shipping guitars in the summer

[samcatluth]

I am waiting on a BR 183 I just purchased to be shipped UPS. I thought about paying for overnight shipping but living in Ohio there isn't much sense to it because the difference in time in transit is negligible....(it's coming from Illinois). But with the temp back up into to upper 80's is sitting in a UPS truck something to worry about? The usual transit time is about 2 days. Should I have opted for overnight shipping (considerably more $). Jeff B

[dmbandnick]

My experience was a little different than yours but on the same page.

Here's how it went down.

I ordered a brand new Taylor 914 in the spring of 2011. It took three months to complete. I received notification that the guitar was finished and provided with a UPS tracking number on Tuesday June 28th. Estimated delivery was Friday July 1st. The guitar was traveling from the Taylor plant in California to my guitar dealer in central Illinois. Now this summer was a particularly hot one. Daytime temps were in the 100's. Sadly the delivery got held up and it ended up sitting, like you, in a truck or UPS warehouse through the weekend. With July 4th being a Monday, my delivery date got pushed back to Tuesday July 5th. In short, my guitar sat in a plane, truck, or warehouse for a full 7 days during the hottest and most humid summer I can remember.

I received notification that the guitar arrived at 2pm and I was at the store by 5pm to open the box personally. This allowed 3 hours in the case at room temp to bring the temp and guitar itself back down to a reasonable range. It was immediately apparent that something went horribly wrong in transit. Taylor is well known for there smooth low action and the ability to replicate that on every guitar. Mine was a far cry from smooth and low. I measured a 1/2 in gap at the 14th fret. A lot of people gauge a guitars action by using quarters to measure the perfect string height. I would have need about $2.00 in quarters in my case.

At the time I had my guitar tech modify the saddle while I waited for the opportunity to have a Taylor certified guy look at it. I had that opportunity last year. A Taylor representative visited our local store to do free mods and install strings. I took it to him with a detailed description of the story. My thoughts were he'd check the angle of the neck, adjust the shim, and install a new saddle as the one originally installed had been adjusted for the ridiculously high action. The response I received upon picking it up baffled me. He said the angle was right on target and had no explanation why the guitar arrived with such a high action.

Is it possible the guitar wasn't setup by Taylor properly? I would guess not, especially considering it's one of there high-end models.

To this day, I have no idea exactly what happened but I strongly believe it had to do with the time in transit during excessive heat.



Having said all this, your situation is considerably different. Temps aren't in the 100's daily, yours will ship in about half the time, and I'll stab in the dark that you didn't drop $4k and am having it shipped directly from the manufacturer.

I would think, even with the experience i had, that yours will be just fine. BUT with the holiday weekend fast approaching I would strongly suggest you confirm it will arrive by Saturday at the latest. Otherwise you may be in the same boat as me.

Cheers!

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by dmbandnick

I measured a 1/2 in gap at the 14th fret. A lot of people gauge a guitars action by using quarters to measure the perfect string height. I would have need about $2.00 in quarters in my case.

At the time I had my guitar tech modify the saddle while I waited for the opportunity to have a Taylor certified guy look at it. I had that opportunity last year. A Taylor representative visited our local store to do free mods and install strings. I took it to him with a detailed description of the story. My thoughts were he'd check the angle of the neck, adjust the shim, and install a new saddle as the one originally installed had been adjusted for the ridiculously high action. The response I received upon picking it up baffled me. He said the angle was right on target and had no explanation why the guitar arrived with such a high action.

What you are describing is impossible, and your response to it is implausible.

If the action were 1/2" at the 14th fret, your saddle would have needed to come down 3/4" to make your guitar playable with an action of 1/8", which is still high for a Taylor. But there is no saddle that can come down 3/4", when total bridge/saddle height is only 1/2" and saddles extend about 3/16" above the bridge at a maximum. A 1/16" is a major saddle adjustment. Your tech could not have made your guitar even close to playable.

And you then didn't return a brand new, unplayable guitar for a year? Instead you waited for a Taylor certified tech to come to town (there isn't one in Atlanta?)? And he found the neck angle to be fine? Sorry, but this makes no sense.

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by dmbandnick

To this day, I have no idea exactly what happened but I strongly believe it had to do with the time in transit during excessive heat.

