Spacey put the bazz in the case and then put it in the box for the case.



The guitar was supposed to be in two pieces, roight?

Reece,

Are you suggesting that freight loaders are somehow better than commercial loaders?

I'm suggesting they probably exhibit the same techniques.

Forget UPS. FedEx is OK but DHL is probably the best choice for this. It is who I would use. Buy a really good case for it, buy insurance, and ship it, just NOT UPS or USPS for that matter. FedEx usually does a pretty good job but I recently got an amp that had a hole in the outer box. Thankfully, it was double boxed with a good bit of extra room between the inner and outer box. If the extra room had not been there, I would have had a hole in the grill cloth, it was close. The instruction manual that was packed over the grill had a hole through the first ten or so pages and a dent all the way through it, it is a pretty thick manual. I'm glad that they put it there.
I have received packages from UPS with several holes in them. In fact almost every large package I get through UPS has multiple holes in it, sometimes FedEx, not usually though, DHL has been good all the time, YMMV huh?
What if you rented a car for the return trip?
 
Of course you could ask Bubba to just hand it off to himself and then back to you...
 
Good luck!
 
J

bapu
Reece,

Are you suggesting that freight loaders are somehow better than commercial loaders?

I'm suggesting they probably exhibit the same techniques.

mebee, mebee not.
 
I don't have any direct experience with freight loaders. 
 
but I can't imagine they could be worse than commercial loaders...

I've checked guitars maybe a dozen times without trouble. I've also carried them on. Once the metal feet for the case were pressed into the case but the guitar was fine.

The guitar was supposed to be in two pieces, roight?
 
I did not know that. 
 
P. S. Oh OK that's only true for acoustics 

Last time I flew with a guitar was from NY to Vegas, with Virgin. I was anxious because it was the first time I was flying with my US strat and my new LP.
 
When we got in line to register our luggages for the flight, the lady at the desk spotted my guitars and offered to place them in their onboard closet before I could even say a word. Which not only reassured me but also saved us money.
 
 

Thanks for the input, guys.
I'll check with the airline, to make sure I don't have any surprises at the airport.
Our current plan is to fly into San Francisco, and drive up the coast to Oregon(7 hours). We are looking at an 8 hour layover there anyway, and the drive will be way more fun. Donna hasn't traveled much, so it is a rare opportunity.
Depending on what the airline says about the guitar, I will either ship it from San Francisco to Fort Worth, or carry it onto the plane.
My daughter is getting married. I'm getting an awesome guitar. Donna gets to experience a good part of the Northwest coast for the first time. I haven't seen my sister in years. I am totally stoked. This is going to be good.

It's plane to see this fred has spawned too many imitations.