There’s nothing worse than getting screwed over on a deal online. We’ve talked about how to safely buy and sell guitars on the internet before. Something that can be just as devastating as being scammed is shipping your beloved guitar, then it gets destroyed in the process…

(As a side note, if you plan on buying/selling guitars online, we urge you to join our online gear exchange community! It’s heavily moderated to prevent unfair dealings and scammers and there are zero costs for using it!)

Today, we’re going to talk about how you can take the proper precautions and get your guitar shipped safely!

Before we continue, let us take a moment to mourn some of these instruments:

Broken Epiphone

Broken Charvel

Supplies:

  • A Box (Obviously)
  • Packaging Tape
  • Packing Materials (Newspaper, Bubble Wrap, Etc)

Secure The Guitar:

We need to make sure the guitar is totally secured before you even put it into it’s case or gig bag. If you don’t have a case or gig bag, that’s okay, you’ll need to go a little more extreme on the wrapping stages. Obviously, a case or bag would be ideal for shipping.

  • Loosen The Strings: This isn’t something that is necessary (I’ve received plenty of guitars in great shape that weren’t loosened), but It doesn’t hurt to relieve some tension on the neck before it goes for a trip.
  • Wrap The Headstock: The headstock is by far the most prone to damage (Looking at you Gibson).  To prevent damage, let’s make sure the headstock is nice and cozy. Give it a nice thick layer of bubble wrap (or something similar) all the way around the headstock and a bit past the heel. We want to make sure that headstock doesn’t hit anything!
  • Extra Security: If you have any parts that can move, such as a floating bridge, or even pickup switches, it’s always a good idea to wrap these up so they can’t move around in shipping. If you’re feeling even more careful, you could even lay down some packing materials on the fretboard so the strings don’t smack the frets.
  • Final Wrapping: As a final measure for the guitar itself, to protect the finish from scratching, you can do one final wrap of paper around the body and neck.

Box ‘er Up!:

Once you’ve secured the guitar, go ahead and put it in it’s case/bag. This part is really important:

You’re going to want to make it so that the guitar cannot bounce around in the case. Make sure you fill any empty space around the guitar with packing materials. Make sure it’s really tight. If the guitar can’t move, then it can’t bang into anything!

Once the guitar is safely in the case, put the case in the shipping box and fill with packing peanuts or thick wads of newspaper.

Tape that bad boy up and it’s good to go!

We hope you enjoyed this article! If you did, make sure to check out more, because we upload new reviews, technical articles, lessons, and more daily! 

This article was written by Zac Buras, our editor located in Louisiana

 

 

 

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