I'm tired of shipping companies gorilla handling packages!!!

[MadAsAHatter]

Earlier this week I shipped my Jaded Faith/EVO amp for Version 2 updates.

I bubble wrapped the amp, put it in a form fitting box, and put a layer of bubble wrap around the box I then reinforced the corners of an outer box, lined that with dense shipping foam all around, and packed the first box in that where it fit securely. Even with all that the headshell still ended up getting damaged. (see pic below) The amp was in perfect condition before these assclowns put their hands on it. Are they beating packages with a sledge hammer or something? To get that damage through all that packing and double boxed they have to be damaging everyone's shipments on purpose. The next time I have to ship something I'm seriously thinking about packing everything the same way then pack all that in a thick wooden crate.

I did ship through ShipNerd and insured the amp. I could file a claim, but really don't feel like dealing with the hassle. I wouldn't be able to get my amp back until the claim was finished. I'm not in the mood to wait several weeks for these shitheads to fuck around with the claim process.

On a good note, it was just the shell that was damaged. The amp itself got a clean bill of health. The other silver lining is I have been thinking about recovering this amp in something other than black. Since it was in pristine condition I didn't want to go pulling the tolex off. Now that it got damaged I'm more inclined to redo it. I'll either fix the damage and recover or build a hardwood shell.

 

[DanTravis62]

god damn, what a weird spot for them to hit too? Like, it seems like package handlers would have to do something really careless to ding it there of all places.

What are you gonna change the tolex to?

 

[JustinCorrigible]

As long as they continue to hire gorillas they’re gonna continue to be handled by them. I’ve seen and unloaded some really shady stacking in trailers years ago…

But seriously, that looks like that might have fallen at just the wrong place, like it dropped at the edge of the belt or something, or something onto it (this side up doesn’t mean much anymore) and since that already had some weight to it… Hard to say just from pic of the spot.

 

[rsm]

UPS cracked the shell of my '76 Super Twin. It had to have been dropped from decent height; internals seem fine. The top of the right side panel was cracked and separated from the top. Amp was well packed.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

What are you gonna change the tolex to?

I'm thinking about a distressed pewter or making a shell from hardwood. Looking at pics online these two are what grabbed my attention for some inspiration. I'm leaning more towards doing a hardwood shell. I'll have to go poke around at the lumber yard this weekend.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

god damn, what a weird spot for them to hit too? Like, it seems like package handlers would have to do something really careless to ding it there of all places.

Yeah dude. I was worried about the corners being smashed, but that's the bottom dead center of the shell.

 

[napalmdeath]

This is an SG I sold. Shipped in hardshell case, double-boxed, and padding galore. Still has me scratching my head how the fuck it was even possible. Yeah, it's a Gibson and it happens, but it was packed better than Gibson packed it.

 

[braintheory]

This is an SG I sold. Shipped in hardshell case, double-boxed, and padding galore. Still has me scratching my head how the fuck it was even possible. Yeah, it's a Gibson and it happens, but it was packed better than Gibson packed it.

View attachment 313170

From what I’ve been told headstock breaks like that can happen from whiplash (some guys have had this happen on on sudden stops on subway rides with their guitars), so you have to make sure within the case itself there is padding behind and in front of the headstock or do whatever you can so that the neck itself moves as little as possible within the case. This is a pretty common problem sadly. One of my good cases for classical guitars has a Velcro strap to hold it in place around the nut

 

[skoora]

From what I’ve been told headstock breaks like that can happen from whiplash (some guys have had this happen on on sudden stops on subway rides with their guitars), so you have to make sure within the case itself there is padding behind and in front of the headstock or do whatever you can so that the neck itself moves as little as possible within the case. This is a pretty common problem sadly. One of my good cases for classical guitars has a Velcro strap to hold it in place around the nut

Last guitar I shipped in a gig bag I did this. Just to negate the pocket the neck and headstock have to move inside the bag. Just used some bubble wrap.

 

[SBlue]

Man that sucks big time. I'm sorry to hear that. At least, it was just the head shell.
Everybody knows that if you pay them to pack it, they'll break it. If you pack it yourself, they'll break it. If someone is packing it to ship it to you, they'll break it too.
We know they'll toss packages left and right, and when it comes down to heavier items, they will drop them from the truck shelves to the truck floor, and from the truck floor to the streets, in case nobody is watching.
They do run and move, from small to up to 150lbs boxes all day long, and in a lot of cases, are beaten by the clients, who always complain direct to them, for things they are not even responsible for.
I'm not saying it's justifiable the fact they aren't careful with the packages at all. Those who know me know how careful I am with instruments, and how much I love them. So, I hate to see this all happening, but there are ways you can avoid, or at least, lower the chances your item won't be damaged.
The only way to bypass big part of the gear damage, money and time loss, not to mention the headache, is to learn how to pack properly, and overpack the shit out of it. So far, with the 30 years I've been doing this, and when I worked for Hollywood Vintage I was packing every single vintage amps and guitars that we would send out, I have never had a single guitar, amp, cabinet or pedal damaged during shipping. I've received quite a a few damaged items tho, but only because they weren't packed properly.
Never have I received a damaged instrument or amp that was properly packed. Even if the outer box was almost completely destroyed, the item, in its case or inside box, was flawless.

 

[VonBonfire]

I'm thinking about a distressed pewter or making a shell from hardwood. Looking at pics online these two are what grabbed my attention for some inspiration. I'm leaning more towards doing a hardwood shell. I'll have to go poke around at the lumber yard this weekend.

