MCChris Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 Slip a finger in and feel the body. If it is still cold to the touch, give it a little bit more.Appropos that this advice came on Valentine's Day.
salem Posted February 15, 2007 Author Posted February 15, 2007 3 hours may not do it.I guess you don't believe me, Salem. Your call.No, I do believe you. I believe you said 2 hours in the box and 1 hour in the case. Since you have extensive experience shipping, setting up, and fixing guitars, I trust you, It's not often you can get advice from a professional, touring guitar tech. If I have misunderstood you, I apologize.Edited to add that even after 3 hours, I have not forgotten your further advice to check the guitar by touch.
MCChris Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 Whatever you do, don't try to expedite the process by putting the box/case near a heating duct or something like that. Been there, done that with a '70s Strat. Finish checked so badly that a couple chunks of clearcoat fell off the damn thing.
HSB0531 Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 Cut the blue wire first...no wait maybe it was the red wire??Seriously, it is, what it is.Whatever has happened in transit has already happened.Try this: Buy a digital temp. gauge with a small remote probe.Check the temp in your house & if you have one, an unheated garage.Open one latch on the guitar case & stick the probe in.Check the temp. & humidity levels.Check the temp/humidity in the unheated garage & the house.If the temp in the case is close to either of the above, open it there.FWIW: I (stupidly) opened my bass case inside at a practice after it being in the car all day (20 degrees or so).It had condensation all over.Wiped it off & played the thing.No problems (I was lucky that time).
silentman Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 Leave the thing in the box. Proceed to leave your house for a few hours. I dunno, go out to eat, pick up some groceries, catch a movie. THEN open the case.
DavidE Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 "Seriously, it is, what it is.Whatever has happened in transit has already happened."Yes, but that's a separate issue from what happens if you open a cold case in a warm room.
Guest Meshuggah Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 Slip a finger in and feel the body. If it is still cold to the touch, give it a little bit more. Appropos that this advice came on Valentine's Day. Y'think this is what the Judge has in mind for Anna Nicole?
HSB0531 Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 "Yes, but that's a separate issue from what happens if you open a cold case in a warm room."Read the rest of the post.
DavidE Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 "Yes, but that's a separate issue from what happens if you open a cold case in a warm room."Read the rest of the post.I did.I think that once you've opened the case, even to slip in a thermometer, you've let the warm air hit the guitar and it's too late.
Jeff R Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 I've got it!Forward all incoming shipments of guitars to me, Cajun Boy and foodermon.We can open 'em up as soon as they hit the doorstep: It don't get that cold down here.
MCChris Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 Try this: Buy a digital temp. gauge with a small remote probe.Return home from store.Open case as usual, as the time it took you to buy a digital temp. gauge with a small remote probe was probably enough for the guitar to acclimate to room temperature.But, to be on the safe side, keep the guitar in the case as you:Go back to store to return digital temp. gauge with a small remote probe, as you don't need it.Return home from store.Open case as usual, as the time it took you to buy a digital temp. gauge with a small remote probe, return home, go back to the store, return digital temp. gauge with a small remote probe and go back home was probably enough for the guitar to acclimate to room temperature.
BruceM Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 I've told this story here before. I returned from a 2 week trip to New Zealand in January 1998 to find my new Eclipse 12 string sitting in the box on the back porch in sub-zero weather. I learned later from my neighbor that it had been there for a week. I took it to the basement, which is about 50 degrees in the winter and left it overnight. Then I left it sit upstairs for a few hours before opening the box and case. It's fine.That was the first guitar I had ever had shipped to me, and I was really sweating it. I'd seen a friend's Ovation finish crack up before under similar circumstances.
licksville Posted February 15, 2007 Posted February 15, 2007 What if you take the guitar jogging on a crisp winter eve ?
salem Posted February 16, 2007 Author Posted February 16, 2007 Well anyway, the guitar is out for delivery now. Although I intend to follow all the precautions in this thread, I'm still worried about the 24 hour weather delay this guitar experienced in NC. I'm worried about the effects of the ash literally freezing like a block of ice. That can't be good for the wood. I'm concerned that it harmed the inherent tone of the wood.
mattb Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Can this really be a 3 page thread?Leave it for half a day, open the thing, play accordingly.
