me a couple with the bridge removed and tape outlined, but no other prep. Builders have an advantage over most of us--they can build a new guitar to replace the one that the shipper reduced to kindling.
Many years ago I bought a guitar from a dealer who shipped it cross-country in just the case, no box. I can't remember whether it was taped or tied shut, but it arrived okay too, although I chose never to deal with him again.
When I pack an archtop for shipping I prefer to improve my odds. Depending on the guitar in question, I either remove the bridge or I slack the strings somewhat. If I remove the bridge I mark the position with painter's tape, bubble-wrap it and stow it in the case pocket . If the tailpiece is hinged I wrap it in either bubble wrap or wrapping paper and tape it to the top.
If I'm leaving the bridge in place I tape it to the top and wrap around the tailpiece so that the strings can't get loose, and tape hinged tailpieces down. I also put wrapping paper around the strings so they don't beat against the frets or pickups.
With any guitar I wrap the headstock in bubble wrap so it can't bounce around, but I make sure not to put additional pressure on it when doing so.
With a typical archtop pickguard I secure it with both packing paper and tape. In some instances I've removed that too and put it in the pocket, wrapped. The tough one is with floating pickups: despite careful securing I have had a couple of these break away, popping the glue that secures their mounting to the underside of the pickguard. Luckily I had wrapped the pickup and no harm was done, and it happened on guitars I had shipped to myself, so I didn't have anyone yelling at me about it. :-) Since then I put extra packing around the pickup and under the pickguard.
The final thing I do is shim around the body of the guitar with wrapping paper after putting it in its case, so there is no motion at all. I also check that when the case is turned over the guitar can't move--if there's slack at the top I put in more paper.
In the box I use Gibson's cardboard shims if I have some, or lightweight foam or bubble wrap or peanuts if I have enough. I just make sure the case can't move at all within the box.
This all sounds like a lot of work, but it usually takes me under an hour until it's ready for pickup. Here's what a guitar looks like ready to close up:
Despite all that, on one shipment two guitars were damaged although the box appearing unharmed. One guitar, a '63 Kessel Custom, had the tailblock cracked, extending into the rim around one side. The other, a newer L-5CES, had a separation at the back of the headstock. It's pretty clear that both boxes were dropped on their ends, with the BK upright and the L-5 upside down, probably exactly the distance from a standard loading dock floor to the ground. The boxes were strong and hit square, but the guitars had quite a bit of velocity and stopped abruptly. Probably no amount of packing in a standard guitar case will prevent damage from this, but since then I've always removed the strap button from the tail, since that's what did the damage on the Kessel. The shipper on that was USPS, but I don't know if they were responsible, since I shipped from my business and they were received at another business--they could have been dropped at either end of the line.
Danny W.Last edited by Danny W.; 05-06-2015 at 11:08 PM.
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Just wondering aloud. Has anyone tried using "white out' to mark the bridge position?
A dot at each corner on the body would suffice.
White out is used on paper. Would it damage a guitar finish?
I tend to shy away from putting any kind of tape on my instruments.
But then I don't fly much.
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White-out contains solvent, doesn't it? It can't be good for nitro. A waxy grease pencil is harmless to nitro though and can be cleaned off with naptha.
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