Let’s say your new guitar finally arrived at your doorstep. Needless to say, you’re pretty eager to plug it into your amp and begin playing. However, there’s a little sticker on the box. You take some time to inspect it. It reads the following: you have to wait 24 hours before opening your brand-new guitar box.
If the lines above seem a bit familiar, then we’ve got a lot to talk about today. Okay, it mightn’t be “a lot”, but we’re sure you’ll find the solution to the should-you-wait-24-hours-before-opening-a-guitar-box conundrum. Also, we’ll expand our presentation to cover some issues related to the main one. As always, stay tuned for some valuable tips & info!
How long you will wait before you open a brand-new guitar box that’s arrived at your doorstep will depend on the difference between the conditions it has traveled in and the conditions inside your home. However, we recommend that you don’t go into calculations. It’s really not that tiresome to wait 24 hours.
We’re kinda repeating ourselves here at Music Gear Heads, but reading just the little preview above just won’t cut it. Therefore, read the whole thing!
Table of Contents
Is it safe to have a guitar shipped?
Before we dig our hands deeper into the tissue of today’s main subject, let’s figure out whether you should have your new guitar shipped in the first place. In other words, let’s consider the potential safety issues concerning such an ordeal. If there are any, that is. So, is it safe to have your guitar shipped to your doorstep?
Well, it depends. If you’re buying a brand-new guitar from a renowned retailer, there’s a very, very slim chance something might go awry. It’s only natural that things are the way they are since the instrument had to be shipped from the manufacturer to the store. So, yeah, whether you’re ordering your guitar from a certain music store or directly from the manufacturer – there’s a super low chance something can go wrong. However, if you’re buying a used one from another person, your new instrument’s safety will have to depend on the way the seller prepares it for shipment.
Since today we’re mostly concerned with the original packaging of a guitar, we won’t get into the whole how-to-ship-your-guitar-in-the-safest-manner-possible issue. Instead, let’s check out some info that might prove useful if you’re ordering a brand-new guitar.
What is the first thing to do after buying a guitar?
If you should first 24 hours before opening the box, that’s still a mystery. So, once you have or haven’t waited a whole day to try out your instrument, here’s what you’ll want to do:
- Check whether you need to replace the strings. They might’ve worn out due to all the tryouts in the music store.
- Buy yourself a guitar case. Keep your instrument safe from dust and humidity. The latter can have a lasting effect on your guitar’s ability to stay in tune. If you’re wondering whether an expensive guitar will do a better job here, click on this link.
- Remove the plastic. Sometimes you’ll buy a guitar that comes with a plastic film covering the pickguard. Also, sometimes you’ll be able to find plastic beneath the knobs. That can be a pain to remove, so here’s a suggestion: use a flat head to pop the knobs up and off. Make sure you don’t leave the plastic there since it might mess with the way the knobs turn.
- Adjust the action. Not an easy task, especially for beginners (lower the action if you’re one of them, just don’t go too low as it may cause fret buzzing). Speaking of buzzing, here’s whether a faulty guitar nut can cause it.
- Tune your guitar. Not much to add here, just start playing!
It seems that we’ve got another one to deal with it before we tackle the main issue!
Does a new guitar need to be broken in?
If you’ve bought a brand-new guitar from a renowned manufacturer, your instrument will have to experience a whole year of good playing before it begins to sound and feel quite comfy. So, yeah, you’ll need to play it more than once every two weeks or something. Also, let’s say you’ve bought yourself an unused vintage guitar. It won’t sound the way it’s supposed to right from the start, you’ll need to do a bit of playing first.
Alright, now that we’ve got everything prepared, let’s consider whether you need to wait 24 hours before opening your brand-new guitar. Don’t go anywhere!
Do I need to wait 24 hours before opening guitar?
Almost there. Without further ado, let’s consider whether you need to wait 24 hours before opening a guitar box shipped to your front door.
First of all, you should know that this is a topic many folks have different opinions on. Still, we’ll try to get as close to the truth as possible. Many folks would gladly ignore the “wait 24 hours before you open” sticker on the box, and many would wait until the last minute before they open up the box. Both of these cases aren’t the ones you should follow.
To figure out whether you’ll need to wait a whole 24 hours before opening up the guitar box, you’ll need to ask the following questions:
- What are the seasonal weather conditions in the place where you live?
- Also, what about humidity?
- Just how long was your new instrument in transit?
- Where the guitar came from? (This one might be crucial.)
This might sound a bit confusing. Let’s provide you with an example. Say you’ve ordered a guitar during wintertime. We’ll take a guess and say that once your box arrived, it felt really cold to the touch. If you were to open it right away, inside your warm home, you’d probably damage the guitar’s finish, especially if it’s Nitro.
What’s the point of spending a good sum on an instrument and damaging it the second it arrives at your front step? There’s none. So, our recommendation is that you wait for a whole 24 hours to make sure your guitar has acclimatized. The conditions inside your home might differ from the ones the instrument has traveled in. Any sudden change in temperature or humidity isn’t good for your trusty instrument.
Let’s see if there’s anything else we’d like to mention in this article!
Do you need to humidify guitar in summer?
First of all, let’s see what it means to humidify a guitar!
Needless to say, the storage conditions will have a great effect on your trusty instrument. If you’ve stored your guitar in a room that’s pretty dry, such a scenario can cause the wood of your neck to dry out and eventually – contract. Clearly, that’s what you want to avoid by placing a guitar humidifier inside the instrument while it’s in storage, safely placed inside the case.
Here’s the thing: a guitar humidifier will provide the wood of your instrument with enough moisture. Just so it doesn’t warp or crack in a dramatic manner. Also, you’ll want to know that humidifiers come in many different forms. Usually, they’re sporting a long, thin sponge that comes wrapped in latex or another form of plastic, which is dampened with tap water and placed in between the strings of the instrument. On the other hand, if we’re talking about an acoustic guitar humidifier, it extends down into the body of your instrument thus enabling the low levels of moisture to “pulsate” throughout the cavity.
Speaking of wood your guitar’s made of, you might be wondering what kind of wood Squiers consist of.
Okay, so do you need to humidify guitar in summer?
Well, it depends on how dry or humid are the summers in the place where you live. If you live someplace where summers are dry, you’ll want to keep your guitar inside the case, with a humidifier. Now, if you live in a humid climate, keep in mind that an air conditioner will help keep the humidity at a relatively alright level. You can always use a hygrometer to check the humidity levels (the acceptable range is between 40-60%) and act accordingly.
How do you tell if guitar is over-humidified?
As we’ve already said, the acceptable range for humidity is between 40-60%. If you notice that the number on your guitar hygrometer is above the latter number, that means your instrument has been exposed to high humidity for at least the last three days. Anyway, you’re able to tell that a guitar has been over-humidified once you notice some of these symptoms:
- High action. (Don’t worry as it might also signalize that your instrument needs a new setup.)
- Dull sound.
- Something of a rippling feel to the wood on the tail section located at the back of your guitar.
The last one might be caused by wood swelling around the tail block. So, yeah, those are something you’d call the symptoms of an over-humidified guitar. Oh, and we forgot to mention the following: your strings might sound sharp if humidity takes over.
Final words on the subject
Alright, folks. That’s about all there’s to say on the subject of whether you’re supposed to wait 24 hours before opening a brand-new guitar box. The just of this article can be summed up in a single sentence: be patient and don’t mind waiting for a whole day before you open up the box as you’re better safe than sorry. Anyway, if you’re on the lookout for more tips on playing and maintaining your trusty instrument, don’t hesitate to visit this page.