Loosening Strings to Ship YOUR bass....

[rogerbmiller]

No, it really doesn't. Check bucephylus' comments for why.

Trust me, while I'm not a physicist (thanks for stepping in with the "SCIENCE, because it works, b*****s!", bucephylus! ), I have literally multiple thousands of examples to sample from, and from a significant number of different manufacturers using different types of headstock designs. The tension on the strings has never caused a breakage issue, while the tension not on the strings absolutely has caused back bow issues. Your neck will back bow from removing string tension without removing trussrod tension, and it may or may not re-adjust properly without a problem - but if you don't detune, you don't have to worry about "may or may not". Removing trussrod tension and string tension will eliminate damage opportunity, but then induces the need for a full setup at the end of shipping, and does so for absolutely no gain in safety during shipping.

This is a question of facts versus misinformation and ill-formed and unsupported by science opinion. Don't detune your strings for shipping.

I routinely remove string tension from my basses regardless of shipping. To prevent bowing. Works like a charm and I don't experience back bowing.

And I will forever and always define when shipping. If a neck gets hit, the string tension can only help it break.

 

[RedLefty]

I believe the neck will be at rest when the strings are tight(or any other condition where the truss rod and strings are in balance). Under a bit of compression but wood likes that. The headstock, on the other hand, I believe would experience a torque which I don't believe would be a lot but worth looking into.

 

[RedLefty]

If a neck gets hit, the string tension can only help it break.

This is where I would most disagree based on simple statics, perhaps the headstock, but the neck will be torqued out with strings off.

Personally, I don't think it matters a whole lot either way. Lots of people here with different methods and anecdotes shows that the difference between the two is small.

 

[Wfrance3]

I have received 3 or 4 basses via shipping. Last one I received was loose strings. Tuned it up, and did not see anything weird with the neck relief or straightness. So, I thought, huh... maybe that's a good thing. maybe that's the way your supposed to do it. So I shipped a fretless I just sold recently with loose strings. I checked on the bass I sold and it arrived a-ok. The other basses I received were tuned to pitch at regular string tension. The ones without loose strings were either shipped by the manufacturer or new in box by a store who just shipped what the manufacturer sent them. I guess the point is that neither method caused problems for me personally and based on my experience either is probably fine. Unless some irrefutable evidence surfaced between now and the next time I ship a bass I'll probably just leave the strings the way they were last time I played it.

 

[Gard]

I routinely remove string tension from my basses regardless of shipping. To prevent bowing. Works like a charm and I don't experience back bowing.

And I will forever and always define when shipping. If a neck gets hit, the string tension can only help it break.

Cite facts and actual statistics.

I'll wait.



Look, I'm telling you from a great deal of direct evidence, you are incorrect in your assumption, sorry. Really, I'm not trying to pick on you, but the earth isn't flat, the moon isn't made of cheese, and failing to detune your strings before shipping doesn't lead to a greater chance of breakage. The evidence is pretty clear, and there is no evidence to the contrary at all. Do as you wish, but the overwhelming majority of people that know what they're doing when it comes to shipping guitars and basses don't do this - NO ONE ships their guitars or basses out detuned. No one. Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Fodera, Spector, MTD, Hondo, Sire....none of them do. Why? Because it makes no sense to do so.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

How to tell if you're OCD: If you loosen strings before shipping, you may be OCD.

Life's too short to worry about such nonsense. Now excuse me while I go take a toothbrush to my shower grout.

 

[AndyPanda]

don't loosen string before shipping... but if you must, then loosen the truss rod also. Why would you worry about forward tension (the strings) when shipping and not worry about the back tension (the trussrod)?

When the trussrod is set and the strings are up to pitch the tension is in balance--- you loosen the strings and now you have all that back tension on the wood from the trussrod.

 

[rogerbmiller]

Cite facts and actual statistics.

I'll wait.



Look, I'm telling you from a great deal of direct evidence, you are incorrect in your assumption, sorry. Really, I'm not trying to pick on you, but the earth isn't flat, the moon isn't made of cheese, and failing to detune your strings before shipping doesn't lead to a greater chance of breakage. The evidence is pretty clear, and there is no evidence to the contrary at all. Do as you wish, but the overwhelming majority of people that know what they're doing when it comes to shipping guitars and basses don't do this - NO ONE ships their guitars or basses out detuned. No one. Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Fodera, Spector, MTD, Hondo, Sire....none of them do. Why? Because it makes no sense to do so.

Two things I never do that have worked out great for me in 30 plus years playing bass.

1) I never wear shorts.

2) I never send basses tuned to pitch.

 

[FrankLowend]

I use to ship tunned in D G C F...
I don't know if this is good or bad but the fact is that I never had problems with that...

 

[rogerbmiller]

Cite facts and actual statistics.

I'll wait.



Look, I'm telling you from a great deal of direct evidence, you are incorrect in your assumption, sorry. Really, I'm not trying to pick on you, but the earth isn't flat, the moon isn't made of cheese, and failing to detune your strings before shipping doesn't lead to a greater chance of breakage. The evidence is pretty clear, and there is no evidence to the contrary at all. Do as you wish, but the overwhelming majority of people that know what they're doing when it comes to shipping guitars and basses don't do this - NO ONE ships their guitars or basses out detuned. No one. Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Fodera, Spector, MTD, Hondo, Sire....none of them do. Why? Because it makes no sense to do so.

