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Location: South of most, North of few | So,...I'm on vacation, and had the foresight to send three guitars back to the factory before I left so they wouldn't be sitting around the house while I was gone. I saw on the Fedex site that they had been delivered, so I called and talked to Kim. He had only seen one of the three so far, my beloved 1614, that was flawless except needed some fret replacement. Then he informed me that the top had a crack in it...... :mad: ........I couldn't believe it. I had packed it in its case, in an Ovation box with extra bubble wrap to keep it from moving around in the box. Fedex WAS the only company I hadn't had a problem with, but I guess it catches up with you sooner or later. Kim said they could fix it, and since it was a new crack, it would be pretty well un-noticable. Now, if it makes the trip home is another story. :rolleyes:
I know going after them for the insurance is fruitless, so just another one of someone else's screwups that I will have to cover. |
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Location: Melbourne Fl. | Jim I feel your pain.My last "good grab",an older Country Artist got tossed around so much that the battery box came loose,battery was loose also.Pickup lead was disconnected and the box was hanging on by the jack lead.It was well packed also. That was UPS.I guess Fragile means Punt these days.............Slydog |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | "Let's just squeeze this long-skinny box in between the wall and everything else...
That will save space and keep everything else from moving around." :mad: |
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Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | The crack probably happened due to temperature issues, not physical abuse. So no matter how well you packed it, it probably would not have made a difference. I had the same problem and the repair is un-noticable.
Dave |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | It still rents space in your head, though. I'm glad we have such excellent wizardry @ The MotherShip. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | The kicker to my story was/is that the darn guitar cracked again (different spot), this time right before my very eyes. It was sitting on a stand right next to me while I typed on the computer and I hear a quiet little "pop". I glance at the guitar and sure as hell, there's a 2 inch long lacquer crack. Some days you just can't win. I figured it was the guitar telling me to play it more and worry less about how it looks.
Dave |
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Location: NJ | It's probably "stressed" from being around all those Martins . . . |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | At least on an Ovation (so far) you can only get lacquer cracks on the front.
Dave |
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Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Good point Dave, I would agree on the temp thing if it were in winter, but as of lately, the temps up north have been almost as bad as Fl. It just really miffs me, as the top was perfect on that guitar, very nice dark color from age and nice grain. Oh well, I am putting my faith in the factory to make it right, which I'm sure they will. |
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Posts: 325
Location: Texas | What I learned from a UPS delivery person - put fragil on it and the silver back apes that load and unload items - seek the fragils out and have a field day with them. So now, I never put fragil on anything. That is just so wrong. :rolleyes: |
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Location: South of most, North of few | I've heard that before vision. That's a sad comment on the workers that transport our precious packages. I hope it's not true. I'm going to ASS U ME that it was just a fluke and not the norm. Good news is, they did receive my KOA and the 1537, and they made it fine! Now,...if I can just get them back home in one piece, Everything will be back to normal(?) again. I just have to worry about the Longneck getting home too.... :rolleyes: |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | "What I learned from a UPS delivery person - put fragil on it and the silver back apes that load and unload items - seek the fragils out and have a field day with them. So now, I never put fragil on anything. That is just so wrong."
As someone who spent three and a half years in numerous positions at UPS (during college), I can tell you that's not true, vision. Popular rumor but UPS works their guys too hard for them to be searching out any box for any reason much less giving every one marked "fragile" an extra stomp. Most of the guys loading and unloading do their best and there are loading and unloading managers every 10 feet watching you. Some jerks get in, no question, but I wouldn't paint the entire place with that brush. Wouldn't be fair. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Al has posted several times on this subject and I totally agree with him. There are some exceptions, based on your location, but
USPS = Mail
FED-Ex = Mail that needs to get there fast.
UPS = Packages.
Now, having said that here are some tidbits from VERY reliable sources in no particular order.
- Marking Fragile. It's not so much that it gets purposely kicked around, but that they are supposed to set that package asside before during the loading process at all points and load it to an "appropriate" spot. In reality that translates to your "fragile" package, that was probably packed reasonably well in the first place, being handled MANY MANY more times than it normally would. It also means rather than going into a spot where the box fits like everything else, it's put on top, or in some other place where it's actually MORE vulnerable. For guitars (and mind you I got this info from a UPS warehouse worker), the place where most of the damage happens is at the warehouse. The drivers and loaders don't know guitars from trampolines. It sais fragile, they stand the box up "over there" where someone bumps into it and knocks it over, or or or or.. You fill in the blank.
- Both UPS and FED-Ex are not required to file a "damage" report unless the package has fallen more than 6 feet. e.g. off the loading dock.
