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Old 07-08-2014, 05:25 AM
Mort722 Mort722 is offline
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Default Receiving a guitar today from FedEx

I have a guitar coming in from sweetwater today it will be in the mid 90s. Should I let the guitar rest before opening the case? Also what if there is damage to the outside box should I take pictures and document everything. Do you let the driver go, if there is damage?

This is the first time I have ever received a guitar from a company like sweetwater, let me take that back first acoustic guitar. I am very worried of damage living where I do most music stores only carry lowend brands.
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Old 07-08-2014, 05:30 AM
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If your phone has a video camera I would document the unpacking and yes let your guitar acclimate to your home for few hours before opening the case.
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Old 07-08-2014, 05:52 AM
Gasworker Gasworker is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mort722 View Post
I have a guitar coming in from sweetwater today it will be in the mid 90s. Should I let the guitar rest before opening the case? Also what if there is damage to the outside box should I take pictures and document everything. Do you let the driver go, if there is damage?

This is the first time I have ever received a guitar from a company like sweetwater, let me take that back first acoustic guitar. I am very worried of damage living where I do most music stores only carry lowend brands.
I have received 4 guitars by courier. All were in excellent condition. The stores are experts in packaging. I don think you can detain the driver for any reason and chances are he/she has 10 hours of work to get done in 8. You can document the unveiling but it kind of takes away from the moment.
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Old 07-08-2014, 05:56 AM
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fazool fazool is offline
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Originally Posted by Gasworker View Post
I have received 4 guitars by courier. All were in excellent condition. The stores are experts in packaging. I don think you can detain the driver for any reason and chances are he/she has 10 hours of work to get done in 8. You can document the unveiling but it kind of takes away from the moment.
+1 I've had the same experience and agree with the statement about them having to get a lot of delivery work done.
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Old 07-08-2014, 06:04 AM
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WebTalk WebTalk is offline
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I had the UPS driver stay and watch me open the box and unwrap a guitar once because the box was pretty banged up in more than one place.

Happily inside the box the guitar had been very well protected in bubble wrap.
It really didn't take very long and he didn't seem to mind even though it was obvious he wasn't interested in guitars at all.

For the curious, it was my T5 and the weather wasn't a factor.
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Old 07-08-2014, 06:07 AM
CrkrJim CrkrJim is offline
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I received a guitar from Sweetwater recently and was quite happy. Double boxed and Fedex brought it in a small van rather than the big delivery truck.
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Old 07-08-2014, 06:31 AM
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Fold up the boxes and save them.

They're about $25 each from the UPS store and convenient to have around if you ever need to ship a guitar out.
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Old 07-08-2014, 06:39 AM
David-NJ David-NJ is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mort722 View Post
I have a guitar coming in from sweetwater today it will be in the mid 90s. Should I let the guitar rest before opening the case? Also what if there is damage to the outside box should I take pictures and document everything. Do you let the driver go, if there is damage?

This is the first time I have ever received a guitar from a company like sweetwater, let me take that back first acoustic guitar. I am very worried of damage living where I do most music stores only carry lowend brands.


Of course you let the driver go. A guitar-weenie making the poor guy, who has tons more deliveries, watch him unwrap an expensive gift to himself is most uncool. Even if the outer box is damaged, it's highly unlikely that the case itself will be compromised. The outer box is supposed to be sacrificial.

I truly find all of this guitar-damage stuff to be overblown. I have mailed myself guitars when going on trips, by packing the case with old T-shirts and loosening the strings, and simply taping a label to the case (USPS is fine with that -- in fact I believe they have to accept pretty much anything with a correct address).

Now, sure, I wouldn't do this to a priceless instrument, and of course the case will get a little banged up. But so what? I cannot believe that some people actually care whether their guitar case gets banged up -- that's what it is there for. It's really hard for a tightly packed guitar to get wrecked inside a decent case unless it's dropped off a 30-story building and G-forces have their way with it. What, exactly, is it that you fear could magically happen to it inside its case?

I will say that, if you're sending the instrument somewhere in the middle of the summer, try to send it on a Monday so it doesn't sit in a super-hot warehouse for a weekend. But that's about it.

Last edited by David-NJ; 07-08-2014 at 06:45 AM.
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Old 07-08-2014, 06:45 AM
wrbriggs wrbriggs is offline
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Can't speak to the actual unpacking, but I can tell you that Sweetwater is great to work with - even for small orders, they give you a specific salesperson to work with, all the way through the process. They are also very good about standing behind their sales and products. I have only ordered small accessories from them, but they still made me feel like an important customer - to me, that's a sign of a great business. Enjoy your new guitar!
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Old 07-08-2014, 07:08 AM
Napman41 Napman41 is offline
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Relax. It's only a guitar and Sweetwater is a great company that ships hundreds of instruments a week.
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Old 07-08-2014, 08:26 AM
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If the box is really beat up, with big rips/holes, then you can think about asking the driver to wait and witness the opening. As others have said, chances are excellent that it will be in fine shape, and worrying about it now is not productive; deal with it if it happens, but expect it to be fine.

And if the box is hot, then wait. If the box is pretty much at room temp, open the box and see how the case feels. Once the case is roughly at room temperature, you should be in good shape to open it. A few hours should be enough unless the box/case are extremely hot (as in, they were left in the sun for a long time).
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