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Shipping Costs
Buyer Beware
The UPS store is not owned by UPS, It
is a privately franchised operation.
If
you take the time to read this page
I guarantee you will save money !!
Always go directly to UPS or Fed Ex.
Better yet try to use a friend that has a UPS shipping account. Call UPS
they actually have a service that comes to your home and picks up boxes.
It costs more but nowhere near as bad as The UPS Store or Post Net or any
other corporate franchise Mailbox etc style store. These people typically
charge at least triple UPS rates, I HAVE EXPERIENCED INSTANCES WHERE THEY HAVE
CHARGED 6 TIMES AS MUCH AS UPS.
More bad
news, If you ever have a shipping problem, Mailbox etc will be the ones that
will have to sue. They will never help you !!!
In fact, they will be a large hindrance to your chances of
collecting any UPS Claim. Always go directly
to the UPS terminal, it will cost you a lot less! I have
found that in most cases mailing services will avoid the issue and try to bury
you with red tape. I think that most of the time they don't insure the
package because they can make more money by charging you the insurance and
simply not buying it. Naturally if there is a problem, they will look for a
reason not to have to pay you.
I was involved in several court battles with Mail Boxes Etc. When I was in
Connecticut. I won both cases but I really lost when you figure the time it
took.
BTW The UPS store is Mailboxes etc, under a new name !!!!
They have no legal affiliation with UPS itself.
The actual cardboard boxes, I have seen at the local mailing services, in Las
Vegas are highly overpriced & very light duty cardboard. They will do very
little to protect your guitar.
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How to Pack a Guitar
Did you know ??
If you ship to a business it actually
costs more than if you ship to a residence.
Did you know that it costs
more for a business to ship something than a private person. Unless the business
is set up for volume business. Then there is up to a 40% discount.
(One more reason why you are being ripped off at
The UPS Store which has no real affiliation with UPS except that they paid UPS
to use the name in their franchise) These companies pay less and always
charge more. Charging more in today's economy is acceptable, After all there are
bills to pay. Charging much much much
more is a rip-off and it reminds me of a guitar company whose name starts with
the letter G.
People are always asking me how to pack a guitar. The four
biggest mistakes that most people make are below.
- MAKE SURE THE TREMOLO BAR IS SECURELY WRAPPED
in a small amount of bubble pack or newspaper. If you don't do this the
tremolo bar will fall out of the compartment during shipping and scrape up
the guitar. Also it's a good idea to make sure there are no tools or
itsy bitsy screws anywhere in the case.
- DO NOT LOOSEN ALL THE STRINGS!!! This
is always a major hassle. I get an average of 5 used guitars shipped to me
daily. It is a lot easier for me to check the guitar out if I don't have to do
a setup first. By loosening the strings as much as people do they usually blow
the setup. Sometimes even bridge saddles fall out and cause damage to the
guitar. Gibson, Fender, PRS, Hamer, Ibanez, Heritage, Washburn, Jackson and
all the other companies ship guitars to me perfectly in tune right out of the
case. Any dealer who sends you a guitar with loose strings
only does that because he is too lazy to set the guitar up correctly before
he ships it.
- DO NOT TRUST LOOSE STYROFOAM SHIPPING BEANS.
Loose Styrofoam beans are useless for shipping anything delicate.
They always settle to the bottom and basically offer very little protection
against anything. Bubble pack is the best bet. Even wadded
up newspaper is better than beans.
- BUBBLE PACK ON A HOT DAY CAN MELT INTO THE
FINISH OF A GUITAR. Especially Gibson Guitars
because the use that Nitrocellulose finish on top of a polyester finish to
give the illusion of an old style finish. Make sure the bubble pack is
insulated from the guitar with something like a towel or T shirt or soft
quilt etc etc
- IT'S A FACT OF LIFE, GIBSON LES PAUL GUITARS
BREAK WAY TOO EASILY. In fact, I have said for years, Gibson should
just break every Les Paul before they ship it in the first place. They should
then repair it before it even leaves the factory. Glue is far stronger than
the wood they use. So make sure you insure the living $hit out of it before
you ship it. Also pack it well or they won't honor the insurance anyway.