As for a more serious response, I am not sure you have cited facts either but a quick Google search on the topic reveals that various professionals differ on the topic. Many including Reverb recommend you detune at least somewhat. Others say leave at pitch. Some are silent on the topic.

I think this is one of those things like how to pronounce the word "root."

Opinions were sought and I have shared mine. I have owned over 400 basses over the last 13 years and have shipped about 250. Strings detuned everytimr and ne'r a broken neck.

 

[Dave W]

I always ship tuned to pitch, or close to it (I don't actually tune it before I ship it out).

 

[40Hz]

Warning: off track post.

BTW, yes I did a number of experiments in the lab which led to material failure (though, not bass guitars). Most of my work in this area was on stresses and adhesion in the materials used on the chips in your cell phone. I used to look at the stresses in those materials during temperature transients between room temperature and up to 1000 C (glowing yellow). The measurements were performed on an automated system I built and were run over night while I was home with the family. The most hilarious was a gate material called tungsten silicide that I ran some cycles on, only to come in in the morning to find that the stress was zero. Looking in at the silicon wafer, it looked like someone had flicked their cigarette ashes on it. Come to find out the tungsten silicide had literally exploded off of the surface of the wafer at stress levels in excess of 2 GPa when the film went through a phase transformation. Kind of academic, but, yes I've seen my share of material failures through the years.

It may have been slightly OT. But that was one of the more interesting posts I've read here.

 

[stacker]

When I change strings, I always take them all off, even with my Floyd Rose style vibrato bridge guitar.
I've never had any adverse impact from doing it this way.

When changing them, I'll do them one at at time, guitar and bass. But if I have a filthy rosewood board that needs cleaned and oiled, off they all come!

 

[Hubtone]

I have received and shipped basses tuned to pitch. Never the opposite. Never had an issue (due to tuned strings...)

 

[40Hz]

As for a more serious response, I am not sure you have cited facts either but a quick Google search on the topic reveals that various professionals differ on the topic. Many including Reverb recommend you detune at least somewhat. Others say leave at pitch. Some are silent on the topic.

I think this is one of those things like how to pronounce the word "root."

Opinions were sought and I have shared mine. I have owned over 400 basses over the last 13 years and have shipped about 250. Strings detuned everytimr and ne'r a broken neck.

A sample size as small as 250, or even 400 shipments, isn't sufficient to establish correlation between string tension and something as rare as a neck breaking during shipping.

You're attribiting the fact that none of your shipments have experienced neck breakage to the fact you always ship instruments detuned. But there's nothing in what you've done to establish they're related so far. Your sample is too small.

Your opinion is using logic similiar to the thinking of the guy who always kept a mongoose in his city penthouse - to keep the cobras away. When friends pointed out there were no wild cobras in the city, the man with the mongoose smiled and exclaimed "Really? Wow! This little mongoose is even more effective than I thought it would be!"

 

[DigitalMan]

This is why they disconnect the cable anchors on the Marin side of the Golden Gate Bridge during high winds. Otherwise the tension on the tower would cause it to collapse.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

That's good information & I love a bit of Physics.
Did you ever encounter any experiments that took into account a shock/impact on an item under tension vs. an item not under tension, such as the headstock that has over 100 ft/lbs of tension under normal circumstances?

Research the principles behind Spancrete. (Hint, it's all under tension) I'm with the instrument manufacturers on this one.

 

[phillybass101]

I just love how folks on social media deal in absolutes. Its a wonder the world even works and therr are not more Wars than there currently are. Havinf said that when I change strings I change them one at a time. Take one off, clean board in that area put nex string on. I don't know if its right or wrong. When I take my basses to my tech for upgrades I'm assuming all strings are off at one time. If he does anything to the trussrod I don't know. How about it depends LOL!!!

 

[inanimate_carb]

Haven't read the whole thread - I asked Roger Sadowsky about this years ago and he said he never loosened strings to ship and didn't advise doing it for air travel in a baggage hold either.

 

[Joebone]

That isn't the fault of the temperature or atmospheric pressure within the cargo hold, it is the fault of mishandling combined with inadequate packaging . This does not support the claim that you should ship with the strings detuned, but that you should make sure to properly pack your instrument for shipping.

ANY headstock can snap if mishandled enough - I have seen the headstock of a Zon Sonus (graphite/composite) broken by FedEx, while it was in a hardshell case wrapped with bubble wrap, inside of a double wall cardboard box. The reason it broke? The case was not properly fitted for the instrument, it obviously took a "header" from a significant height, and landed headstock first, the bass slid in the case, the headstock hit the end of the case hard enough and at the correct angle to crack the composite material. It wouldn't have mattered one whit if the strings had been at tension or not - and the same is true for a Gibson or other instrument.

This is why it's a good idea to ensure that the instrument is softly - but firmly - immobilized inside a hard case. Same thing with amps, trombones and the high-end hi-fi stuff I've shipped over the years. If it can slide within the packaging, bad things will happen. Bet on it.

…and I do not detune the strings...