HSB0531 Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Ok. so I didn't really think you should go out & buy a digital temp gauge.It was one of those days that I was getting "but what if I did this" from people, all day. And you just try coming up with an answer that they will accept.BTW: what kind of finish is it? what kind of guitar. Hollow, solid, poly finish, laq. finish?Look at Gregs post about the NAMM guitar and look at the photos and what he did.Look at the finish & the description of the sound.DO WHAT HE DID.Now Let's PLEASE end this threadThank You.
mathman Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Sounds like someone wants to be the thread killer....
ceeb Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Yeah, this thread will die when we say it dies.
BadgerDave Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Relax, Salem.The low temperatures in North Carolina have been in the 20's and 30's for the past few days. Remember that wood is made from trees. Trees stay outside during the winter. The wood in your guitar has virtually no moisture left in it so "freezing solid" is not a possibility.In Minnesota kids stay outside for hours when it's in the 20s. They don't die and they don't freeze solid. Neither do trees. Your guitar will be fine. Just let it gradually reach room temperature before you open the case. Here in Chicago, I've taken delivery of several guitars that were shipped ground and left on my doorstep for hours in temperatures as low as 20 below zero. No residual effects at all. The only thing you have to be concerned about is sudden temperature changes. Both wood and finishes expand and contract with changes in temperature. The problem is, they do so at different rates, and if the change is sudden the wood will expand faster than the finish and . . . instant relic! Just let it happen slowly, don't "sneek a peek" and the guitar will be fine. IMO, 3 hours is risky unless the temperature difference is small. I'd double that.
cmatthes Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 I say screw it. Just open the damned thing and start playing it. That way, it will be instantly "relic'ed", giving it instant credibility for writing blues songs.You could even write a nice catchy blues number about having your dream guitar shipped in icy winter conditions and not knowing who's advice to trust on a guitar message board, so you open it anyway and the finish checks up like a dried mud flat in seconds, right before your eyes. You could even add a verse about the heartbreak of dealing with UPS or FedEx!
sw686blue Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Salem,BE VERY CAREFUL!!!! I can't stress this enough!!!Since John Suhr uses swamp ash for that particular guitar, the wood for the body has no doubt been salvaged from a swamp somewhere in the south. The moisture content is definitely very high. Normal guitar bodies are built when the moisture content is between 6% and 9%. Since yours is swamp ash, the moisture content is probably in the 50% to 60% range. The danger lies in the fact that, in these cold temperatures, the moisture in the wood will automatically freeze, forcing the fibers to radically expand and no doubt destroy your new guitar. Call up UPS or Fedex (or whoever is delivering your guitar) and tell them to return it to the store. Sell your house, or apartment (or move out of your parents basement) and move closer to the store that sold you the guitar. By the time the guitar gets back to the store and you've moved, the guitar will have had plenty of time to acclimate once again.Please post some pix and give us a tone report at that time.Hope this helps.
Disturber Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 Salem,BE VERY CAREFUL!!!! I can't stress this enough!!! The danger lies in the fact that, in these cold temperatures, the moisture ......will automatically freeze, forcing the fibers to radically expand and no doubt . This is what happened to my underwear today. Boy was I stiff & cold.
DavidE Posted February 16, 2007 Posted February 16, 2007 After all my preaching, I opened two partsocasters that arrived yesterday after assuring myself they had sufficient time to acclimate and the cases felt nice and warm.On the outside.One had no issues.The other had no issues on the body, but I got a few relic marks on the front of the headstock and on the fingerboard, but not much and it actually looks fine. It's a Warmoth neck that the seller swears is poly finished, but I'm wondering if it's nitro. The body didn't have a mark on it. 6 hours or overnight next time!
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