Sully's Guitar Garage - Shipping Guitars Safely

I agree in general except for the headstock part. A lot of headstock snaps (especially on LPs since Gibson/Epiphone hog out SO much material up there for the adjustment) are due to inertia IMO. By that I mean you have a fairly thin area of wood connecting the headstock and neck, and then you throw a ton of tension on it from the strings and a bunch of weight from tuners. Therefore, if the guitar falls and the headstock isn't supported, the weight of those tuners and the pull of the strings is going to increase the inertia, when the box stops the headstock is not going to want to stop, and you're asking for a break. I'm of the opinion you should put some padding around the headstock (like bubble) wrap. Don't make it imobile like the body, but give it padding to slow any movement down over a greater distance. Think of it like having car air-bags for your headstock.

Chris

Packing the body to immobilise it is the first step, but packing the head end is not. The inertia can likely be reduced by padding rather than packing. It seems to make sense but is a lot of work in practice since you're trying to set up a complicated physical system! It would be a great use for Oobleck, theoretically.