UPS lady made me laugh so hard today

paf77 · #1 12-28-2009, 05:14 PM

So, I sold one of my basses and got it all packaged up and took it to UPS today. The lady that was helping me out had no idea what she was talking about and it was pretty funny. I couldn't understand her worth crap and it sounded like she said "is it strong?" and I'm thinking what... yeah the bass is probably pretty strong... Then she said "no, is it strung?" Now I'm thinking duh, yeah there is strings on the bass and then she asked me if it was tuned. I said yeah it's probably pretty well in tune... now wondering where we are getting with this conversation. Then she says well if it's tuned up, the neck is most likely going to snap!

Apparently she doesn't know a bass is made to handle the tension of tuned up strings. Haha I said lady it'll be fine. I should have told her that's how fender shipped it to me, but I didn't want to argue with this lady. She seemed pretty scary haha but I wasn't about to unpackage the bass and "de-tune" it for nothing, so I just sent it how it was. It all gave me a pretty good laugh.

benmoore88 · #2 12-28-2009, 05:16 PM

if i'm flying with my bass or shipping it i was under the impression it was standard practise to 'loosen' the strings?

Nasnederis · #3 12-28-2009, 05:16 PM

How dare you, shiping a bass without detuning?

LOL

deekay911 · #4 12-28-2009, 05:17 PM

Sounds like she at least had a clue - a lot of people swear by detuning the strings before shipping. I personally don't think it makes any difference, but I have had at least a couple delivered to me that way. You may laugh but I think she was showing some concern for your baby..

paf77 · #5 12-28-2009, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benmoore88

if i'm flying with my bass or shipping it i was under the impression it was standard practise to 'loosen' the strings?

I'm sure people do that, but I don't think you'd ever have to worry about the neck straight up snapping in half haha

REAPER52 · #6 12-28-2009, 05:23 PM

She might not of had it all right -but she must of been paying attention .not uncommon to detune .she learned that somewhere. and she was most likely looking out for you . she probably had a luagh too

michael_atw · #7 12-28-2009, 05:26 PM

I've had many basses shipped from and to me, and never had an issue. If the bass can't handle the tension in a box, how is it gonna when I'm basting the crap out of it on the stage?

Poor Tom · #8 12-28-2009, 05:27 PM

Maybe it isn't necessary but the idea of it makes sense to me. If the neck has too much tension on it, I can see how a hard bump in the right direction if dropped could snap the neck. Personally I would prefer to ship it with the neck off altogether.

*insertcoolname · #9 12-28-2009, 05:33 PM

I wish I got that good of service the last time I used the UPS store! Yeah, it probably doesn't make that much of a difference but the fact that she cared about what was being shipped is a big plus. Trust me when I say the last time I used UPS they didn't care nearly as much...

paf77 · #10 12-28-2009, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poor Tom

Maybe it isn't necessary but the idea of it makes sense to me. If the neck has too much tension on it, I can see how a hard bump in the right direction if dropped could snap the neck. Personally I would prefer to ship it with the neck off altogether.

Well it's in a case and then has packaging all around that, so I'm hoping it'll be fine. I guess I never thought about loosening the strings because all of the basses I've ever ordered have seemed to be pretty close to being in tune when it arrived. I've never gotten any that came with loose strings.

hdracer · #11 12-28-2009, 05:33 PM

I have been under the impression that if you are going to leave your bass unstrung or detuned much for more than a day or two you should back off on the truss rod. My son's bass neck warped a few months after he got it and the neck was replaced under warranty. They let him keep the old neck and he had it hanging on the wall in his room. about 4 months later he came home and it had shot the truss rod screw out of it!!! I now back off on my truss rod when ever I completely remove the strings to clean the fretboard. Whenever I have shipped a bass I back off on the strings and the truss rod. Better safe than sorry

Thankful birds · #12 12-28-2009, 05:41 PM

She knew of what she speaks. Packages in UPS trucks often get packed any which way and without much thought to weight. If your bass in its nice, flat, thin box end up in the bottom of a pile and gets added tension on the neck from any number of packages, feet, dollies, etc. on top of it, the downward tension can pull against the strings snapping the headstock.

