Mandolin damaged in transit

[Jeffers]

Here's the story:

I finally spent a fair bit of cash on a real mandolin. #It's not the fanciest model but was bought as a good sounding, quality, working instrument (unseen but have tried other mandos from the same maker). #I've been shopping around a fair bit and found a good looking instrument for sale overseas for a reasonable price.

The seller has been very helpful with no problems. #He sent good pictures of the instrument fully intact and the builder of this mandolin #vouched for him as a dealer of his instruments. #After a protracted delivery time of about 12 days (took a while to get through customs) I finally got the instrument today.

It was well packed up:
- strings loosed, bridge off
- bubble wrapped in case
- brand new hard case, custom fit
- bubble wrap outside case, then styrofoam panels
- well sealed cardboard outer carton, labelled fragile etc

There were no obvious signs of damage to the outside box and the case is fully intact, no damage.

Inside though, there is a break through the mandolin's neck. #This extends from just under the nut, in a clean split along the grain diagonally down and right through the neck. #The truss rod can be seen through the break and seems to be the only thing holding the headstock on. #There is no apparent damage to the fingerboard or headstock. #I can't see any damage to the rest of the instrument at all in any places. #(Sorry, don't have a digi camera to show you)

I don't really know how this would have happened, especially with no other signs of damage to the case or packaging. #Maybe it had a big shock falling from a height? #Could the truss rod have shrunk in the cold of an airplane hold to cause this?

Anyway, it happened, and now I'm trying to consider my options. #Two aspects to this really:

1) Delivery - The delivery was insured for the full price of the instrument. #I'd be surprised though, if the company doesn't do it's best to wriggle out of compensation. #Does anybody have any experience with claims on damaged deliveries? #Any tips or tricks to actually benefit from the insurance that you pay for?

2) Repair - To my unexpert eyes it seems as though the break in the neck could be glued and refinished and no one would ever know, good as new. #I don't know if this is the case though.
- Would that be an unstable weak spot?
- Would it affect the tone?
- or affect the value?
- Are alarm bells ringing about other possible structural damage as yet unseen?

If I send it back, they don't have another at the shop of the same make & model - it would be back to square one. Otherwise (aside from the broken neck, that is) it looks like a beautiful mandolin.

At the moment my working plan is to take it to a good repair luthier I know and have him take a look, then repair if possible and try to claim some compensation. #Any thoughts on this or the above?

Thanks for reading this long tale of woe. #

[Paul Hostetter]

Whiplash, a sure sign it was not packed adequately inside the case. Just imagine dropping the box flat on its back: the mandolin stops, the headstock does not. It's all it takes, and it happens too often. Most instruments that are damaged in transit sustain this very type of damage, and always because the headstock wasn't packed right inside the case. It's not a problematic repair ordinarily, but since it's clear the person who packed it is at fault, you probably ought to send it back, or at least get them to pay for the repair and refund a part of your purchase price for the loss of value their negligence caused.

[MikeEdgerton]

The shipper should make a claim for damage as well. Unless you contracted for the carrier, the shipper is the person the carrier will most likely reimburse. If they ship a lot of freight with this carrier the carrier will most likely respond better to them than you. This one might have been dropped and landed flat avoiding any damage to the shipping container.

By the way, when packing any stringed musical instrument you should fill the void behind and in front of the headstock with packing material to avoid this sort of damage.

[Big Joe]

Yep. Whiplash for sure. If the headstock is not packed so it cannot move even a slight drop can cause this kind of damage. This is especially true for banjos and guitars. More Les Pauls are damaged from this than just about anything.

The good news is that is can be fixed and may even be stronger after repair than new. Yes, I realize that is an oddity, but properly repaired it may well be stronger. Depending upon how bad the damage is it may or may not disappear. Sorry you had to go through this, but be well assured you are not alone.

[Paul Hostetter]

I would not get any hopes up that the shipping company will cover this. Ultimately it's the error of the person who packed it, and don't think for a moment that UPS et al aren't onto that damage and what causes it. They're going to skate, sure as you're born. But Mike's right - it's the seller/shipper's move. If they can get UPS (or whoever) to pay for it, huzzah. Otherwise, they should. Packing it properly is a no-brainer.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Many years ago i was at the Cambridge Folk Festival over here in England & there was a Bluegrass band from California there called the ''Frisco Fire Band''. The Banjo player had a beautiful pre.war Mastertone that he'd had to ship over in the freight hold. Imagine his dismay when upon opening the case,he found that the headstock had snapped off close to the bridge. He then had to find a luthier over here to repair it,which fortunately he managed to do. It's no wonder so many musicians try to take their instruments on board with them.
I do understand the security problems etc.but instrument cases can easily check out & there shouldn't be any problems. The airlines need to think this problem through & come up with a proper procedure to allow us to safely carry our instruments,what ever they are.
I know i've strayed from the main point,but it's just another facet of the same problem
of shipping instruments,
Saska

[bluegrassjack2]

A few years ago, I ordered a Ratliff from Elderly Instruments and it arrived with the head broken completely off.
It appeared to have been packed pretty well. UPS came out and took several pictures and Elderly took the charge off my Visa. I'm not sure who ended up paying for the damage. You'd think that as many instruments that Elderly sells, they would know how to ship one.

[Bill Snyder]

he found that the headstock had snapped off close to the bridge.

??

[Paul Hostetter]

Dude, that is so snapped off.

[jefflester]

he found that the headstock had snapped off close to the bridge.

??

Sounds nutty.

[dr.jazz]

I honestly don't know if you can "pack" or support a headstock well enough to prevent this happening. If the body of the instrument is stopped from moving, then ANY movement of the headstock will fracture a week neck. Particularly at the weakened area where the truss-rod groove has been hogged out. I've had many discussions with engineers and the like and the consensus is that "if it's weak, it'll break and there is nothing you can do about it. If you could wrap the instrument in something unyeilding at all points, then you might prevent this from ocurring. Paul H. is correct in saying that it is a "whiplash" type of incident. There is a very high moment that acts on the weak area of the neck.
Yes, you should be able to have an invisible repair done. I had two - TWO - Michael Kellys do this to me. Both were very very well wrapped, packaged and braced internally. They both broke at the weak part just before the nut. Both repairs were handled well and I had the instruments for a year under tension and played them occaisionally before I sold them at a healthy discount (a loss, in fact) I didn't even bother trying to get Fed-Ex to pay. I believe the instruments were naturally weak.
I have shipped dozens of mandolins via Fed-Ex without incident.

MIchael MacLeod, Calgary
The Acoustic Guitar <www.acousticguitar.net>

[MikeEdgerton]

I've shipped close to a hundred instruments in the last five years and I've never broken one. I'm either really lucky or they can be packed correctly.