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Well, I got my first feedback from the road trip guitar on the APM. Not so good. The fingerboard has issues at the body joint which makes it pretty much unplayable. So it's coming back to me for repair and I'm sending out another one.
I requested/required that each person send it on with the strings slack. But today I got an email saying that he heard that no string tension is bad in shipping because the headstock is more vunerable. Anyone heard anything like that before? What should I do?

Bummer Paul!
I ship my guitars with minimal tension, just tight enough to keep them from slapping around. I also place a strip of masking tape over the string pins to prevent them from popping out and becoming a foreign body floating around scratching the guitar!

Ive never heard it was "Bad" to ship without string tension though, but rather bad to ship WITH a guitar tuned to pitch.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

I have to agree with Lance and I would not ship the guitar with tension on the headstock. Just loose enough to slack thing but not enough to have strings rattling around. I don't see any benefit to tension.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I would agree as well.

The way I see it you are more likely to have a problem if full tension is on the strings. Since you are the builder I think he should package it the way you want.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
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House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I had a guy at the airport once tell me that, but I've ever been able to figure out why having a load on the peg head during shiping would be a good thing. I think it's bad advice unless someone can actually make a point for it from an Engineering view.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Well, that's what I've always done. I loosen them to just before they get sloppy. I would never ship at full tension, I think that's just asking for trouble. But the guy that emailed me said just bring it down a couple of steps and that will support the headstock (which makes no sense to me at all).

I have heard and read that shipping with no tension is a bad thing, had to do with peghead tesion and all. I fellow at a music store said they get all the high end guitars (martin, Larevee, colins, taylors...)shipped to them tuned to pitch, claims it prevents the neck from moving around and relief going out, also better for the top. I ship with reduced tension but still make sure I have some tension.

I ship with the stings at pitch but the furthest I have sipped has been Dallas and I delivered it myself. So I guess I reall don't count

I have heard from several sources that the guitar should always be shipped at pitch. I have bought and sold well over a 100 guitars( all of which were shipped) and always strung to pitch. Not one ever had a problem. I always instruct my customers to ship at pitch. Just my .02.

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

So can anyone make any sense as to why it's better/safer to ship at pitch?

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Paul,

I've done it both ways and have not had a problem either way. I think more important than leaving the strings at pitch or not is to properly support the peghead. Stuff the peghead cavity with newspapers and put a couple of layers of small bubble wrap around the peghead. Just my .02.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

I've shipped both ways too but now I ship with NO strings. Why... Well my guitars returned from HB {shipped de-tuned} and they arrived with nice, no NASTY scratches in the frets from the wound strings slapping them in transit. I have shipped de-tuned with styrofoam peanuts between the strings and FB and never had any issues with fret damage before. I just got in a hurry at HB and forgot to insert the peanuts.

Strings, pins and saddle now go in the neck compartment in a baggie. I always put a red sharpie dot on the bottom of the saddle on the Trebble side and instruct the people which way to install the saddle.

Oh, forgot to mention that all future shipments will be in Access Cases because they have a nice little foam pillow thingie to support the headstock

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

I always ship with the tension reduced, but as others say not sloppy. When shipping I have no idea what kind of conditions the guitar will be exposed to - and if it were to get left in a piping hot warehouse all weekend I'd be scared of the heat and tension pulling the bridge off.

Actually, I usually only ship on Monday or Tuesday to ensure the guitar doesn't sit in some warehouse until Monday morning.

I had a guy bring me a guitar today that he ordered from Musicians Friend or some other internet site, and its the third one they sent - the only one not to be ruined by UPS. And it was all out of whack too. Shipping a guitar is scary, but I've personally never had a problem.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
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gruhns ship all high dollar guitars, as do mandolin bros, and other dealers of such instruments, with the strings slacked off. gruhns also illustrate their packing technique on their web site.

shippping with the neck. and particularly the headsock, under string stress is asking for disaster..crazymanmichael38611.823287037

This one should be a no brainer...

On an average scale length guitar strung to concert pitch (a=440) you have approximately 182 lbs of force pulling on the top and the headstock (it can be more or less depending on your strings and tunings), now if the guitar gets a good jar that pressure can increase sharply, I would not worry as much about the headstock as I would cracking the top or cracking the bridge area. A guitar with no tension is much more likely to absord the shocks and bumps of travelling. Another consideration point is that cold and hot conditions effect the strings too as does humidity changes, if a guitar is strung up and goes through those it's much more likely to have serious problems...

That being said if the guitar get a shock hard enough to break the headstock unstrung, I think that would be the least of your worries when it arrived (just think about the force that would take). When I transport my guitars I tune then down but not the floppy stage, when I ship I do what Tim does because strings love to eat lacquer

Sorry but this is one of those things that I don't waiver on, I've even argued with Clients about this and usually win because the last thing I want to do is fix a crack because they dropped something fully strung to tension when carting the guitar around.
Sprockett38611.8457638889

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

   If the guitar takes a dive in its box and falls on either its back or front sides, there will inevitably be a "whiplash" type of effect created by the simple mass of the headstock suspended by the length of the neck and being supported just below the head to neck transfer as all standard cases do. The physics presentd by those circumstances can cause that wipping to a degree sufficient to snap the headstock off of the neck.

   I've never had it happen to a guitar that I've shipped and I ship alot to points most distant here in the US, to Europe and to Japan on a regular basis. I have, on the other hand, received guitars on several occasions with the ugly results of whiplash and headstock damage ranging from minor cracks that could easily be repaired to the headstock flopping around in the head compartment of the case suspended by the strings only.

   The only difference between the instruments that I'd shipped and those that I'd received damaged was that I never ship under full string tension, but slack the strings to a point where they are still tight enough to keep them from slapping around...barely and the strings on those received damaged were tuned and ready to play as they left the shipper's place.

    Loosen them up and pack something around the headstock inside the case, too. When a player is dropping as much as $10,000.00 on a guitar, it's only fair to take the extra effort and care...especially when shipping using a ground method or carrier.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Tim Mc, I like your idea. No strings, not pins, no saddle. No problems.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

must be a country AND western song.

Ya Tim, but I'm sure your guitars sing very nicely for your customers.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Kevin, your advice dovetails nicely with what famed repair guy Frank Ford says. He wrote the best "How to pack a guitar" article I've seen so far.

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D..

I slacken the strings, put a piece of thin, soft foam between them and the
fingerboard, and cut a piece of closed-cell foam (usually called "Minicell"
and found at kayak outfitters) to fit above and below the headstock. When
the case is closed, the foam holds the headstock firmly and protects from
the dreaded whiplash. No damage in at least 250 shipments -- the
statistics will catch up with me soon, I fear!

Where do you guy's usually get a box? Probably a local music store would be the best place right? You just have to make sure you avoid the one's that say "Only a Gibson is good enough".

I get boxes with the cases when I buy them.

Colby, I buy mine from Uline.

http://www.uline.com/ProductDetail.asp?model=S-4922&keywords =guitar%20box

Dave--Would that $.02 be pre-tax.