Just as a general physics principle, that wooden neck will give a whole hell of a lot more than those strings. Some peopel even remove necks from guitars before shipping for this very reason.

hdracer · #13 12-28-2009, 05:44 PM

One more thing to think about. The cargo bay on planes is not pressurized or heated.

michael_atw · #14 12-28-2009, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thankful birds

She knew of what she speaks. Packages in UPS trucks often get packed any which way and without much thought to weight. If your bass in its nice, flat, thin box end up in the bottom of a pile and gets added tension on the neck from any number of packages, feet, dollies, etc. on top of it, the downward tension can pull against the strings snapping the headstock.

Just as a general physics principle, that wooden neck will give a whole hell of a lot more than those strings. Some peopel even remove necks from guitars before shipping for this very reason.

Not (in nearly all cases) if the bass is packed well.

And putting some arrows saying 'up' and 'fragile' helps the cause at least a little.

michael_atw · #15 12-28-2009, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdracer

One more thing to think about. The cargo bay on planes is not heated.

Neither is the back of the UPS, USPS, or FedEx trucks.

Or most of the warehouse probably.

Or your trunk.

hdracer · #16 12-28-2009, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael_atw

Neither is the back of the UPS, USPS, or FedEx trucks.

Or most of the warehouse probably.

Or your trunk.

The tarmac at the Phoenix airport can get over 120 deg. let it sit there for a couple hours then put it in a plane and take it to 30,000 feet in 20 min. I do not know how cold it gets but I have heard story's of people hiding in the cargo bays of planes found froze solid after a trans Atlantic flight. It gets cold up there and it is not pressurized. Then bring it back down to the ground somewhere and lets say it is 75 deg and it sits there in the sun. Now in a 3-4 hour time span that bass went from 120 deg to 0 or below and back to 80-90 deg. Maybe nothing will happen to it, but why chance it??

michael_atw · #17 12-28-2009, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hdracer

The tarmac at the Phoenix airport can get over 120 deg. let it sit there for a couple hours then put it in a plane and take it to 30,000 feet in 20 min. I do not know how cold it gets but I have heard story's of people hiding in the cargo bays of planes found froze solid after a trans Atlantic flight. It gets cold up there and it is not pressurized. Then bring it back down to the ground somewhere and lets say it is 75 deg and it sits there in the sun. Now in a 3-4 hour time span that bass went from 120 deg to 0 or below and back to 80-90 deg. Maybe nothing will happen to it, but why chance it??

Oh I agree...and the same thing happens with a trunk and nobody realizes it when they put their prized bass or guitar in there on a hot summer or cold winter day. Trunk temps can skyrocket in the sun and never get warmer than the outside air in winter.

hdracer · #18 12-28-2009, 07:09 PM

I learned all of this before I ever started playing the bass. I have been a bowhunter all my life and have seen what trunks, airplanes and any drastic temperature change can do. I was at a hunting camp in Montana once and a guy opened his bow case when he got there. It looked like a bomb went of in it!! He had to borrow a pos bow from the outfitter. Needless to say he went home empty handed and a broken bow. That whole hunt cost him over $6000.00 Once again, better safe than sorry

paf77 · #19 12-28-2009, 09:56 PM

You guys are making me feel glad that I paid the extra shipping costs to have the bass insured.

I haven't ever had a problem with the few basses that I've shipped with UPS though, but maybe I've jinxed this one.

Jehos · #20 12-29-2009, 08:43 AM

Oh god, why would you detune your bass to ship it?

If you have the truss rod set right, the truss rod is bending the neck backwards exactly in balance with the strings bending the neck forwards.

If you detune, you're putting a backwards bow in the neck for the whole time the bass is in the box. If that's days, you run the risk of the neck taking days to sort itself back out when it gets where it's going.

You should *always* keep your bass strung and in tune if you want to keep the neck straight.