Post shipping settling time???

[Aran]

Hi folks,

I wonder if any of you can advise as to how I should proceed today.

My mandolin arrives in Ireland by UPS from the States and I understand that I should wait before opening the box.

So you know the mandolin is in it's hard case then wrapped in a kind of bubble wrap then enclosed in a cardboard box.

How long do I wait?

Should I take it out of the box straight away first then wait a bit before opening the case?? :confused:

[Ivan Kelsall]

Open it straight away just to make sure that the baggage handling gorillas haven't made mincemeat of it. Is this a temperature thing Aran ?. We don't have 'temperatures' over here,just cold & wet & colder & wetter.
Joking apart,i don't think you've anything to worry about re.opening it straight away.Your Mandolin has been well insulated for it's journey back. My Lebeda was shipped up to me during one of the coldest spells that we had in January. It took 3 days to get to me & was in storage over a weekend.There were no issues with it when i opened the freezing cold box & the case inside - mind you,that might have been due to the fact that at the time my home was also freezing cold as my gas fire had gone on the blink.
I hope everything's ok with it Aran & remember to pick it up by the nice little 'handle' with the dots on next time ,
Cheers - Ivan ;)

[Jim DeSalvio]

Without any big swings in temperature, you should be OK to open it up. If you have concerns, or are just not sure, open the box and let it sit for a few hours. Then, take the case out of the box, but do not open it. Let it sit overnight, then open the next day.

I really doubt you need to do this, but if you want to be sure you do not develop any finish checking, wait it out.

Hope you are happy with it!

[MikeEdgerton]

This actually is more of a concern in the winter when the box has been in a cold environment for a period of time. If it's been extremely hot you have issues beyond opeing it in a cooler environment.

[Steve L]

I'd just take it out and play it Aran. As Mike said, this is only a concern in the cold where the finish can check if it warms up too quickly. You don't want to blow your approval period if you have one staring longingly at a box.

What did you get? Best of luck and lot's of good tunes with it.

[journeybear]

Even in the cold - surely not an issue at this time of year - your instrument should adjust to room temperature pretty quickly. Still, a brief period of acclimation may be advisable. I would say, about four, maybe five seconds - however long it takes for you to say something like, "Hooray! It's here!!!" - and then dig in and enjoy! :mandosmiley:

[MikeEdgerton]

It may take a few hours in the cold for an instrument to come up to room teperature inside the case. This has been discussed many times here. It's best to give a cold instruiment a few hours unless you're keen on finish issues.

[man dough nollij]

Don't forget, even though the temperature change may seem to be neglible, it can get pretty cold in the cargo hold of an airplane. When I ordered my Gallatin in March of '05 (going from Montana to Arizona) there were instructions on the box not to open it for 24 hours. The main danger is finish checking, as I understand it.

I would wait 24 to open the outer box. If the case seemed to be room temperature, I would open it right up.

I'm very sensitive to this issue here. I would love to take my Eastman to work, but it would go from 70F to -30F to 70F every time I went to the office. I could wrap it in a big parka, but I still don't like the thought of it.

[Aran]

I had a Weber Bitterroot which Bruce did a fantastic repair job on and fitted a pick up and retouched the finish. The folks at Weber are a class act and have my highest recommendation.

I took the advice above considering that we are in a season of relatively clement weather and opened it up within the hour and it was fine. I guessed it had been the back of the UPS truck for several hours by this stage too. I might be a little more cautious in winter.