The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi, I just sold my MSA Classic (1974) on ebay. It has that hard shell case. I was wondering whether anyone has any particular advise they could give me on careful packaging for shipping. I intend to ship via UPS or FEDEX, insure for at least what I sold it for, etc.

However, if anyone has any particular advise on packaging, or anything else, I would be very appreciative. Thanks in advance.

Tim I just took my Sho-Bud back to the UK, What I did was to get a sheet of heavy cardboard and fashion it around the case to make when finished looked like a box, I then taped it to secure it and then covered it with bubblewrap for a little more protection, The guitar arrived back home without a trace of damage. Hope this helps .. Oh by the way make sure you don't cover the handle of the case, it give the handlers something to pick it up by...

I have had good luck shipping steels as shown on the page below. Also, I've shipped them with about 6" of house insulating foam at each corner in a box. I've receiver two steels shipped in peanuts and both arrived with the case sticking out the corner of the box after the peanuts shifted around and let the steel case poke through the box. Adding a few 2x4 spacers in the leg compartment wound help shore up the case and prevent the steel from crushing through the leg compartment divider which is not designed to handle the impact.

Shipping Steels

Greg

Tim, you might want to also, place bubble wrap inside the case & under your lid, wherever it will fit. "Shippers can get pretty rough on items."

A big "YES" on allowing the handle to stick out of the box/carton. If they can't easily handle the package, they'll try to 'bear-hug' it and could drop it. I had a situation where the driver started to bounce the carton down the steps of his truck as he had no other way of getting it out of the truck by himself. The handle may ultimately get damaged, but handles are a whole lot cheaper than guitars!!
PRR