Shipping a guitar X-country

[Bobafett]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

[khalpin]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

It's not a bad idea to insure your guitar(s) as you would an engagement ring.  Much cheaper, too.  I have a Martin insured for $4,000 and it only costs $22/year.  Looking at the contract, I don't see any exclusion for being lost in the mail, but I don't know if I'd mention that you're planning on mailing it if you go that route.  The underwriter would probably deny the application.

[takes off insurance hat]

[kellerb]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

With UPS, everything is auto-insured to a value of $100.  Anything worth more than $100, you have to pay for the extra insurance by whatever you declare the value of the contents is.  I believe Fedex is similar.  I'd recommend insuring for the full price, or at least whatever you think the cost of replacement would be.   My assumption is that it's in a regular hardshell guitar case and not one of the SKB flight cases.  I don't have any knowledge about long-term insurance, so I'll defer to Khalpin's thoughts on that.

I'd suspect that for a large object, weighing maybe 30 lbs?, with insurance, it might be closer to $100 for a MS->ID shipment, especially considering you're not in a large metropolis with a UPS/Fedex hub there.

EDIT:  If you give me the approximate weight and the approximate addresses, I can get you a couple estimates at work tomorrow

[mbw]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

With UPS, everything is auto-insured to a value of $100.  Anything worth more than $100, you have to pay for the extra insurance by whatever you declare the value of the contents is.  I believe Fedex is similar.  I'd recommend insuring for the full price, or at least whatever you think the cost of replacement would be.   My assumption is that it's in a regular hardshell guitar case and not one of the SKB flight cases.  I don't have any knowledge about long-term insurance, so I'll defer to Khalpin's thoughts on that.

I'd suspect that for a large object, weighing maybe 30 lbs?, with insurance, it might be closer to $100 for a MS->ID shipment, especially considering you're not in a large metropolis with a UPS/Fedex hub there.

EDIT:  If you give me the approximate weight and the approximate addresses, I can get you a couple estimates at work tomorrow

the dimensions will over rule the weight in this case.  a standard guitar box is 20x8x50
i can tell you exactly tomorrow, but it will be somewhere in between those two numbers, 50-100

[kellerb]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

With UPS, everything is auto-insured to a value of $100.  Anything worth more than $100, you have to pay for the extra insurance by whatever you declare the value of the contents is.  I believe Fedex is similar.  I'd recommend insuring for the full price, or at least whatever you think the cost of replacement would be.   My assumption is that it's in a regular hardshell guitar case and not one of the SKB flight cases.  I don't have any knowledge about long-term insurance, so I'll defer to Khalpin's thoughts on that.

I'd suspect that for a large object, weighing maybe 30 lbs?, with insurance, it might be closer to $100 for a MS->ID shipment, especially considering you're not in a large metropolis with a UPS/Fedex hub there.

EDIT:  If you give me the approximate weight and the approximate addresses, I can get you a couple estimates at work tomorrow

the dimensions will over rule the weight in this case.  a standard guitar box is 20x8x50
i can tell you exactly tomorrow, but it will be somewhere in between those two numbers, 50-100

Yes.  "Dimensional weight" is factored in on larger packages.  Forgot to mention that.

[Bobafett]

Thanks guys.  i have no idea of the weight, but the case is your standard hardshell strat case.  Let's see if my mom can guesstimate the weight.

[barnesy305]

Thanks guys.  i have no idea of the weight, but the case is your standard hardshell strat case.  Let's see if my mom can guesstimate the weight.

The Strat is probably around 8 or 9 pounds and the case should be around 10-12 pounds.

[kellerb]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

With UPS, everything is auto-insured to a value of $100.  Anything worth more than $100, you have to pay for the extra insurance by whatever you declare the value of the contents is.  I believe Fedex is similar.  I'd recommend insuring for the full price, or at least whatever you think the cost of replacement would be.   My assumption is that it's in a regular hardshell guitar case and not one of the SKB flight cases.  I don't have any knowledge about long-term insurance, so I'll defer to Khalpin's thoughts on that.

I'd suspect that for a large object, weighing maybe 30 lbs?, with insurance, it might be closer to $100 for a MS->ID shipment, especially considering you're not in a large metropolis with a UPS/Fedex hub there.

EDIT:  If you give me the approximate weight and the approximate addresses, I can get you a couple estimates at work tomorrow

the dimensions will over rule the weight in this case.  a standard guitar box is 20x8x50
i can tell you exactly tomorrow, but it will be somewhere in between those two numbers, 50-100

using MBW's dimensions, I checked shipping from Winona, MS to Monteview, ID (just picked random semi-rural places).  With Declared value of $1200, UPS ground is still right about $50 total (the insurance portion was about $11).  I put the weight as 30lb, the Dimension weight showed up as 49LBs.  I didn't have a chance to pull fedex estimates, but in general the prices are similar.  I'm actually surprised it's that cheap.

