Just a “heads up” for you guys who are receiving new guitars this time of year.

Remember that your new guitar is made of wood, covered with stains, paints and polymers. Each of those materials can react differently to extreme temperature changes.

In spite of the excitement that comes along with a new guitar, you gotta wait and let it acclimate to the new climate inside your house or office before opening the package.

We always wait at least two hours after the package arrives before un-boxing the new guitars. If, after two hours, the outer box is still cold to the touch, we give it another hour to slowly acclimate to the temperature inside the store.

Then, if the guitar is in a HS case, we give it another hour or so before opening the case.

The LAST thing anybody wants to see happen is for a new guitar to make the trip from overseas safely; make the trip from the USA to the store safely; make the trip from the store to your house safely, then develop a finish crack or even worse, some warpage due to the quick change between the outside air and the temperature inside your house.

Even if you don’t have extreme temperatures in your part of the country, your guitar has probably gone through some major temperature/humidity changes during its trip.

Today we have an air temp of 16 degrees with a wind chill of 5 (Fahrenheit). The guitars that leave here today will be loaded onto a barely heated truck, go to a depot, get loaded onto another unheated truck, go the the next depot, get loaded onto yet another unheated or barely heated truck before coming to you. As long as the temperature/humidity changes are gradual, you will have no problems.

Hope this helps us all to avoid huge disappointments with our new guitars as they arrive!