Also, the guitar may well have undergone a space/time warp at some point in its journey ..and never fully recovered from having gone through a different dimension ...

[dmbandnick]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

What you are describing is impossible, and your response to it is implausible.

If the action were 1/2" at the 14th fret, your saddle would have needed to come down 3/4" to make your guitar playable with an action of 1/8", which is still high for a Taylor. But there is no saddle that can come down 3/4", when total bridge/saddle height is only 1/2" and saddles extend about 3/16" above the bridge at a maximum. A 1/16" is a major saddle adjustment. Your tech could not have made your guitar even close to playable.

And you then didn't return a brand new, unplayable guitar for a year? Instead you waited for a Taylor certified tech to come to town (there isn't one in Atlanta?)? And he found the neck angle to be fine? Sorry, but this makes no sense.

Hey brother, I couldn't make that kind of story up. As for the saddle, they sanded it down to the point of ridiculous. You'd laugh if you saw it. We're talking about barely any saddle sticking out. Just enough for the strings not to hit the wood as they come out of the bridge. They also made an adjustment to the truss. As for playability, it was still higher than I'm use to seeing on Taylors. At the time I had a 914 DMSM so I had a pretty solid reference point. I knew what string height I had on that thing and it was a far cry in comparison.

As for not returning it, I can't argue with you there. Honestly I shouldn't have walked out of the store with it seeing the obvious problem I was facing. It was a bone-head move and one I've thought about time and time again. The short answer as to why I took it as it sat was simply this, it was my holy grail. I always held the late 90's 914's as the best of the best, cream of the crop. In 2011, Taylor modified the 914's back to there glory day, at least in appearance. So I jumped. Its something I'd thought about wanting for years and years. I wanted it so badly I probably would have walked out with it even if it had a broken neck. That's 100% my fault, no question about it.

As to why I waited a year to have it looked at by a Taylor certified tech, I was living in central Illinois at the time and no, there are zero Taylor certified repair shops within a 100 mile radius. In fact I wasn't in Atlanta two weeks when I discovered the Taylor dealer and soon to be visit by the Taylor tech. And yes, he said the angle was fine. Something I totally forgot to mention was this. When I found the local Taylor dealer and was informed that a tech guy was coming in, I actually purchased a brand new, unmodified saddle from Taylor, sanded down the edges to fit in the slot, and dropped it in without strings. This increased the saddle height dramatically, nearly double in height compared to the mutilated saddle I had installed for the year. When I got it back with new strings and a "everything looked fine to me" from the tech guy, I immediately grabbed another x14 and said, "I'm not crazy here. Look at my string height and look at this one.... What am I missing?" I got shrugs. And in all honestly, the string height with the new saddle wasn't as high as it was when I picked it up originally on that faithful July day but it was still leaps and bounds higher than what I've come to know and love about Taylors.
Was the new saddle purchased from Taylor lower than the original?
Did the Taylor tech guy actually make modifications but failed to mention them to me?
Had the guitars woods flexed and adjusted back to what they were when it left the factory?
Who knows. Wish I did.
After my Taylor tech inspection, I took the guitar home and made my own saddle adjustment. Today it's not half bad. I'd compare the height to my Taylor 210 but as I'm sure you know, these two models have different strings and expected string height as a result.

If the story sounds off, it's because it is. If I hadn't lived it I probably would believe it myself. It's comical. I'd never seen a brand new guitar with string height like this in my life. It was so bad I went out and purchased a digital caliper so I know I was 100% accurate when contacting Taylor. In my mind I will always blame my experience on the excessive heat and long delivery time. It's the only thing that sounds logical to me.

[mercy]

I shipped mine UPS with 100 degree temps, 4 days in route and arrived just fine, but I had bought 3rd party insurance just to be sure.

[ChuckS]

I've held off shipping my guitar for the second week in a row. Temps were in the 70-80's several weeks ago but have returned into the 90's. I've never had a problem in hot weather (like I have had in the cold) but I decided I wasn't in that much of a hurry.

[samcatluth]

Would you believe that UPS added a line to my tracking......"scheduled delivery 8/28/13, actual delivery anticipated on 8/27/13" Yippie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I think) I will let everyone know tomorrow.....Jeff B