FOUND: Lost Peavey Cirrus 5 String Bass American Red Oak Serial 51142105

[Lozz196]

8 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

@PunkPonyPrincess you build these crates yourself? They look phenomenal! Puts my bubble wrap and cardboard jobs to shame 

They are very good, I received a bass in one of these last week. Pretty much indestructible I’d say.

[PunkPonyPrincess]

Aww I am pleased. Its a bit of work, but its worth knowing you have done the best you can when shipping delicate instruments internally or abroad.

Edited November 30, 2020 by PunkPonyPrincess

[Merton]

Great end to this story, and great packaging!

Where I work, we've been told in the past the black plastic wrapping is disliked because it means the package cannot go through automatic conveyors etc so has to be 100% manually handled through depots and sorting centrees etc. We therefore always use it for certain products because it stops the ~1.5m drop which some automated centres seem to have at certain points in their handling process!

[CameronJ]

Out of interest - and maybe I’m being dense here - how does wrapping a package in black plastic affect it’s ability to go through automated conveyors?

[alyctes]

13 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Out of interest - and maybe I’m being dense here - how does wrapping a package in black plastic affect it’s ability to go through automated conveyors?

Indeed, I'm fascinated!

[Merton]

20 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Out of interest - and maybe I’m being dense here - how does wrapping a package in black plastic affect it’s ability to go through automated conveyors?

Good question - I'm aware that it's inherently sticky (and annoying as hell!!); this stickiness is one of the reasons it can't go through the automated machines but there must be more to it that just that. It was DPD who told one of our distributors this, and the distributor keeps using it as a reason for us to wrap EVERYTHING in black plastic just in case...

[itu]

Very good the bass was found, hopefully in condition prima.

These delays are common here. It is not so extraordinary, that the package is ordered from the other side of the world and it takes 3 - 4 days to get here. But then the local post office starts the delivery which can take up to two weeks. I happen to live in a place where I am able to see the main office (including letters and packages). If customs is involved, +1 - 2 weeks, easily.

[Frank Blank]

15 minutes ago, itu said:

Very good the bass was found, hopefully in condition prima.

These delays are common here. It is not so extraordinary, that the package is ordered from the other side of the world and it takes 3 - 4 days to get here. But then the local post office starts the delivery which can take up to two weeks. I happen to live in a place where I am able to see the main office (including letters and packages). If customs is involved, +1 - 2 weeks, easily.

Exactly this. I ordered a case from Rob Allen in California which zoomed efficiently across the world only to be mislaid in my local post office. I had to direct the staff from behind the counter to actually move something before they found it, utterly hopeless.

[uk_lefty]

5 hours ago, PunkPonyPrincess said:

The buyer has been a dream buyer. I refunded them immediately the thing bass declared lost so its up to them if they want to accept the parcel.

That superb that it has been found and your buyer has been good to deal with. Amazing how things can go completely missing. 

Its very similar to my story of recently selling an 80s Aria to a buyer in Bristol, DPD lost the package for a month and the buyer was good as gold to start with, though requested a refund and said if it turned up he'd refuse the delivery. 

Well! He accepted the delivery and didn't contact me until 24hrs later when I had been informed the item was delivered and emailed him to check if this was true. He repackaged and returned the bass for me, but when I got it back he'd nicked the knobs!! What a complete bum hole of a person. I called him a few weeks later out the blue and he said "oh yes I have got them I've just not had chance to post them". He's obviously still "not had chance". 

[BlueMoon]

5 hours ago, PunkPonyPrincess said:

The buyer has been a dream buyer. I refunded them immediately the thing bass declared lost so its up to them if they want to accept the parcel.

There are both dream buyers and dream sellers. My overall experience with Basschat has been pretty good. Glad it turned out OK in the end.

[pete.young]

5 hours ago, PunkPonyPrincess said:

 

12mm Featherboard, 2-3mm ply, screws. It can be reused/upcycled/repurposed or turned to kindling. I feel bad about styrene though, looking into alternatives..

A certain computer company used to send us kit which used hot air popcorn in place of the styrofoam nuts that everyone else was using.

It's fat free so doesnt' go off, and gives the added bonus of a tasty snack while you were unpacking and setting up your computing gear.

[PunkPonyPrincess]

7 minutes ago, pete.young said:

A certain computer company used to send us kit which used hot air popcorn in place of the styrofoam nuts that everyone else was using.

It's fat free so doesnt' go off, and gives the added bonus of a tasty snack while you were unpacking and setting up your computing gear.

brilliant. I had seen this with IBM Server hardware... I didn't know if it could be fed to the hens or goats here

[bass_dinger]

22 hours ago, pete.young said:

A certain computer company used to send us kit which used hot air popcorn in place of the styrofoam nuts that everyone else was using.

It's fat free so doesnt' go off, and gives the added bonus of a tasty snack while you were unpacking and setting up your computing gear.

Ah yes - if they had been invented 5 years ago, they would have called it "heat-activated low density biodegradable packaging granules", but we know them as a bag of popping corn.  I find that it works best if it can be separated from the item being sent - nobody wants food-stuff in the slots of their tube power amp!   I used ziplocked bags full of popcorn.

