Fedex Damaged My Guitar

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 6 Dec 2009 3:43 pm

I have a few pictures of the damage that fedex caused to post. whats odd is I saw a post by Hook Moore about somewhat the same story same damage and all, same type of guitar. Hook please email me if you can.

John LeMaster · Post by **John LeMaster** » 6 Dec 2009 3:57 pm

Joseph,

Sorry to hear about - and SEE - the damage to your great Emmons. I have heard you a bunch on YouTube, and you sound great.

Here's hoping that things work out as good as they possibly can, from this point forward.

Best wishes from a former West Virginian (Parkersburg)
John L.

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 6 Dec 2009 4:04 pm

thank you John for your support I am still confused on how this could happen and yet not damage the case going to take it in tomorrow for claims and see what kind of BS I will get.

Larry Jamieson · Post by **Larry Jamieson** » 6 Dec 2009 4:15 pm

My guess would be that the shipping carton was dropped, with the case face down. Inertia caused the pickups to break away... An object in motion, tends to remain in motion, until stopped by an equal or greater force. Your pickups had no seat belts.
Good luck with your claim.
Larry J.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 6 Dec 2009 4:19 pm

JB
What probably happened is that the case fell... dropped, actually... flat on its face, with the impact being taken by the metal corner caps, and the energy being transferred to the guitar and the pickups coming apart like they did. In that scenario, the case wouldn't show much, if any, damage but the pickups, being the weakest assembly of the guitar, would disintegrate.

Looks to me like a $300-350 repair job if it's just the pickups, maybe more if the guitar sustained other hidden damage yet to be noticed.

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 6 Dec 2009 4:26 pm

Thanks guys yes I am at the point if it took a great amount of force to knock the pickups out it almost had to cause some other stress not seen by eye. I insured it for 3500.00 and would let them have it for salvage if need be its like when you have a new car and smash a fender up seems like after that you no longer want it. same goes here. I packed the guitar myself very well for in the past have shipped many guitars all over the world without trouble.

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 6 Dec 2009 6:18 pm

Ive seen this kind of damage before, and ive been on the receiving end of it also. Sorry Joseph.

I wonder if a thin peice of rigid foam between the pickups and strings would prevent this kind of thing?

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 6 Dec 2009 6:29 pm

thanks for your support not foam might help but the energy has to be transfered somewhere for such a drop huh

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 7 Dec 2009 6:47 am

Joseph, that kind of pickup damage can happen with just a case falling flat as Herb described. My friend here in Texarkana, the late Jack Matthews, had a Zum and did the same thing to his with just the case falling over. As far as I know, no other damage occured to the guitar. Good luck also on your claim.

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 7 Dec 2009 7:27 am

Sorry Joseph, I did get a LGIII almost a year ago with the pickups knocked out. Like Herb said, I'm sure it took a fall face down..
Fedex was decent with me and very timely. They asked for good pics of the damage, before and after the crash. Cost of the parts (including strings for both necks ) pics of description and pics of the packaging, repair fees and of course all the shipping info..
I have funeral services today and tomorrow for my Dad but I'll try to help and way I can..
Hook

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 7 Dec 2009 8:15 am

Since we are seeing this kind of damage on more than one occasion, and since we have no way of preventing our guitars from being dropped in shipping I am wondering if we can figure out a way to pack our intstruments to prevent this kind of damage?

Has anybody come up with anything they care to share?
Would hard foam betywen pickups and strngs do it or, do we need to build some kind of brace that clamps to the underside of the guitar during shipping?
Would tightly wrapping ace bandages around the pickups and body do it? a conmbo of the thin hard foam between strings and pickups and ace bandages?

My goal when shipping is not to find the most trust worthy shipper (tho that is certainly nice) or change the shipping methods (I know it will go on a conveyor belt that doesnt care if it drops my package ). My goal is to pack the thign so that even if they tried they couldnt damage it...so Id like to figure out this problem if I can.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 7 Dec 2009 8:42 am

Ben
I think that hard foam between the strings and the pickups might help in the type of damage being discussed in this thread. I also think that 2x4 blocks on either end of the pedal rack section would stabilize the dividing panel between the sections.

