Shipping Your Guitar
Many guitar owners are daunted by the prospect of shipping a valuable guitar because of misconceptions about the cost, risk and difficulty. Most of this concern is unwarranted as long as you ship in accordance with shipper rules. Common carriers like United Parcel Service and Federal Express are very reliable, and if adequate insurance is provided there is little risk. However, there are some pitfalls which can be very costly if not dealt with correctly.The biggest problem shipping a guitar is finding an adequate box to ship it in. I can make that easy. I can supply you with a box specially designed for shipping high-quality classical guitars, the same box I use to ship my hand-crafted guitars. The box comes complete with labels, bubble-pack packaging material, sealing tape and special foam packing shims to stabilize the guitar inside the case as well as detailed instructions for packaging your guitar.
My boxes are made of double-wall 275# corrugated cardboard and have two extra plies of cardboard in the front and back for extra puncture resistance. And, most important, the box is fully compliant with shipper specifications, which can be crucial if a claim for damage should ever have to be made. The cost of a box is $150 including ground-service shipping of the box plus shipping materials to you anywhere in the continental USA. This probably seems like a pretty hefty price to pay for a box, but by the time I add up materials cost (no markup!), labor to assemble the box and packing materials and shipping cost to get the box to you I find little encouragement for expanding my retail box sales. One of my boxes can be used several times before it gets so shipper-battered that it has to be retired.
A less expensive alternative is to present your guitar to an outfit that packages things for shipment, such as a UPS store. If that company is taking responsibility for safe shipment on your behalf, it will be in their interest to make sure your guitar is packaged in accordance with shipper standards (more on this below). For me to reuse that box to return your guitar can be problematic, however; the internal packaging usually consists of custom-cut foam blocks and sheets which are nearly impossible to reassemble.
A third, and least expensive, alternative is to get a used box from a local music store. Most of these boxes are substandard in terms of shipper requirements, particularly dimensional, so there may be some added risk if the package is damaged en route. I almost always replace one of these boxes with one of mine, but the cost of a box for return shipment is much less than the cost of original purchase.
Common carrier shippers all use a standard shipping cost measure called dimensional weight, which is determined by multiplying package length times width times depth and dividing by a constant. Because a guitar is a relatively lightweight item, even when the weight of a case is added, dimensional weight always exceeds actual weight. My boxes are optimally sized for a standard classical guitar case. This means dimensional weight is kept to a minimum, but at the same time the box complies with all shipper specifications for contents safety and insurance protection.
Shipping can be rather expensive, but it doesn't have to be. UPS ground service shipping is perfectly safe during much of the year in the continental U. S., especially in one of my boxes, and it is MUCH less expensive than air shipment. Transit time is typically not more than 3-4 business days. If the work to be done on your guitar is not urgently needed, it may be wise to choose a time of year when ground shipping is feasible. The primary consideration in this regard is weather, particularly temperature, en route. If temperatures are expected to be moderate, ground service is a good option. If very cold or hot temperatures are expected, then air shipment should be used.
All things considered, including aggravation, fighting traffic, wear and tear on your car, the cost of your valuable time, etc., etc., shipping your guitar to me for repair or upgrade stacks up well against the alternative of taking it somewhere yourself to get the work done.