See This Link On Broken Gibsons
BTW it's damn near impossible to break a Fender, BC Rich, Jackson, PRS,
Quicksilver, Pearlcaster neck in shipping. You have to be careful of guitars
with heavy bodies and tilt back headstocks. Hamer's, Baker's Turner's & Dean's
all appear to look like Les Paul necks but I can't remember ever seeing one
break in shipping or elsewhere. They are all basically the same design with
set neck construction etc etc. Why is it that only the Gibson's break
repeatedly over and over again. In fact, I have repaired 5 times more
Les Paul headstocks, than all other brands of guitars put together.
Ed Roman
Loose Guitar Strings
Occasionally I will have to purchase a guitar from another dealer, usually
when it arrives the strings will all be loose. I HATE THAT !!!!!!!!
Did you ever get a guitar shipped to you with all the strings loose? I
really hate it when that happens. The dealer will usually try to tell you it's
because he did not want to put tension on the neck during shipping.
The Real Reason Is!!
The real reason is, most of these guys don't want to bother going to
the trouble of setting
up the guitar. They either don't know how to do it, or they know the guitar plays
crappy, so they purposely don't do it.
Here at Ed Roman Guitars we do a full setup on every guitar we ship.
(Average Value $75.00) My shop does a complete setup and adjusts the action. The
frets are all ground and polished and the fingerboard is freshly oiled.
furthermore all the electronics are checked and the bridge or tremolo is fully
adjusted.
It's usually the smaller vintage dealers who are the real culprits. Most of
these idiots are dumpster diving ebay maggots and many of them don't even play guitar.
Many of these guys are Pawnshops, and other assorted
small time dealers trying to dump guitars they wouldn't ordinarily want to sell
to a local customer.
They usually deal in baseball cards, golf clubs. action figures,
jewelry, power tools and computers and anything else they can pick up at a tag
sale.
When and if you are dumb
enough to buy a guitar from any of these guys.
Just be sure you insist that they don't loosen
the strings before they ship it to you. This way when you are not satisfied with the guitar they
can't use the old excuse "it was perfect before we loosened the strings"
Also the guitar can be damaged because the
loose strings can allow the parts from the bridge to fall out and scratch your
guitar during shipping.
TIPS TIPS TIPS
TIPS
- It's good to make sure the guitar cannot move inside the case.
Usually a little bubble pack at the headstock area will solve any movement
problems.
- Make sure the case does not flop around inside the shipping box. That will
cause a real lot of damage.
- If you are shipping a guitar without a case (No Problem) just MAKE
SURE you use a lot of Bubble pack taped securely around the instrument. 3 layers at least and maybe a little cardboard in between the layers on sharp
corners or at the headstock. A soft towel around the guitar will prevent
the bubble-pack from melting on to your guitar if it encounters heat along
the way.
- Usually most music stores have boxes they are throwing out or have to get
rid of. So that's a good place to go get a box. I always advise my
customers to always keep a couple of good boxes around for when they need to
ship something. With all the no personality superstores opening up all
over. Shipping guitars has become a required way of life for anyone who
wants to own any guitar that may be even slightly out of the norm.
- Always Insure the guitar for more than it's worth in case it gets broken
or lost. Be careful because UPS and FedEx won't pay claims when they deem the
guitar was packed incorrectly. So make sure you use plenty of
bubble pack.
Shipping a guitar is easy as long as you use common sense
and a lot of bubble pack.
Please Buy a Case
I strongly suggest that a case or a gig bag is purchased with your
instrument. Here are several reasons why I believe it to be the prudent thing to
do.
- The case is usually less expensive if purchased with the guitar.
- I usually charge an additional packing fee because I have to use so much
extra bubble pack to make sure the guitar is shipped safely.
- UPS Insurance will only cover the unit if it is stolen. If the unit
gets damaged UPS may elect to give you a hard time about paying the claim.
- I never accept returns on guitars that have left the premises without a
case!!! (no exceptions).
- We are providing real Road
Cases for less than anyone else I have seen.
Check out this link to see what I mean
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