- Placement of the shipping label is important. I place the shipping label on the long EDGE of the box. This means the box pretty much has to stay laying on it's edge, not on it's face or back, and not on an end as they have to scan that label. This way, the only way it can fall is side to side, and it's not likely to be put anyplace with enough room to do that. It prevents things from being stacked on it's face or back, it prevents it from being put on its end and falling over. This is not 100%, but doing it this way is easiest on the drivers and packers and under reasonable circumstances, it will be fine.
I just recently went through a horrible evolution where someone shipped me a guitar and marked it Fragile and put THIS END UP the long way on the face. Well the box got a little damaged along the way and the "bottom" end was no longer perfectly square. The result was pretty much any time the handler did EXACTLY what the box said... THIS END UP, including the driver who delivered it, it fell over. And yes, DUH the headstock joint got cracked. I am 100% positive, based on how the box was packed that had FRAGILE and THIS END UP NOT been used, there would have been no problems. There are only so many times a guitar can fall on its face or back from at least 3 feet before the headstock joint gives up.
-mkb |
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Location: South of most, North of few | Very good points about the labeling, Miles. I only hope this might help others in their transportation adventures. GOOD LUCK!!(if there is such a thing) |
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| USPS just shipped an Adamas 3500 miles and The Royal Mail (in their Parcel Force guise) shipped it another 250 miles and then it got put into a warehouse the size of Manhattan for a few days and when I picked it up this afternoon it was perfect.
The secret is to pack the box with The Philadelphia Inquirer, south New Jersey edition.
There - al's secret is out. |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | !! You got a Ute 12! Shweet! |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | A U681-12 ???? Sweet-sweet-sweetilee-deet-deet ...
That's like the little unknown gem of the Adamas world. My #1 favorite 12 banger, bar NONE.
COOL !!!!!!!!!!! |
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Posts: 4413
| If I ever stop smiling and the ringing in my ears stops, I'll let you know what I think of it..... |
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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Originally posted by schroeder:
If I ever stop smiling and the ringing in my ears stops, I'll let you know what I think of it..... Only take one pill at a time. And if your "condition" lasts for more than four hours, seek medical help immediately ... ;)
Congrats on a fine guitar. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | My only disappointment on opening the OFC Guitar box was the total absence of pizza and beer cartons. There are legends that should be preserved. |
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Location: closely held secret | That's just totally unacceptable. I'd return it if I were you, Mark.
...the box, that is. |
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November 2005
Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Originally posted by schroeder:
and the ringing in my ears stops, I find just muting the strings before I put the guitar down helps.
YMMV. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I'm eating pizza and drinking beer just to save up enough cartons to send it back. I actually thought about sending the case back full of pizza and beer cartons, but then I decided to keep the case.
Al, pay attention! When you send the carbon fiber case, I expect at least a full quota of pizza and beer cartons. |
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July 2007
Posts: 325
Location: Texas | Originally posted by Weaser P:
"What I learned from a UPS delivery person - put fragil on it and the silver back apes that load and unload items - seek the fragils out and have a field day with them. So now, I never put fragil on anything. That is just so wrong."
As someone who spent three and a half years in numerous positions at UPS (during college), I can tell you that's not true, vision. Popular rumor but UPS works their guys too hard for them to be searching out any box for any reason much less giving every one marked "fragile" an extra stomp. Most of the guys loading and unloading do their best and there are loading and unloading managers every 10 feet watching you. Some jerks get in, no question, but I wouldn't paint the entire place with that brush. Wouldn't be fair. I would like to think that most respect the items coming in and out of their facility - but at the UPS store I was also told that bit of news about not putting fragil on the package. Also, years ago, a friend worked in the area of loading and unloading items. What computer has the boxes with the cow markings - it is Dell or Gateway - can't remember - he said everyone knew what those boxes contain and he saw many being tossed around like they contained pillows. I wonder how many people got damaged computers. Just yesterday, I received a box from UPS that was half way opened and looked like it had been chewed on by a pack of dogs - thank God, it was just three pair of shoes that I ordered.
Maybe it is just the facility in Texas - but I have a number of horror stories - one memorable one - the Langcaster guitar with a body made of 35,000 year old swamp Kauri wood - again the box looked like a truck rolled over it and the horn on the guitar was broken.....after I woke up from my coma, I email the maker of the guitar in New Zealand, I sent the body back to him and he repaired the body for me ( free of charge) and it looks good as new. There is no reason for this kind of damage on any package - I just don't have a warm fuzzy for them for obvious reason. |
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October 2005
Posts: 5332
Location: Bluffton, SC | That's unfortunate, vision. I can tell you that I worked with many guys on a few different shifts and destroying packages was never considered a badge of honor. Again, I've heard the stories (some true, some not) and I've heard the "...well, my bothers' friends' cousin's next door neighbor had a package that..." stuff and I, frankly, doubt a lot of it. I have no stake in the company at all but I would think that, given the number of packages that go through their houses every day, a very high percentage arrive in intact. And, if your local house is an exception to that rule, I simply wouldn't use them. |
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More shipping problems
