Wait to Open a Shipping Box with a Guitar in it?

Would you wait to open a shipping box with a guitar in it?

  • Total voters
    42
State of Epicicity

State of Epicicity

Fractal Fanatic
My replacement Sun Valley Super Shredder FR Black Limba is estimated to arrive Monday! The guitar is traveling from a warmer climate, from the Los Angeles area to Wisconsin. Now, I've seen posts from some on this forum who recommend waiting to open the shipping box if you've had a new guitar shipped to you, so I'm wondering:

Would you wait to open the box for a guitar that was shipped to you? How would opening the box right away hurt the guitar? What is the logic behind waiting? How long should one wait to open the box?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.
 
I know whenever I get a guitar from Sweetwater, it comes with a warning to let the guitar come to room temperature before opening it. I think the logic is it might be cold (or hot) inside the case due to cold (or hot) temperatures while shipping, so you shouldn't subject it to a sudden change in temperature by opening the case until it's had time to come to room temperature.

I find it hard to believe anybody ever heeds that warning.
 
Yep, depends on the weather and the finish. I think most packages will sit at the shipper's long enough to acclimatize to the local weather, but if it's significantly colder or warmer outside than it is in my house, I'll let it sit for 12-24 hours depending on how big the difference is and what finish is used (nitro, urethane, etc.).

Basically, the problem comes from how fast a given material will expand/contract due to rapid changes in temperature and how brittle the finish is. In general, nitro is more brittle than other finishes. I have had one nitro finish crack, even after waiting about 18 hours. To be fair, I could've been more patient, and it was a Fender Thin Skin (no base coat).
 
I always want to wait but I can't ... I try to open it in more or less same temperature. But I had no issues with it until now.
 
If it’s really cold where you are and the box feels cold what I do is open the box just a crack and stick my hand in to feel how cold it is inside then I’m more inclined to let it sit for a while. Not just because of finish issues, etc., but also if it’s a trem and especially Floyd Rose, why give it a chance to get all wonky in regards to setup. There’s been times where the inside of the box was like sticking my hand in a refrigerator.

I’m not that impatient that waiting some time is an issue. Not sure if 24 hours is necessary. It really is contextual.
 
It's been very rainy & cold (So. Cal. cold) lately plus the majority of the trip to Wisconsin is thru much colder weather so I doubt there would be any issue. If it were me, I would ask Schecter since no one here would know more about how temperature changes would affect this guitar.
 
Thanks everyone for replying. The finish is just a light stain, from what I can tell. Definitely no nitro, no poly. Here's the guitar: https://www.schecterguitars.com/SVSS-Exotic-FR

If it's just 24 hours, I can wait. What the Sweetwater label read about damage to the wood made me think twice!

@GitGuy513 Yes, they did replace it! I'm very excited, because I think whatever caused that part of the body to break might also be what caused it to sound so unusually thin. I always fought the inherently tinny and harsh sound on the bridge pickup, with a 2kHz pick attack that would make your ears bleed. But I've been reading forum posts and reviews of that model, and many have described it as being thick sounding, with no harshness at all! So I'm hoping hard that this new one will have that thick tone too. I'll update my other post when I finally open it. 🙂
 
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It depends. If it's not too far from room temperature when it comes in the door, then it's probably ok to open right away. If it's been riding around in a big brown van ALL BLOODY DAY in Phoenix summer heat (happened with two different purchases from Eddie's Guitars) because where you live is at the very end of their routes, wait a bit for it to acclimate. I would be ok with putting the box in front of a fan to speed the process a little....
 
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