Monday, April 18, 2011

HOW NOT TO SHIP A SYNTH



After the recent  fiasco of receiving  my Buchla powered cabinet with part of its top sheared off through careless handling,  I began to reflect on shipping's greatest hits (literally) as they pertain to my experience purchasing electronic instruments.  While most items have arrived alive,  a few instances of ridiculous "packing" come readily to mind.  What seemed like a good idea at the time to the sender,  only made for  stress and anger when the damaged item arrived,  and could have been avoided completely.  Does the aluminum and steel Anvil case ring any bells in the collective unconscious of synth sellers and buyers  everywhere?  Well,  from where I'm standing,  I clearly hear the sound of crashes and thumps as UPS (or FedEx) thugs toss a Sequential Circuits Pro One (still recovering) and an Arp Odyssey (a circuit board dislocated... ouch!),  thinking whatever the Anvil held was protected.  Think again.  An equally ridiculous anecdote involves my purchase of an EDP Wasp from a chap in Greece.  Somehow he took an approach that was the polar opposite of the Anvil case.  He merely wrapped this fragile plastic synth in some lightweight cardboard,  put bubble wrap on the outside,  added an address label,  and off it went on its long journey to the US without a proper box.  How the Gnat arrived totally intact is a miraculous mystery to me. I don't think he even bothered to label it "fragile"  It just goes to show you that creative shipping approaches may sometime work,  while the Anvil is just an invitation to call your nearest synth tech.

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