Irish bouzouki damaged in transit

[Nick Gellie]

Any clues as to how this happened?

Case was in a box. Strings detuned. Case srrounded by packing materials in box.

Cracks are not all the way through the sides.

[Bren]

I've seen cracks exactly like that from dropping a mandolin on its end (strap pin hit the pavement first), inside a gig bag.

[Bren]

In my case, that resulted in the luthier, who lived nearby anyway, taking the mandolin apart (top and back off) fixing the crack, and putting it back together.

This was because, he said, if he fixed the crack in situ, it might leave the top and back misaligned.

The good news was that somehow the repaired mandolin sounded better after the repair than before the accident.

[Nick Gellie]

Thanks Bren

That helps me understand how it was dropped. It was well packed all around it top and bottom and the sides. I will need to find a way to pack things better inside and outside the case in a box to prevent this from happening. I believe it is repairable. The top is undamaged and is intact which is a relief.

[Richard500]

Materials science, maybe. It might not have had a really hard hit; one that would show on the package. Any piece of bent wood can carry un-relieved stress from the bending, or even aging. Just like a wineglass that isn’t completely annealed carries stress from cooling. Trapping the wood between other pieces keeps its shape, but a smallish ‘trigger’ impact can release the stored energy. So a tiny nick makes the glass pretty much explode: the energy, as stress is inside.

[Nick Gellie]

Materials science, maybe. It might not have had a really hard hit; one that would show on the package. Any piece of bent wood can carry un-relieved stress from the bending, or even aging. Just like a wineglass that isn’t completely annealed carries stress from cooling. Trapping the wood between other pieces keeps its shape, but a smallish ‘trigger’ impact can release the stored energy. So a tiny nick makes the glass pretty much explode: the energy, as stress is inside.

I don't think it was a hard hit. The package was not damaged. Your take on it is really interesting. Yes the inherent stress in the shape means that we need to be careful about impacts when shipping. I could have packed some bubble wrap around it in key areas.

[Buck]

Cracks are not all the way through the sides.

Yes they are. They always are. Solid wood top and back plates, and sides, in acoustic instruments are too thin to to be otherwise. They're often difficult to see on the unfinished wood inside the instrument, which makes people think they're not all the way through. If you put naphtha on the outside, you'll see wet spots on the inside.

The most common reason for damage like this is that instrument doesn't fit the case perfectly, or the padding inside the case is such that the instrument can move. If the instrument can move inside the case, it can break. The instrument, especially the headstock, should be immobilized, not just padded. Shock absorbing material around the case inside the shipping box absorbs the impact to the case, but if the instrument can move inside the case, then you still have a problem.

[Nick Gellie]

The case fit the instrument perfectly. It had good padding - no movement possible. headstock and neck were protected with bubble wrap. Yes, you may be right about the crack being all the way through. The buyer checked it and gave me that feedback. Anyhow it is off to an expert luthier repairer to mend the cracks.

[rcc56]

Considering the location of the cracks, I would guess that the box might have been dropped on the head end.
Or possibly the box had too many other boxes on top, and one good bounce with too much weight on top caused the damage.
Another outside possibility is thermal shock.

Considering the seemingly increasing number of reports of shipping damage by the major carriers, it would seem that this is an opportune time for someone to establish a specialized courier service for valuable instruments and other fragile items.

[thistle3585]

Could that be damage as a result of a big temperature shift? If those are bookmatched sides, I wonder if it was a weak spot in the wood. I'm assuming it was well packed like the OP said.

[Nick Gellie]

They were book matched sides. The cracks appeared at pretty much the same place. The box was pretty much undamaged. It still could have been dropped on its ends though leading to the damage shown in the OP.

[Dusepo]

This looks to me like large/sudden changes in temperature or humidity during transit?