July 8, 2019 Blog No Comments

Nervous about shipping your guitar? Don’t be. Shipping a guitar, bass or other instrument is a lot easier than you might think. Take a look at this video and see our recommendations on how to pack and ship a guitar as safely and securely as possible.

How to Pack and Ship A Guitar

What you’ll need

  • Bubble wrap, newspaper or other packing material
  • A box or plastic wrap
  • Packing tape

Step 1: Prep the Guitar

How-To-Ship-Guitar-Prep_xwv5c4 How to Ship your Guitar
Loosen the strings & bubble wrap the headstock,

Before the guitar is even in its case, there are some important steps you can take. (Don’t worry: If you’re shipping without a case or gig bag, these same steps apply).

  • Loosen the strings. You don’t necessarily need to detune entirely, but it’s a good idea to lessen the tension on the neck at least somewhat.
  • Secure any movable parts. Nothing should be able to rattle around during transit, so it’s important to secure components such as tremolo bridges. This can be accomplished by wrapping the part in newspaper or other packing material.
  • Wrap the headstock. The headstock is a very sensitive part of the guitar, so you want to make sure it’s nice and snug. Again, wrapping it in newspaper, bubble wrap or other material will work just fine.
  • Separate strings from fretboard with newspaper. This will keep the strings from smacking up against the fretboard in transit. Simply take a strip of newspaper and slide it between the bottom of the strings and the fretboard.
  • KDG recommends customers with Nitrocellulose finished instruments avoid newspaper due to the possible chance of the newsprint staining the finish. You can use any clean paper, rags, or bubble wrap in place of newspaper.
How-To-Ship-Guitar-Pack_lofgz4 How to Ship your Guitar
Make sure the guitar can not move around inside the case

Step 2: Fill in Holes Around Guitar

The idea here is to prevent the guitar from moving during shipment. You want to remove empty space in the case by filling any areas around the guitar with balled-up newspaper or other packing materials.

Think of it this way: If there’s no empty space within the case, the guitar won’t be able to shift and slide around.

Step 3: Box It, Fill in Space, Tape it Up

The same principle applies for the case inside the box. Try to fill in any empty space so that the case and the guitar are as snug as possible. Again, the idea is to eliminate the potential for the case to move around within the box.

Now all that’s left is to seal the box with packing tape and send it on its way.

And that’s all there is to it. With this simple process, you can rest assured that your guitar will get to us safe and sound. Now that you know how to ship a guitar the right way, it’s time to make a booking at get your guitar playing great.

Comments from our Customers:

Kenny upgraded the bridge in my strat, dressed the frets and setup. He took the time to talk me through upstage suggestions which I appreciated. Amazing tonal difference and playability beyond my guitar level! Freight service was good and opening the case to see the way my strat was lovingly packaged was a real treat, made it just that much more special. Great stuff Kenny! – Tony, From Nelson

Excellent I like the pick up an drop off at my door they arrived in perfect condition I would recommend KDG, Good courier service I would recommend using them – Vincent, From Hamilton

“My bass go to Dunedin and back safe and sound. The best part was having the courier come and collect it from my house, which saved me a lot of time and hassle. I would definitely use this service again.” – Craig, From Wellington

Easy as man I have no concerns at all the process was easy good communications and really good skills on the guitar tech from your part thanx again wouldn’t  hesitate to send my 59 Les Paul down there to you cheers Rob, From Nelson,

Did an awesome job on my Gibson R9 Kenny knows guitars very happy will be sending all my guitars your way Kenny – Gary, From Tauranga

Written by Kenny