View attachment 313158View attachment 313149

That shell, other than the center front piece, looks to me mostly african mahogany. I did a cab for a vintage Gibson combo I had laying around. in that and used some new guinea ebony trim and it came out real nice. I didn't have a finger joint jig or dovetail jig so I used a kreg jig with glued/screwed blocking at the corners for the whole thing and it came out real sturdy and nice looking. I used a multi piece pine board for the baffle.

Note: use a woodgrain filler before you varnish it and it will be easier to obtain a high gloss finish with fewer coats. I failed to do that and wound up applying many many coats to get the shine level I wanted.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

Man that sucks big time. I'm sorry to hear that. At least, it was just the head shell.
Everybody knows that if you pay them to pack it, they'll break it. If you pack it yourself, they'll break it. If someone is packing it to ship it to you, they'll break it too.
We know they'll toss packages left and right, and when it comes down to heavier items, they will drop them from the truck shelves to the truck floor, and from the truck floor to the streets, in case nobody is watching.
They do run and move, from small to up to 150lbs boxes all day long, and in a lot of cases, are beaten by the clients, who always complain direct to them, for things they are not even responsible for.
I'm not saying it's justifiable the fact they aren't careful with the packages at all. Those who know me know how careful I am with instruments, and how much I love them. So, I hate to see this all happening, but there are ways you can avoid, or at least, lower the chances your item won't be damaged.
The only way to bypass big part of the gear damage, money and time loss, not to mention the headache, is to learn how to pack properly, and overpack the shit out of it. So far, with the 30 years I've been doing this, and when I worked for Hollywood Vintage I was packing every single vintage amps and guitars that we would send out, I have never had a single guitar, amp, cabinet or pedal damaged during shipping. I've received quite a a few damaged items tho, but only because they weren't packed properly.
Never have I received a damaged instrument or amp that was properly packed. Even if the outer box was almost completely destroyed, the item, in its case or inside box, was flawless.

Sadly these days even if you do overpack it still stands the chance to be damaged the way they throw packages around. The amp tech (Rob) send me several videos of how the boxes were received. I cherish my gear so if I do have to ship something I well overpack. the videos showed both the outer and inner boxes having dents where they hit and several inches of the dense packing foam completely cracked in half. So whatever it hit, it was hit so hard it went through all of that plus several layers of bubble wrap. It was also packed so there was cushioning to take impacts, but not move around in the boxes.

I don't know how much you have shipped in the last few years. I am glad you haven't had any issues; at least with the ones you packed. Like you said, there are measure you can take to minimize incurring damage as much as possible, but nothing is 100% foolproof.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

That shell, other than the center front piece, looks to me mostly african mahogany. I did a cab for a vintage Gibson combo I had laying around. in that and used some new guinea ebony trim and it came out real nice. I didn't have a finger joint jig or dovetail jig so I used a kreg jig with glued/screwed blocking at the corners for the whole thing and it came out real sturdy and nice looking. I used a multi piece pine board for the baffle.

Note: use a woodgrain filler before you varnish it and it will be easier to obtain a high gloss finish with fewer coats. I failed to do that and wound up applying many many coats to get the shine level I wanted.

It's hard to tell what wood was used on that amp in the pic. On my screen it looks more brown like walnut. I'm more inspired by the light and dark contrast than the type of wood. The last hardwood shell I did was Walnut and bloodwood with maple accents. If I go hardwood I'm thinking of bubinga or sapele and maple. The last time I was at the lumber yard they had some nice pieces of zebrawood. If they still have some in stock I may go with that.

I'll probably go with a semi-gloss or satin finish. I'm not the biggest fan of full gloss on natural wood. I like to see and fell the grain pattern so I generally skip the grain filler unless it's something that super open pore.

 

[SBlue]

Sadly these days even if you do overpack it still stands the chance to be damaged the way they throw packages around. The amp tech (Rob) send me several videos of how the boxes were received. I cherish my gear so if I do have to ship something I well overpack. the videos showed both the outer and inner boxes having dents where they hit and several inches of the dense packing foam completely cracked in half. So whatever it hit, it was hit so hard it went through all of that plus several layers of bubble wrap. It was also packed so there was cushioning to take impacts, but not move around in the boxes.

I don't know how much you have shipped in the last few years. I am glad you haven't had any issues; at least with the ones you packed. Like you said, there are measure you can take to minimize incurring damage as much as possible, but nothing is 100% foolproof.

Absolutely. I agree with what you say. Nothing is 100% foolproof, but the better you pack it, the more chances of it not getting damaged.
This year alone I've shipped 18 tube amps and 5 guitars. Including two Camerons, three Larry, a 64 Deluxe Reverb, three vintage Marshalls...
Hopefully I'll be able to maintain this number, zero, of damaged pieces shipped by me for as long as I live!
Knock on wood!!!

 

[thegame]

Absolutely. I agree with what you say. Nothing is 100% foolproof, but the better you pack it, the more chances of it not getting damaged.
This year alone I've shipped 18 tube amps and 5 guitars. Including two Camerons, three Larry, a 64 Deluxe Reverb, three vintage Marshalls...
Hopefully I'll be able to maintain this number, zero, of damaged pieces shipped by me for as long as I live!
Knock on wood!!!

And sometimes amps arrive from the builder to the shipping courier with defects and time bomb like imminent damage already. Now that’s going above and beyond!

 

[SBlue]

And sometimes amps arrive from the builder to the shipping courier with defects and time bomb like imminent damage already. Now that’s going above and beyond!

Specially when the builder has the reputation of being dishonest. Then the builder will blame the carrier or buyer.