Shipping a J-45 Domestic

[jibberish]

Have you ever personally shipped an acoustic guitar?

I don't mean from a store with a shipping dept and its own materials. I mean from your home?

If so, can you please take me through step-by-step the cheapest way to safely ship one? (materials, cost, carrier, cost, insurance, cost, etc)

[jedzep]

All the time.

Minimally, you'll need the box that can handle a Jumbo w/ case. Try a music shop or Reverb (3 pack for 35 bucks). Packing tape. A slab of soft foam for box bottom, as shippers tend to drop on the end. Crumpled packing paper, bubble wrap or some other flexible filler.

Load the guitar into the case with the strings slackened, pull out the endpin. Then lower the whole thing onto the foam slab at the bottom of your box. Fill in the front and back and sides with paper or bubble wrap leaving a little movement room. Top it off with a rigid cut to fit slab of cardboard over the bubble wrap or paper, then close up the box and start taping.

I print the addresses in as large a font as my printer will do, recipient and shipper, and stick it to front and top, covering with tape to protect against water. ( Shipper label will ultimately be scan friendly and  take over your box's progress). Then take it to a shipper like UPS or FedEx and whip out your wallet. Smaller guitars can squeak by the USPS, but dreads and Js exceed the max size.

UPS Ground only offers insurance up to $999, but FedEx Ground will give you insurance for actual value. If you're east coast, for instance, the price jumps if the box has to cross the Miss River. I'm sure the reverse holds true if you're west going east.

It might cost you between $90 and $130, depending on distance.

That's the short story.

Edited August 29, 2021 by jedzep