How long do i need to wait on opening?

iamjethro

iamjethro

a good kind of terrible
Just received a guitar via UPS. How long do I leave the box alone until I open it. Not really to play right now, just to look it over and see how it looks?

Temp is about 12 outside.
 
I usually take the case out of the box, let it sit for a half hour or so... then open the latches on the case (but not open it).

After an hour or so, I'll gently open the case. It's really a matter of the paint acclimating to the new temp.

Flash freeze or heating up too fast causes the cracks and relicing that we all know (and some love). In fact, that's often how guitars are relic'd... the'll be put in a freezer and then hit with a heat gun, or heated up and then hit with a can of compressed air.
 
Case? This is a 90 buck guitar. Ain't no case!

Still sitting as we speak. No big hurry. As long as the neck is cool, it ain't gonna stay too stock.
 
finish checking or cracking is really the only potential danger, right? it seems everything else should be pretty robust
 
I know this is commonly accepted knowledge, but I regularly take my ES335 nitro finished guitar out into very cold Swiss temps (certainly below freezing) and open the case when I get to practice and get home, with less than 20 minutes or so of acclimation time. I know people like to wait a day to open a guitar case, but I think things warm to safe temps pretty fast. In the deep winter, I take my US fender with the thick plastic finish out with a zero to 5 minute wait. The strings are often cold to the touch on the warm up song . If it aint nitro, don't worry. The strats are polyurethane US series guitars. Of course, if you don't have to make the abrupt temp change, don't risk it and leave it. Just my 2 cents. Climate and paint are complex interactions, so best to be careful.
 
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It is an SX Rose in the Sunset finish. I just liked the color and wanted to try that scale neck on a strat. Nothing great, but I have better pickups etc laying around if it is worth it.
 
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