Maybe you want to gift a guitar to your rockstar brother, who is passionate about guitars, or you may need to ship brand-new guitars to your buyers. The type of guitar can be anything like acoustic, bass, or classical, but the fact is, you must ensure that the instrument doesn’t get damaged in transit. A gig bag is light in weight; a hard case provides a better shield. Whereas a gig bag can protect the guitar from minor bumps and scratches, a good quality hard shell is the best way to protect your guitar from a flight tussle.
However, if you need to transfer a guitar in a gig bag and need tips on how to ship a guitar in a gig bag, this post answers all your queries!
How to Ship A Guitar in A Gig bag Step by Step Process
Could not manage the hard case to ship the guitar? The best thing you can do is to make necessary preparations and precautions to avoid damage. Leave no stone unturned to follow the 7 essential tips mentioned below about how to ship a guitar in a gig bag that will guide a safe and secure shipment of your precious guitar:
1. Invest in A Heavily Padded Gig Bag:
When shipping guitar in a gig bag, ensure that the bag is padded to a great extent. By doing so, the instrument will have an extra protection layer that would likely reduce the risk, and the guitar can be protected from scratches.
2. De-tune The Guitar
De-tuning the guitar while putting it inside the gig bag lowers the risk of damage to the neck and headstock of the instrument. Loosening the strings by spinning the tuning keys will allow you to wrap the guitar easily.
3. Wrap the Headstock
After de-tuning the guitar, step up for bubble wrapping the headstock. You can double wrap the headstock to ensure extra protection. After that, reinforce the bubble wrap with elastic or rubber bands.
4. Protect the Frets and Pickups
For protecting the guitar frets and pickups, you can slide a folded newspaper or a light towel between the frets and the strings.
5. Create a Layer of Newspaper
At this point, you need to exclude the gap inside the gig bag, and for this, you can place a layer of newspaper or bubble wrap to fill up the gap. Fill the gap appropriately near the neck joint gap, under the headstock, and anywhere else to ensure the utmost protection of your guitar. Remember, if the guitar can move inside the gig bag, it means the instrument is not safe!
6. Do the Shake Test
Now, lightly shake the gig bag around and check if the guitar can move inside the bag. If the guitar does move inside the gig bag, your guitar is not prepared enough for safe and secure shipment.
7. Choose A Courier that has good insurance coverage
Choose a professional courier service for guitar shipping that has good insurance coverage. It is particularly important because shipping a guitar in a gig bag is risky and might get damaged in several possible ways. Ensure the insurance does cover the fact that the guitar is packed in a gig bag.
Besides, professional courier services offer packing facilities, including shipping management. If you allow them to pack your guitar, their insurance will cover the damage to the guitar. As the insurance policy varies from company to company, it would be better to learn the amount your courier insurance will cover for the product damage recovery.
Final Words:
Thousands of guitars have been shipped yearly internationally and within the domestic circuit. Whether you sell a guitar online or want to send it to a distant place, you must carefully complete the packaging process with adequate protection.
Shipping a guitar in a gig bag is not as tricky as its strange packaging process. Moreover, if you only have a gig bag to pack the guitar, then paying extra attention is essential to ensure top-tier protection of the guitar.
Hopefully, this article fulfils your queries about how to ship a guitar in a gig bag.
FAQ:
Is a guitar bag necessary?
Confused between a guitar bag and a hard case? No worries. A guitar bag can be an alternative if you’re unable to manage a hard case to ship the instrument. Comparatively, guitar bags are less secure in terms of safety and avoiding damage. However, a guitar bag is light, and with the tips mentioned in this post, you will be able to ship a guitar with maximum preparation.
Is a gig bag enough?
Gig bags don’t provide equal protection as hard cases can ensure more security to the instrument inside. A premium quality hardshell guitar case is the ideal and safest way to ship or store your guitar. The guitar case can be weightier to carry by hand, but it can ensure a top-tier shield to protect the guitar from sudden fall or getting damaged.
What is a gig bag for a guitar?
Gig bags are soft padded carriers for musical instruments, especially guitar or bass guitars. A gig bag can be used as an alternative to a hardshell guitar case. However, gig bags are not equally protective as the hard cases are.
