How to ship a guitar

Introduction

The way a guitar is packaged makes a huge difference to its chances of surviving the journey in the back of a courier’s van – or in the hold of a jumbo jet.

Writing ‘fragile’ on the side of the box won’t make a jot of difference. Nobody cares about your gear as much as you do. That means it’s your responsibility to package your guitar correctly.

A guitar can break when it’s dropped, even in its case. So, follow our easy guide and let’s try to get your axe to its new home in one piece…

1. Detune

Detune the strings until they’re slack. Gibson guitars shipped in tune can suffer headstock breaks if the box they’re packed in is dropped or suffers an impact.

2. Protect your fingerboard

Protect the guitar’s fingerboard with a length of card or some cloth. Do the same with the pickups.

Make sure there’s nothing loose in the case like Allen keys, etc.

3. Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt

You must make sure that the guitar cannot move in its case when the lid is down. This is important: the headstock must not be in contact with the top of the case.

4. Pack your cavities

Use crumpled newspaper to pack any cavities in the case.

Pay particular attention to the space under the headstock and the gap between the neck heel and the case.

5. Box it up

Get a decent outer box and pack it with more crumpled newspaper. Get plenty in the bottom before you put the case in. Then pack around the case and seal the box.