Buy guitar from California, shipping to Florida...

titansfan4196

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I live in Florida but I’m looking at a guitar on reverb that’s located in California. Should I be worried about shipping damage or too much change in humidity affecting the wood? The seller has good ratings
 
I live in Florida but I’m looking at a guitar on reverb that’s located in California. Should I be worried about shipping damage or too much change in humidity affecting the wood? The seller has good ratings

Not at all. I live in Chicago, and have bought, and shipped, to both California and Florida (and several other states) with no problems. If it's in a case, and well packed, you have very little risk. The closest I came was buying a used guitar from a GC in California back in November. They wrapped it in bubble wrap, and threw it in a box. That's right, they didn't ship the included original case. I had to call and ask WTF. Still, the guitar made it in one piece, as did the case a week later.
 
I've got a CE 22 en route from Florida to CT right now. And it's still snowing here! If it's packed well, it will be just fine. I think the DGT I got last month came from Cali? I just let it come up to room temperature in it's case for a 4-5 hours. The PRS case kept it in fine shape.
 
Think about it this way: PRS shipped it to California(if the person is the first owner?) from Maryland. I've shipped a guitar to Spain before without issue. As long as its packed well, it'll be fine.
 
Should not be a problem. Damage happens when the box gets loaded or unloaded, not per-mile-of-travel. So I could ship something from FL to GA, and if it happens to need a few transfers from depot to sort-center to depot, it may be in more danger than shipping from somewhere near a main distribution center area across the country to somewhere near another main distribution center.

EDIT: and environmental changes should not be an issue - the case will protect from that, mostly, and the boxing will protect even further.
 
And if you're really concerned have them put a shock sensor on it. I had not seen them on anything I'd ordered until a couple of months ago. I bought a guitar from CME (which is local) and had them ship it. There was one of these on the outside of the box.

https://www.tgoldkamp.com/shockwatc...mHCaJa_3NHHA_i4EZsKYg0ndsvWOriMxoCT4YQAvD_BwE
Awesome idea! Just grabbed some on Amazon. I'm travelling to Europe and need to check one axe in a case and carry on another. going to plaster shockwatch all over that case.
 
I wouldn't be worried about humidity change, but I always worry about the handling by UPS and FedEx.


In all seriousness, I would request the shipper do the following:

1. Double box. And/or at least one box should be an actual guitar box with the rating stamp required by the common carriers.
2. Bubble wrap and pad the outside AND the inside of the case.
3. Get a statement in writing that the shipper will buy the carrier insurance for the full value including shipping cost.
4. Take photos of the packing (inside and outside) along the way. Photos have saved me more than once when the carrier tried to deny my claim due to "shipper's negligence."

Also, the slower the route, the more susceptible to damage. So, "ground" will have more risk than "air." Are you willing to pay the upcharge for less risk?
 
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