All that waiting is ridiculous. Do you know how often trees of all sorts in Canada and the northern USA undergo massive temperature changes in a matter of just a few hours? Think of the chinooks in Alberta. Now, apparently they still have trees. I know, I have been there. Sheesh!
... yes, but those are
live trees which expand & contract by a wide margin frequently. Not dead, dried wood with
much less flexibility ... can't really use that comparison.
[edit]
The process for drying/curing wood has probably come a
long way since I was a kid. We probably see fewer (or almost none) cracked/checked finishes because of that.
My understanding is it used to be improperly dried wood that was most affected by quick & extreme temperature changes, when the instrument was already frozen or really hot. The wood expands/contracts more as it is not as stable. That movement could cause a finish to crack.
With regards to thin nitro finishes, it used to be ("they" say) that they new finishes could "cloud up" when subjected to a quick extreme warming from frozen. Don't know the reasoning/details why. But again, maybe the nitro itself and/or the process has changed over the years.
I bought a new USA custom shop Dean Z back in 2005 which was a return due to a "cloudy" finish (a small area on the front by the neck joint) which was supposedly caused by extreme temp changes during shipping to the original owner who refused the new guitar because of it.
To answer the OP ... if i receive a guitar/instrument that has been shipped during our northern winter, i will remove the guitar case from the shipping box, and let it sit at normal room temp for a few hours at least.
I would avoid immediately taking a new expensive frozen instrument out of it's case, and then plop down in front of a raging fire to jam out ... same for taking a frozen Marshall, plugging in, cranking it for a few hours, and then right away back into the freezing cold for hours. I wouldn't do these things on a regular basis (or several times) and expect my gear to be in good shape for years & years. And i wouldn't also say my gear was well taken care of either.
No judgment at all. That's just me.