However, these are merely possible solutions for the standard type case, which is the best case for the great majority of steel transport situations. For shipping applications, short of an Anvil-type flight case, I don't know of any modifications to a standard type case that would suffice.

When I shipped some rare Emmons guitars to Chris Lucker, I filled the cases with packing so that there was no movement whatsoever possible inside the cases. Then I wrapped the cases front to back, and all around with 3 layers on each side of large bubble wrap, then double boxed them with specially assembled cardboard cartons. I then shipped them to Chris "Next Day Air." It was frightfully expensive (ca. $500 each) and heavy to ship that way, but they got there without a hitch.

You pays your money and you takes your chances. Usually the more money you pays, the fewer chances you takes, but there's risk everywhere, regardless.

John McGuire · Post by **John McGuire** » 7 Dec 2009 8:45 am

Joe, sorry to hear this. Check your email when you get a chance.

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 7 Dec 2009 12:20 pm

Joe, you could always write a catchy little song about it like Dave Carroll did about United Airlines breaking his Taylor guitar, and post it on Youtube.

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 7 Dec 2009 12:34 pm

The last guitar I shipped via UPS, I insured it for $5000.00. The difference was small compared to insuring for the actual value, and when insured for that amount, a supervisor hand walks the item from point to point. The guitar arrived without a mark on it.

Norm Kidwell · Post by **Norm Kidwell** » 7 Dec 2009 12:42 pm

I have sold a few Guitars and I have never had a problem. I take it to the Box Shop and watch them pack it. they take a large box, add peanuts, sit the case inside.add more peanuts, cut and fold the top of the box down tight. Never had a problem. It costs a little more for shipping,but well worth it. They also are packing the way the shipper wants it. If there is a problem, easier to collect damages. Norm

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 7 Dec 2009 1:24 pm

I have shipped many guitars in the past and a few of them have went to Germany, France, and so on. I pack my stuff well as in the past. but also in the past I only used usps as my shipper but in this case I was in a hurry to get it there and fedex was the only one that said they could and later on that also turned to be a nightmare as well but it got there after a few phone calls.
I talked with Ron at Emmons Guitars this morning he said this is the third one this month with the exact same damage. he also advised me to inform fedex when they pick it up and take it to where ever they inspect it to tell them to send it on to him or any other builder but in this case being a Emmons it will be him for my choice. so that he can inspect the guitar as well. went on to tell a story where a inspector came into his store to cover one that was damaged and after the case was open with the guitar being upside down took his fingers raked across the rods and ask if it was detuned before shipping. so this is what to look for here I guess.
I am more or less done with the tour tossed the towel in and gave it up. guess my road days are over for me for now but I didnt care for it that much anyhow.

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 7 Dec 2009 1:57 pm

I've never seen that kind of damage to pedal steel pickups before. If so many of them, and the same brand, are getting damaged the same way, I have to wonder if there is an inherent weakness in the pickup construction. Maybe the manufacturer switched to a different kind of plastic, glue, or something.

Not that we planned it to prevent shipping damage, but the Dekley pickups were molded in one piece and the magnets were pressed in after they were wound.

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 7 Dec 2009 2:14 pm

could be on to something Jim. seems to be the single coils doing it. Joe

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 7 Dec 2009 2:25 pm

Mine was a fender 1000 with the big jaguar style pickups. They didnt explode out of the casings like the ones in the photos here, but they did come loose from the body and become damaged enough to need rewinding..so I still think we need to devise some way of protecting that region from shock.

Jerry Roller · Post by **Jerry Roller** » 7 Dec 2009 10:33 pm

I received a new LeGrande III from Emmons in 2000 and one of the pickups had this very same type damage. The pickup did not come apart, the bobbin top of the pickup was broken along the row of magnets.
Jerry

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