do you keep all your gear boxes?

joninc · Post by **joninc** » Sat Aug 10, 2013 6:23 pm

i am moving soon and have had to sort through all my crap and i have stored probably about 85% of all the boxes that my gear came in from the last 10 years in my crawl space. i am now looking at a mountain of boxes thinking to myself: why?

most of my gear is in racks and will stay that way in the move so i am wondering if you guys keep boxes too and if you ever find that you need em again...?

sorry if this is a dumb post - i really have a lot of boxes!!

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Sat Aug 10, 2013 7:27 pm

not a dumb post! I keep all of my boxes as well and only find that I need them AFTER I get rid of them! Seriously. . .i've kept boxes for YEARS and never needed to use them. Once i get rid of them, that's what I need them for something. (selling it, etc)

My advice is if it's more than a year old, toss the box. I wish I had the will power to do so!

-James

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 2:18 am

Yes, I keep just about all of the boxes, and so does my studio-mate. It's kind of stupid, but I have a "collector-keeper" mentality anyway, and the thought is "Well, if I ever need to sell it..." But the problem is, I never sell anything, only buy...

GJ

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 6:40 am

I try to keep 'em - I buy mostly used stuff, so it often doesn't have boxes. But those items what do, I stack 'the boxes in my garage - it's quite a stack, actually - bagged in dry-cleaner plastic.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 6:42 am

I don't buy much new so I rarely get the original box...but on larger items like guitars and keyboards I might hang on to it for shipping purposes (either shipping this item or another that will fit). Rack stuff, microphones, etc.. I wouldn't bother.

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 10:53 am

I keep them long enough to know I'm not returning the item. Then, they go in the recycling. We're not talking about Star Wars action figures. Having the original packaging doesn't really increase the value of an item you're just going to take out of the packaging and hopefully use every day.

Keeping them in case you have to sell/ship them someday makes sense until you consider that cardboard and packing materials cost next-to-nothing.

KEEP ALL OF THE MANUALS, THOUGH!!!

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:00 am

chris harris wrote: Keeping them in case you have to sell/ship them someday makes sense until you consider that cardboard and packing materials cost next-to-nothing.

KEEP ALL OF THE MANUALS, THOUGH!!!

As someone who deals a lot in vintage gear, I can say that finding suitable and secure replacements for some pieces, like odd shaped keyboards...is a challenge 30 years later. Often the original manufacturer's box is going to be the best possible fit for safe shipping. Common shapes don't matter so much, but I definitely have a few pieces I'm going to have to fabricate and pray before shipping.

percussion boy · Post by **percussion boy** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:20 pm

Trouble is, it's the custom-shaped foam pieces IN the original box that protect the gear during shipping .... and that stuff takes up too much room for an apartment-dweller.

I appreciate it when something is sold to me in the original package, though.

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 9:09 pm

I hardly ever buy gear new, but when I do, I tend to keep the boxes. I tell myself, "if I have to sell some other piece of gear, I'll have the perfect box to ship it in." Then it sits in the crawlspace next to the attic for 11 years, covered in splinters of cedar from when we had that roof tear-off done.

I find that this vastly improves the tone. You know, because of the extra bass trapping.

llmonty · Post by **llmonty** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 4:36 am

yes, i keep most of them. I end up nesting them like those Russian dolls into the most compact footprint possible. Though sometimes this makes tracking them down a bit of a pain!

I keep them especially if I think I might sell something one day, or it has foam or a box that would be particularly useful in shipping/moving. If I don't think I would ever sell, or if it is typical size/shape, or not particularly fragile, I might toss it.

Dogbreath · Post by **Dogbreath** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 4:46 am

I keep all of the boxes my for my gear and the styrofoam "corners". I can only do this because I have an attic and large garage. Doing this has made sending pieces out for repair much easier...and I have moved a couple of times. When I moved, it gave me the opportunity to tear everything down and clean it up thoroughly (housing, faceplate, terminals, contacts, connectors) and box it up safe and snug for the move. Once I am settled in, I know what it what and I can set up much quicker without the dust and dirt from the old place.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:51 am

Judas Jetski wrote:I hardly ever buy gear new, but when I do, I tend to keep the boxes.

I don't always buy gear, but when I do packing peanuts spill out all over the fucking floor of my studio.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:31 am

I have an attic space above my control room and I have boxes for just about everything I've got.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 5:51 pm

And, hopefully, a fire extinguisher ...

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 6:37 am

Oh, I forgot to mention that I fill all my empty boxes with nitrogen, to reduce the risk of fire.

Also, it helps the tone.

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do you keep all your gear boxes?

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