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August 2003
Posts: 430
Location: Lebanon, TN | Ah the after pains of the Ebay trader. I picked up two 97 Collectors in the last week or two. I am hoping that I will have two different necks sizes but difficult to tell just yet until they have both arrived. The first arrived today and I regret to inform she was subject to abuse on her journey (well at least I hope that's the story).
Two full depth finish cracks. One extending in an arc directly below the bridge, the other running away from the fretboard on the treble bout. Waiting to hear from the seller, but he posted pretty detailed pictures so unless he was sledging me I suspect these are due to rough handling or extreme temp changes in its journey from New Mexico to me.
I have already contacted the mothership for a refinish quote and have asked the seller to hit up UPS. I'd like to keep the beastie as it plays very sweet, but need to go through the process of working out claims and we all know how pain free that is.
Picture below for your wincing and ouching pleasure
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Ouch.
I'm not sure of having anything shipped by UPS during Christmas season.
They can sure screw up a really nice guitar. :mad:
I have been looking at several guitars on ebay. Prices are fairly good right now. After seeing what they idiots can do I may want to wait till after the holiday crunch. :confused: |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | F'ouch! |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | Originally posted by Gospel Guitar Guy:
Ouch.
I'm not sure of having anything shipped by UPS during Christmas season.
They can sure screw up a really nice guitar. :mad:
I have been looking at several guitars on ebay. Prices are fairly good right now. After seeing what they idiots can do I may want to wait till after the holiday crunch. :confused: "...holiday CRUNCH." pun intended or not?
so sorry about your misfortune stuart! |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Originally posted by Lanaki:
"...holiday CRUNCH." pun intended or not?
so sorry about your misfortune stuart!
Not really. |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | It's why I hate having anything shipped to me by UPS. Just personal experience but they tend to F%$#K up more stuff than they ship properly.
I always request USPS or FedEx when possible....your mileage and experience may vary! |
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June 2004
Posts: 375
Location: Rocky River, Ohio | i know alot of people praise UPS, but i, like stephen28, have had the worst luck with UPS.
they have bounced more stuff across the country to my house than any other carrier.
it's really a roll of the dice. the only things i try to do when shipping guitars is to overpack them and to use overnight delivery to reduce the number of hands touching your precious instrument.
it's a tragedy to see that 97 all cracked up, but be sure, if the john and kim receive it, it will come back better than new.
ernie |
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March 2005
Posts: 12758
Location: Boise, Idaho | Originally posted by Erniewan:
it's a tragedy to see that 97 all cracked up, but be sure, if the john and kim receive it, it will come back better than new.
ernie Unless they ship it back UPS. Were the strings tuned to pitch when it was shipped? It looks like the crack under the bridge could have been caused by the pull of the strings. |
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March 2003
Posts: 555
Location: Wooster, Ohio | Was the 97 shipped in its orginal case? I had one and shipped it thinking that case could be run over by a tank and the guitar would survive.
Steve |
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September 2006
Posts: 713
Location: Alberta, Canada | Stuart, sorry to see that. Especially since my 1112-4 is enroute from the factory via UPS as I type this. I fear nightmares will haunt my sleep tonight.
Best of luck with your guitar.
Dave |
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August 2003
Posts: 430
Location: Lebanon, TN | The strings were not tensioned so no issue there.
The downside case wise is this did NOT have the original 97 Collector case. It had a regular modern Deluxe Ovation case with extra packing under, over and along the sides to compensate.
My personal theory is that these are temp change cracks. This came NM to PA via Illinois over the weekend.
I spoke with the seller by phone tonight and he is pretty upset at what has happened and immediately offered up his other 97 instead. I told him just reach out to UPS and start the claims process. The guitar otherwise is spotless with clean new strings.
We have before and after photographs and the beastie has beautiful tone and sustains an open A for eternity. My preference would be to get UPS to stump the bill for the refinish and let John and Team work their magic. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7223
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | "My personal theory is that these are temp change cracks. This came NM to PA via Illinois over the weekend."
That is my biggest fear when shipping guitars. I advise folks to not open the case for at least 6 hours until it adjusts to temp, longer if you can stand it. I also try my best to to not have a guitar transit a weekend. Basically the least amount of time in the system, the better. |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I think UPS will state that problems associated with the weather are "acts of God" and therefore not covered. I hope I am wrong.
I would advise you to claim that the damage was most likely done by some other heavy object falling on the box and causing hidden damage. You will have a much better chance of getting the guitar fixed......and based on UPS history, a much more believable story that they probably would not dispute. |
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August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | Very possible that it was damage from something falling on the box...went through the UPS claims for a 1658 slothead Custom Legend 12-str. Had to have the top taken down and refinished. With UPS, the seller can transfer the claim to you...that allows you to be involved and have the check sent to you. |
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August 2003
Posts: 430
Location: Lebanon, TN | Appreciate the insight guys and the seller and I had reached the same conclusions. We are going to stick with the "This clearly was the result of some heavy pressure down on the box and case without a penetrating blow". Played it again this morning and really like it. |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | Stuart,
The top probably vibrates better with the finish cracks! Perhaps you want to reconsider gettin' her fixed? Don't slap me...just a thought. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Just received two guitars via UPS that were shipped east to west across maybe a dozen states through some big time blizzards. No scratches, damage or deterioration whatsoever. This is typical of my experience with UPS (and FedEx, USPS and DHL for that matter). I guess I've been lucky to date . . . only lost one rather fragile neon sign, which was returned for a full refund. |
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July 2004
Posts: 474
Location: Anchorage, Alaska | I have a standing rule that I won't ship guitars in or out of Alaska between October and April. We had 10 below weather a week ago and in the 40's with rain 2 days ago. Back in the low 20's today. I've seen several guitars that traveled during that time up here with really bad cracks from temp changes. Then again I had an old fender acoustic that I used to take back and forth from Pruhdoe Bay every couple weeks where it was left out on the tarmac for an hour at a time at 40 below zero and colder and never had a problem. I would ALWAYS give it 10 to 12 hours before opening the case though. That is where most of the problems stem from... |
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September 2006
Posts: 713
Location: Alberta, Canada | AFG, I think you've got it. Radical changes in temperature causing rapid expansion/contraction in multiple different materials is a recipe for disaster. Back when I was gigging, I would always make sure my truck was warmed up in extreme cold weather and the guitar would go in the cab, not the back. Always figured it was just good practice and still do.
Although it's going to be tremendously hard not to rip open the packaging immediatly, when my CB arrives, which should be tomorrow, hopefully. |
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January 2006
Posts: 208
Location: Illinois | Originally posted by Stuart Miller:
... It had a regular modern Deluxe Ovation case with extra packing under, over and along the sides to compensate.... Just as long as there wasn't too much packing OVER the sound board.
Have you used your inspection mirror to look for broken braces? You do have an inspection mirror... don't you?
If there is / are broken braces, I say it got crunched. Coulda been the weather. It's been Darn Cold in Illinois recently.
Did it involve an airplane flight? Even if you didn't request air shipment, they sometimes put it on a plane if the trucks are full and there's room on the plane. Did it come through 'Cache' Illinois? That's UPS Air facility. |
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Ebay/UPS tales of woe (97 collector)