Importing a Vintage Guitar

Greg · 2013-06-27T18:41:11+00:00

Hello! So I have a contact in Vancouver, Canada that is possibly going to sell my one of his guitars. It's a Gibson ES-125 TDC which is a guitar made in the 1960s. It's certainly a fine instrument and I'm well assured of the owner's passion and care for his instruments, it's definitely in good nick! My concerns are the following: -How would the guitar fair being shipped to SA? -How do duties work on vintage instruments? I assume they apply, but as values shift, what's the best way to do this properly as I would be paying a private price? It'll most likely look like this:

Greg

Hmm, it's an old guitar and he typically uses 11s on electrics.

-Old guitar
-11s

Wheres Alan?! ?

Keira-WitherKay

11's on a jazz players archtop is very light .... I know many jazz players who as a norm string archtops with 13's or higher even ....

Remember archtops are seen as acoustic guitars not electrics even tho most play plugged in .... The thicker strings add to traditional jazz tone ...so does the flatwounds . 11's are for tele's ? .....

So when you say he strings electrics with 11 's he may not include his archtops in that .... Or maybe i'm wrong ? but worth asking

AlanRatcliffe

I believe in shipping a tone down.

Mike's right - The truss rod counteracts the force of the strings by applying force in the opposite direction. Slacken the strings completely and the force is still there and the neck bows (BTW - curve away from the strings is called relief. Bow is curve towards the strings).

However, this is not the problem during shipping - the headstock is (as has been hinted at by talk of padding the head). The headstock also has the force of the strings on it, but no truss counteracting it and, more importantly, the grain of the wood in a Gibson-style angled/swept-back headstock makes the area on the headstock behind the nut a weak point in the grain. Doubly so if the truss rod nut is on the headstock (which is why Gibson electrics have a tendency to broken headstocks if you look at them too hard).

Shock seems to be the main cause of breaks, rather than direct impact. You don't have to whack the headstock directly, I've seen more broken headstocks from the guitar falling face down or being dropped on the bottom strap pin than I have from direct knocks.

So my advice is in line with others - slack off the strings a tone, leave the truss rod tension as is, pack well around the headstock. I cannot stress enough - a good case that supports the neck at more than just a single point, but rather along a length (which helps divert/dampen any shock to the case). Oh and make sure the case is packed in a decent box.

ThomasN

I received this response earlier this morning from USPS, in regards to my enquiry:

Date: June 28, 2013
Thomas Nolan:

In response to your request dated June 24, 2013, we regret to inform you that we were
unable to locate any delivery information in our records regarding your item number
EC********US.

If you would like additional assistance with this inquiry, please take this receipt to your
local Post Office or postal representative.

Sincerely,
United States Postal Service

I also found this the other day:
http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-company/usps/content-of-the-package-stolen-replaced-in-isc-new-york-20110331229862.html

And this is why I recommend against using USPS.
The eBay company has also just mailed me saying that they will now only refund me, once they have gotten a verbal response from USPS, which could take between 1-4 weeks.
And Im left wondering why they have the privilege of calling themselves a first world country...
Greg, my earlier advice in rather using UPS or Fedex or even a proper facilitator stands.
The purchase and delivery of your guitar is not a R250.00 item that you can afford to be blase about, and joke about it being "lost in the African mail system" and "not worry it will arrive someday..." situation.
Take my current predicament as an example. This little fiasco has just cost me about close on 20k, until such time as I am refunded... in 1-4 weeks.

Norman86

Thomas, have your tried looking at JIMC??
you might have to take a day off to go there, but you might get answers there...

ThomasN

When my wife called USPS last week, she spoke to a lady who said the package had left NYC and was on the way, but their internal code was JIMCEES, which she spelled out to my wife. Said she had no idea where that was and suspected it may be Jamaica? Today the penny dropped for me. They got their ISO codes wrong. JIMC (Johannesburg International Mail Center) and it wasnt supposed to be EES, it was supposed to be EMS (Express Mail Service) which is what I had paid for. Some person at usps, with a stutter, typed out the code, and got EES instead of EMS. Ive mailed the eBay store, enlightened them to this epiphany, and asked them to find my parcel.... please.
Im more interested in my guitar than money... If I wasnt, I would never have paid for it in the first place.

Im in Durban, so a trip out to JIMC, is kind of not really possible, although I called them today, and they did assure me it hadnt entered the country as yet. Chances are they have no idea where its supposed to go, and its sitting in Guatemala or Corsica... if not stolen already.
Seriously, use UPS or Fedex... they take the time to escort the parcel through customs... carry a mobile speed-point, and will hand deliver to your door.
Thanks Norman, it was your JIMC, abbreviation which made the penny drop for me ?

Norman86

Thomas, i have a contact at sapo..
Please pm me your email addy and i will gladly provide you his details! He will be able to track your parcel, provided it has entered za! Most times, the things sit at either customs or jimc for a while before koving anywhere!

Tokai-SA

A package shipped with USPS (EMS) should take between 5 & 7 days to be scanned into SA and then get an 'II' local tracking number.

I'm sure Thomas has the guitar by now...

ThomasN

Nope I havent received it. The guys whom I bought from reported that my package was one of a few that were dispatched that day, and apparently they are all "lost," still.
Still no refund neither :-\

« Previous Page