Mr Glyn's Pickups : Shipping a guitar

No photos of guitars showing their intimate bits this time I'm sorry to say. I've been asked a lot recently about the best way to ship a guitar. Airlines can cause a lot of damage and although it keeps me in work its often very sad to see the results. If you don't have a hard case for you guitar - get one! Airlines don't let you take guitars on board with you anymore so they've got to go in the hold - a gig bag simply isn't enough protection. Make sure the end of the headstock doesn't touch the end of the case. If your neck is mahogany (most acoustics, gibson style elecs, basically almost any guitar with an angled back head) slacken off the strings. The reason for this is that mahogany can shatter with sudden impacts resulting in a broken neck. The string tension makes the neck more rigid and increases the chances of a breakage. If you have a maple neck (Fender type) there's no need to slacken the strings - maple has such a flex that it can withstand almost anything.

Watch Hendrix, SRV, Richie Blackmore - ever see them actually manage to snap a Fender neck? Wrap the guitar up as much as possible - clothes are good for this. It will help lessen any damage from impact. Make sure the pocket inside the case can't open - a capo and a tin of fast fret can cause some pretty big sctatches! Once its all packed properly take a trip to you local music shop and get a large rectangular cardboard guitar box to put your case in. These boxes are what guitars come from the manufacturer in and shops are usually pleased to get rid of them.Tape it all up securely, use 'Fragile' stickers and say a little prayer to whichever god you feel is looking down on you. Maybe help an old lady accross the road to gain a few Karma points. You've done all you can. Most airline damage I come accross (as I see a lot of it) involves bad packing.One other tip - if you play a bolt on neck electric take the neck off, put both parts in a bag and take it on as hand luggage.

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Feel free to contact me about repair work (if you are in NZ). I only check emails weekly so the workshop phone is always the best 09 307 6501.