I don’t know but nobody is uprooting a tree that’s been outside in freezing temperatures and quickly bringing it indoors. The tree also isn’t coated with an artificial finish that expands and contracts.
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Wait to open my bass in cold temps?
- Thread starter sgiacomo
- Start date
They are still living perhaps?
In any cost/benefit...risk/reward analysis...both sides have to be considered. In this case, waiting costs nothing other than a further minimal delay in shopper's high, whereas the risk (however unlikely) is finish damage or even a crack in the wood......so it's a no-brainer to wait a few hours. IMHO waiting a day would be a bit paranoid . Happy thumpin'.
I usually wait until the sun goes down.
Wise(b)ass
Wise(b)ass
When both of my Muckelroy’s arrived, I put the boxes in my studio and let them acclimate to the different temperature and humidity for 24 hours. Man, the wait was difficult but opening those boxes was a sweet reward for my patience…
Timely thread. I have a new Fender custom shop arriving today with nitro finish. It spent the last 10 days with UPS with the recent arctic blast as it moved through the system and no deliveries in my area for the past week. I will let it acclimate slowly for most of the day.
Just my experience but I've never waited 24hrs even with extreme cold. If in a HSC, I unbox for about 7-8 hours first, then unlatch the case and leave the bass in it for another 2-3 hours. Never had a problem doing this but I'm not going to tell the OP to do any different than wait what was recommended by the seller.
More likely spilled coffee with cream…
If you do open it right away, make sure to play some really hot riffs to keep the temperature normal.
I'm sorry to be so straight forward but this whole "waiting before opening the carboard box" is probably the most ridiculous debate I've ever heard. It's a CARDBOARD box. Cardoard is NOT insulation. It makes no difference if you move the bass from cold to warm in the box or in the gigbag or without either. If it's really cold outside the box or gigbag aren't going to keep the bass warm. There is no heating inside them. When you take the cardboard box inside your house, it will warm up at the exact same (or at least 95%) time as the bass does inside it. No amount of cardboard wrapping will protect the bass from temperature changes. Just open it up and play it.
I agree but on every bass I've had shipped there have been ALOT of layers of bubble wrap, paper, peanuts, etc...and I'm sure at some point in your life you've heard SOMETHING more ridiculous. If you haven't, you've lived a charmed life.
Maybe not, but that box and case will help keep the bass from being exposed to a rapid change in humidity.
Is it being shipped in a case or in a cardboard box with packing material? The box with packing material would probably be slightly more insulating, especially if any seams where the cardboard box closes are taped up where no air can get in, BUT, if it’s in a case that is also inside a taped-up cardboard box, it’s also pretty well insulated. Cardboard has a higher “R” value than the same thickness of fiberglass and is used as building material in parts of the world with lax building codes. Its fire resistant properties are kinda weak
.It’s hard to know what temp the box or case has been in since it was closed or how long it was in which temp, or what the temp of the bass itself was when packed. If the core wood of the bass cooled to somewhere in the 20°’s F, it will probably take a few days to come up to the indoor temp of your house if it remains packed. Without a lot more info, you might be waiting for your bass to change no more than 8-10°F.
If GC receives a solid body instrument shipped to their store in any weather or if Fender receives a solid body bass sent back for repair shipped in any weather, they both wait until they can find a box knife before opening the package….
For thin solid wood (not laminated) top, back, & side acoustic instruments, it’s a whole different animal. Due to the thin wood and how much surface area is exposed to air, a quick temp change can cause a crack in the wood or separated seams.
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Well maybe, to a degree. Still cardboard is basically paper so it's very very weak in it's insulating properties.
If you can't wait and open it right away, be sure to take a video of the finish checking process in action. Probably won't happen since it's poly but just in case.
