Do you loosen the strings when shipping your bass

[xilddx]

And what are your reasons?

[Rayman]

Yes, always. It takes the strain off the neck while being thrown from pillar to post by the couriers.

[waynepunkdude]

I always do because I take the neck off.

[jonsmith]

Normally I susbscribe to the Rickenbacker philosophy that when properly set up, the strings and the truss rods are in opposition and therefore removing the tension of one of them is going to play havoc with the neck (leading to 'spongy' necks if done frequently). So my answer would be 'almost never'.

I've gone with 'depends', because if I know it's not going to get used for a long time I'd remove strings and slacken the truss rods.

Edited November 2, 2009 by jonsmith

[wateroftyne]

I used to, but not any more. I can't think what the benefits are of detuning it and putting it into a state that it's not designed to be in.

If someone wants to tell my why I should be detuning, I'm all ears...

[Clarky]

Someone told me a good while ago that its a bad idea for a bass to have low/no tension on the neck for an extended period of time. I, being a very easily-persuaded individual, took this as gospel and hence have not slackened the strings on the countless basses i have sold in recent years. Not had a complaint from a buyer yet ....

[Rayman]

I have heard of a couple of instances where the headstock had either cracked or broken off while in transit due to string tension. Whether or not that would happen with no tension on the neck is debateable, but it was a well known luthier who advised me to slacken the strings while posting it.

[pantherairsoft]

Never.

If Overwater can post it to me all set up and it be the best playing bass I have ever used straight out of the box then that's good enough for me! I've never had an issue and I agree that detuning and effectivley putting it in a state that it was never meant to be in can hardly be doing it any good.

[jacko]

Alembic ship their instruments from california fully set up. Who am I to argue with people who know?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Without the tension from the strings the truss rod will be pulling back, so that has to be loosened as well. Without any tension front or back the neck I would imagine (but cannot prove) that the neck could more likely to go twisty if the temperature or humidity changes.

[EssentialTension]

No, the strings should be at tension, to balance the tension of the truss rod.

[thisnameistaken]

I did the last time, but that was to get some padding between the roundwound strings and the fretless pau ferro fingerboard, since the bass might end up laying face-down for long periods.

But yeah normally I'd agree with the above wisdom, that string tension is probably better than none, unless you loosen the truss rod too. But if I received a bass in the post with the truss rod all slack I'd be a bit grumpy about it.

[Protium]

My Pedulla was in transit from the USA for nearly 2 months caught up in the xmas/new year post and still turned up in tune

[OutToPlayJazz]

I always send them tuned to concert pitch. Always best to keep a wooden neck at it's preferred and settled angle. Remember that once the neck has settled in an untensioned state, it'll take a week or so to settle down again. Leave well alone.

Not that I like posting instruments. Only the cheap ones get mailed. The expensive ones I deliver personally to anywhere in the UK (within reason) or meet up with the buyer.

Edited November 2, 2009 by OutToPlayJazz

[SteveK]

My basses have been in more aircraft holds than I care to remember. Not once have I loosened the strings - Not once have I had a problem.
More important to use heavy duty, well padded flight cases.

[xilddx]

Seems most of you concur with the experts, never loosen your strings to ship or store a bass unless you loosen off the truss rod too. I read about a very large US distributor who has seen many warped necks as a result of slackening strings to ship basses. He advised to always keep the strings at concert pitch.