Cold Weather shipping

Hello, I am new to UU and have been on the beginner boards doing research. I am in the market for a ukulele and figured it would be nice to buy from someone here if available. My concern, though is that I am in NY and weather has been pretty killer (cold/dry) lately. Would it be safe to ship a uke that might be subject to extreme temp changes or sit in a USPS/FedEX/UPS warehouse or truck for hours at a time in the cold?

I know laminate would eliminate this concern but I am a musician and have multiple drumkits/gutars/basses, etc so I sort of know I will want something solid at some point. I may end up starting w/ a laminate and wait for better weather or a local shop for the solid but would be nice to support the board and its favored vendors.

(*Also, as more of a health concern, can UAS set in before even owning your first uke?)

It's not so much the extreme cold as it is the going between one and the other too quickly. So when it arrives, give it an hour or two (torture, I know) before you open it and you should be fine. And of course, humidify your uke! Most are built in Hawaii or SE Asia and are accustomed to higher humidity.

JoshFromTallGrassUkes said:

It's not so much the extreme cold as it is the going between one and the other too quickly. So when it arrives, give it an hour or two (torture, I know) before you open it and you should be fine. And of course, humidify your uke! Most are built in Hawaii or SE Asia and are accustomed to higher humidity.

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Or give it even longer if necessary.

Although it's rather expensive, I would suggest having your shipper send it via Express mail, thereby shortening the transit time. Also, I try never to ship over the weekend where it might sit in an unfriendly climate on Sunday. I'm not sure if that's necessary or not but it reduces the ukulele's time on the road.
And good responses previously. Resist the temptation to unpack it immediately (give it a few hours) and yes, watch your humidity.
Good luck.

Yeah, definitely give it time to stabilize from a sharp temperature change either way. Down here we have a problem where the uke may have been sitting in a delivery truck where it's probably 115f (outside temp 102-103f) for several hours. Suddenly hit it with our nice air conditioned air is not good. Not likely to split wood, but I have heard of it causing crazing in vintage laquer finishes of guitars and such.

John

Aloha Stalone,
Welcome to the UU and our Forums and the Ukulele....yup....some good advice there...give it time to get acclamated with a few hours....

I let a steel string guitar sit in the shipping carton 24 hours before opening. I'd do the same with a uke. And shipping on a Monday is a good idea. I also like Fedex overnight.