"10 out of 10, delicious.  Would buy again."

 

I see that the wood grain on the packaging is better than that on some guitars I have owned!  If it is 6mm ply, it is expensive to buy (but cheaper than a damaged instrument).  So, I have been known to resort to a bit of skip diving . . .  

  

[PunkPonyPrincess]

3mm Birch Ply. Looking into air popped corn..

making one is  quite quick if you have a sharp saw and a battery drill-driver.

Edited December 1, 2020 by PunkPonyPrincess

[adamg67]

On 30/11/2020 at 13:15, PunkPonyPrincess said:

Aww I am pleased. Its a bit of work, but its worth knowing you have done the best you can when shipping delicate instruments internally or abroad.

I was tempted to do this for a Tele I sold a while back, first instrument I'd shipped ever as I'd managed to arrange meet ups for everything else. In the end, since it was not the most expensive guitar ever, I went for packing the guitar in the hard case with foam and bubble wrap, then wrapping the hard case in bubble wrap, then a sheet of ply top and boottom, all wrapped in cardboard. That was not international and I'd do at least that if I was sending anything again (I hoard useful material, the ply used to be the back of a wardrobe). I think the crates are spot on. 

One of the reasons I'm so fussy about packing is that I worked for a parcel company for a while (in IT, not mishandling parcels, still chaos though). Assume your parcel is going to be kicked from where it's picked up to it's desination.

[Bunion]

On 30/11/2020 at 15:48, uk_lefty said:

On 30/11/2020 at 15:48, uk_lefty said:

when I got it back he'd nicked the knobs!! What a complete bum hole of a person. I called him a few weeks later out the blue and he said "oh yes I have got them I've just not had chance to post them". He's obviously still "not had chance". 

You have his address why not pay him a surprise visit out of the blue instead of the suprise call 😋

[uk_lefty]

8 hours ago, Bunion said:

 

Because I don't want to drive for three and a half hours each way to get back knobs that, although costing £25 for authentic replacements, would cost me close to that in fuel. Also, I could drive there but there's no guarantee he would be in, willing to talk to me, or willing to give the knobs back. 

But you make a good point if we turn it to couriers though: I should have driven the bass down there myself, got him to play it and agree he's happy with it, then left with the transaction complete. 

[Reagan]

Has anyone ever heard of a brand called Super Guitars? I got my first bass a couple weeks ago from a pawn shop and the headpiece says Super Guitars. It looks like a knock off squire but I’ve never heard of them and can’t find them anywhere. It doesn’t sound horrible I don’t think and one of my friends says it needs a setup.

[Burns-bass]

29 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Because I don't want to drive for three and a half hours each way to get back knobs that, although costing £25 for authentic replacements, would cost me close to that in fuel. Also, I could drive there but there's no guarantee he would be in, willing to talk to me, or willing to give the knobs back. 

But you make a good point if we turn it to couriers though: I should have driven the bass down there myself, got him to play it and agree he's happy with it, then left with the transaction complete. 

I find this quite extraordinary that someone would do this. Is that from BC or elsewhere?

[uk_lefty]

12 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

I find this quite extraordinary that someone would do this. Is that from BC or elsewhere?

The buyer was on Reverb. They were quite good about it and rather than kick up a fuss they gave me a credit note for more than the value of the replacement knobs and a refund of my sale fees. I much prefer buying and selling through BC but as a lefty we can't be too picky. 

[NikNik]

On 30/11/2020 at 10:43, PunkPonyPrincess said:

The buyer has been a dream buyer. I refunded them immediately the thing bass declared lost so its up to them if they want to accept the parcel.

Perhaps the awfully big CCed email explaining the situation and asking for more details I sent put a rocket under things?

Normally Inspection flags as “inspected” or “held” message doesn’t take it? Not just disappear with GLS telling Parcelforce it has disappeared. Its really odd — plus several parcels another Bass, that ash fretless PJ build went crated like this at the same time, as well as the JJ PJ Bass.  I do know some carriers like a card wrap around a wooden crate and I have been advised to never use black plastic for international shipping.

 

I've had stuff disappear on me then turn up a week later on the tracking as 'held'. Glad it turned up, though.

Parcelforce.....simply no! I've had too many problems with them over the years and they are notorious for stonewalling on insurance for musical instruments. Incidentally, I'm not sure the shipping broker pays out on insurance; isn't that handled by the courier you eventually choose?

I've had one major purchase and major sale go missing for weeks, but they eventually turned up. And there was another big purchase from Europe that disappeared whilst still in the country of origin. It never turned up inside of one month and the seller wanted me to wait until the insurance claim was settled before refunding me. Had to get evilbay involved on that one.

Recently, I sent a bass to Germany, and after a week had passed it was still showing as being in the Edinburgh depot. However, the courier that picked up up had not signed the 'shipper's copy' and the broker initially refused to open a claim as there was no proof that the instrument had been picked up, irrespective of the courier company's tracking showing that it had!