I have allot of experience in this.

I'll never use USPS or UPS, mainly because if there is ever a claim, you have to hire an attorney to get treated fairly, and they take FOREVER, and try to use every excuse in the book not to cover your claim. I had a routine damage claim with UPS recently (box was damaged by their forklift and so was guitar). They admitted fault, but its been 6 months and I still don't have a settlement. They first said that custom instruments aren't covered by their insurance, and it took me 3 months to get them to agree that they were full of b.s., now we are arguing over damages. Its been literally one screw up over and over, with complete lack of concern and competency on their part. Each time I contact them, I am dealing with another new person and we have to more or less spend the first hour going over the entire situation, which is really frustrating.

If you ever have a claim with FedEx, they settle fast usually within 1 to 2 weeks and they are fair and considerate.

Regardless of the carrier used, don't ship it via Ground, because it gets transferred allot at different hubs, and Ground Services tend to throw things around, and are less careful. Overnight Services gets you a higher level of service and better care. 3rd day Air is the way I usually ship.

As others have posted, always ship early Monday morning.

Make sure you use peanuts or wadded up newspaper and that you carefully pack it well. Over pack if anything. Most damage in shipping is caused when the carrier drops the box on its head, thus cracking or even snapping off the headstock, and this is the result of the shipper not carefully packing the and protecting the headstock. Inside the case, make sure that you use wadded up newspaper and that it surrounds the headstock so that it is fully padded at its top and side. Also, on the top side of guitar, make sure you wedge in newspaper between the inside of the case walls and the guitar, so that the guitar cannot move around in the case.

Most damage is not caused by the carrier, but by the shipper from lack of packing......meaning shippers don't take the steps to carefully pack and pad the guitar on the inside of the case, and in the shipping box. (Taylor has the best shipping boxes that you can buy from dealers - as they have a vibration/shock protector for the headstock area that helps lessen any impact on the headstock if the guitar is ever dropped on its head during shipping - Taylor does that for a good reason@)

In the absence of proper packing and protection by the shipper, if there is ever a claim, the carrier will have all the leverage by claiming negligence on your behalf and you won't ever be able to collect a dime.

I also take a picture of how its been packed before its shipped, by taking a picture of inside the case and outside of the case (inside the shipping box), just for added insurance in the event there ever is damage.