Re: Shipping a mandolin for repair / setup work !
I'm very impressed with the care and effort put into this. It truly is the way it should be done. I also like the method you described with the spray foam sandwich, and HoGo's method as well. Smart stuff!
I did something somewhat similar to build a temporary case for my late beloved F-12, which I got without a case. I took a couple of sheets of styrofoam cut to just bigger than the instrument, then cut out the inner sheets to form a cavity for her to fit into. These went into a cardboard box from a dressmaker's chop that was just the right size and shape. I don't recall how I held it together, but I think it was just with a bungee. Sounds awful, I know, but it was better than my first approach - some wooden shims glued in place in the box to keep her from shifting around. Those dug some small but noticeable grooves into her neck just by the join. The styro kept crumbling; little bits had to be brushed off every time I took her out. I was very glad she survived this ordeal long enough for me to work up the money to buy a real case.
Toward the opposite end of the spectrum was what her replacement was shipped in. I've told the story about how after the late lamented F-12 was stolen up in CT, I bought the late Mindy Jostyn's A-00, the one I'd found for her years before, from her widower. I thought I was going to be able to buy it right off the wall, where it was hanging, just gathering dust. But he decided to have it appraised at the local store up there, in NY state. So I had to drive all the way back to FL without an instrument and wait nearly a month. When it arrived, it was in a large box, no case, no nothing IIRC - not even packing peanuts or bubble wrap. It's a miracle it survived. Maybe it was just the right size box.
Originally Posted by
j. condino
Ask me sometime about receiving a bass a few years back with the entire crate destroyed and the neck sticking three foot outside and bent at 90 degrees from the body.....
I would ask you, but I think you gave away the punch line.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
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