[mbw]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

With UPS, everything is auto-insured to a value of $100.  Anything worth more than $100, you have to pay for the extra insurance by whatever you declare the value of the contents is.  I believe Fedex is similar.  I'd recommend insuring for the full price, or at least whatever you think the cost of replacement would be.   My assumption is that it's in a regular hardshell guitar case and not one of the SKB flight cases.  I don't have any knowledge about long-term insurance, so I'll defer to Khalpin's thoughts on that.

I'd suspect that for a large object, weighing maybe 30 lbs?, with insurance, it might be closer to $100 for a MS->ID shipment, especially considering you're not in a large metropolis with a UPS/Fedex hub there.

EDIT:  If you give me the approximate weight and the approximate addresses, I can get you a couple estimates at work tomorrow

the dimensions will over rule the weight in this case.  a standard guitar box is 20x8x50
i can tell you exactly tomorrow, but it will be somewhere in between those two numbers, 50-100

using MBW's dimensions, I checked shipping from Winona, MS to Monteview, ID (just picked random semi-rural places).  With Declared value of $1200, UPS ground is still right about $50 total (the insurance portion was about $11).  I put the weight as 30lb, the Dimension weight showed up as 49LBs.  I didn't have a chance to pull fedex estimates, but in general the prices are similar.  I'm actually surprised it's that cheap.

nice, forgot about this today.  if you go to a The UPS Store, insurance might run you more.  I believe its $0.45 per hundred of value after the first $100 straight through UPS, stores can and usually do charge more though.  Also, if a store packs it, they will obviously charge for that as well. 

nobody uses fedex.   :evil:

[kellerb]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

With UPS, everything is auto-insured to a value of $100.  Anything worth more than $100, you have to pay for the extra insurance by whatever you declare the value of the contents is.  I believe Fedex is similar.  I'd recommend insuring for the full price, or at least whatever you think the cost of replacement would be.   My assumption is that it's in a regular hardshell guitar case and not one of the SKB flight cases.  I don't have any knowledge about long-term insurance, so I'll defer to Khalpin's thoughts on that.

I'd suspect that for a large object, weighing maybe 30 lbs?, with insurance, it might be closer to $100 for a MS->ID shipment, especially considering you're not in a large metropolis with a UPS/Fedex hub there.

EDIT:  If you give me the approximate weight and the approximate addresses, I can get you a couple estimates at work tomorrow

the dimensions will over rule the weight in this case.  a standard guitar box is 20x8x50
i can tell you exactly tomorrow, but it will be somewhere in between those two numbers, 50-100

using MBW's dimensions, I checked shipping from Winona, MS to Monteview, ID (just picked random semi-rural places).  With Declared value of $1200, UPS ground is still right about $50 total (the insurance portion was about $11).  I put the weight as 30lb, the Dimension weight showed up as 49LBs.  I didn't have a chance to pull fedex estimates, but in general the prices are similar.  I'm actually surprised it's that cheap.

nice, forgot about this today.  if you go to a The UPS Store, insurance might run you more.  I believe its $.045 per hundred of value after the first $100 straight through UPS, stores can and usually do charge more though.  Also, if a store packs it, they will obviously charge for that as well. 

nobody uses fedex.   :evil:

From what I've heard, Fedex takes Mondays off

[khalpin]

Just wanted some input.  I want to get my Custom Strat sent out to me from MS to Idaho.  I have looked at a few guitar forums, and most suggest Fed-Ex.  The guitar is in a hard case with a lock on it.  Most say it should cost about $50.  Has anyone here ever done this?  Also, how much insurance should i pay for.  The guitar  is in the $1200 range.  Thanks for any reply. 

Benji

With UPS, everything is auto-insured to a value of $100.  Anything worth more than $100, you have to pay for the extra insurance by whatever you declare the value of the contents is.  I believe Fedex is similar.  I'd recommend insuring for the full price, or at least whatever you think the cost of replacement would be.   My assumption is that it's in a regular hardshell guitar case and not one of the SKB flight cases.  I don't have any knowledge about long-term insurance, so I'll defer to Khalpin's thoughts on that.

I'd suspect that for a large object, weighing maybe 30 lbs?, with insurance, it might be closer to $100 for a MS->ID shipment, especially considering you're not in a large metropolis with a UPS/Fedex hub there.

EDIT:  If you give me the approximate weight and the approximate addresses, I can get you a couple estimates at work tomorrow

the dimensions will over rule the weight in this case.  a standard guitar box is 20x8x50
i can tell you exactly tomorrow, but it will be somewhere in between those two numbers, 50-100

using MBW's dimensions, I checked shipping from Winona, MS to Monteview, ID (just picked random semi-rural places).  With Declared value of $1200, UPS ground is still right about $50 total (the insurance portion was about $11).  I put the weight as 30lb, the Dimension weight showed up as 49LBs.  I didn't have a chance to pull fedex estimates, but in general the prices are similar.  I'm actually surprised it's that cheap.

nice, forgot about this today.  if you go to a The UPS Store, insurance might run you more.  I believe its $.045 per hundred of value after the first $100 straight through UPS, stores can and usually do charge more though.  Also, if a store packs it, they will obviously charge for that as well. 

nobody uses fedex.   :evil:

From what I've heard, Fedex takes Mondays off

:hereitisyousentimentalbastard