Captain Rumble Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I'm hoping that some one can help me sort out the best way to ship my Wal to Belgium I have just read through the thread on couriers and now I'm even more worried about it. Is there a company out there that can pack, ship and insure it reliably or can anyone give some pointers on the best way to do things I was kind of hoping someone in the uk wanted it then I would'nt have to do this. such is life any help much appriciated john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Hi John I've shipped loads of basses over the years all around the world. I think it's actually pretty simple once you get going. As you have the original case, just get a couple of big boxes from your local guitar store (ideally bass, but guitar work okay if you put them end on end) and double skin it in them with lots of packing tape. Then just comapre a few costs from the various couriers (UPS, FedEx, DPD etc.) and make sure you ship it for the appropriate value, and ideally use a trackable service. Cheers Gareth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJE Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I am sure there are a few peeps out there who ship basses more than me but I have sent a few in the past and all have got there safe so i must be doing something right. I don't know anyone that will pack it for you but it's not too tricky to do it yourself. Firstly are you sending it in a hard case? if so this makes things a lot easier. If your not then I would suggest asking the buyer if he wants you to get one at a small extra cost for making sure it gets there in one piece (its a Wal I would) or what I have done in the past is first of all remove the neck but check with the buyer that he is happy for this. I always think sending neck of is easier, safer and it costs less usually. if you have a hard case then get some bubble wrap. Slacken the string on teh bass to relieve some tension and just wrap the bass in bubble wrap, body and neck, and if your being ultra fussy put bubble wrap between teh neck and strings so they dont rub on teh neck to much. Once wrapped up make sure the bass cant move side to side in the case with some polystyrene blocks or more bubble wrap. Close the case give it a small gentle shake and see if you can hear it moving in the case. Then i usually go to my local guitar shop and beg for old guitar boxes. you might hit the jackpot and get a fender bass box, or a bass hard case box so yours will probably fit straight in. Brown tape it up and then call a courier. I have used APC overnight who have a pretty good track record on here I think, and they are really good and not too expensive. Don't use parcel-force, they will send it to the wrong place or give it to a dodgy neighbour you dont know or break it in half, or all of the above. Anyway hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Hi John Good advice above but just to add a few more thoughts... 1. Use parcel tape when packing the cardboard box (or boxes if joining more than one) BUT always go around any joins and the ends of teh box with Gaffa or Duct tape as it's much stronger 2. Make a small ball or sausage-roll shape out of bubble wrap and put it underneath the headstock to support it, especially if there is a large gap between the headstock and the bottom of the case 3. I used DPD recently to ship a bass to Germany and they were excellent..well priced too! Hope that helps and good luck with it! Nik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 [quote name='silverfoxnik' post='638199' date='Oct 27 2009, 05:25 PM']Hi John Good advice above but just to add a few more thoughts... 1. Use parcel tape when packing the cardboard box (or boxes if joining more than one) BUT always go around any joins and the ends of teh box with Gaffa or Duct tape as it's much stronger 2. Make a small ball or sausage-roll shape out of bubble wrap and put it underneath the headstock to support it, especially if there is a large gap between the headstock and the bottom of the case 3. I used DPD recently to ship a bass to Germany and they were excellent..well priced too! Hope that helps and good luck with it! Nik[/quote] I don't want to start an argumant here but I've always found that gaffa tape doesn't hold the cardboard as well as proper parcel tape. The tape may well be stronger but that's not much use when it's hanging off the package. (This is speaking from bitter experience - not all gaffa tapes are neccessarily as crap as the ones they sell at homebase). On reflection, I think this makes sense - we use gaffa tape to hold cables to stage floors and whatnot. We don't need it to hold for too long or leave any residue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 [quote name='jacko' post='638300' date='Oct 27 2009, 06:40 PM']I don't want to start an argumant here but I've always found that gaffa tape doesn't hold the cardboard as well as proper parcel tape. The tape may well be stronger but that's not much use when it's hanging off the package. (This is speaking from bitter experience - not all gaffa tapes are neccessarily as crap as the ones they sell at homebase). On reflection, I think this makes sense - we use gaffa tape to hold cables to stage floors and whatnot. We don't need it to hold for too long or leave any residue.[/quote] I've never had any problems with it myself to be honest and always been complimented on the robustness of my packaging when shipping musical equipment.. In my experience, there are some gaffa tapes that aren't as strong as the more industrial type that I've always used. A combination of both is what I'd suggest anyway.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 (edited) [quote name='walbassist' post='637978' date='Oct 27 2009, 02:47 PM']Hi John I've shipped loads of basses over the years all around the world. I think it's actually pretty simple once you get going. As you have the original case, just get a couple of big boxes from your local guitar store (ideally bass, but guitar work okay if you put them end on end) and double skin it in them with lots of packing tape. Then just comapre a few costs from the various couriers (UPS, FedEx, DPD etc.) and make sure you ship it for the appropriate value, and ideally use a trackable service. Cheers Gareth[/quote] check!! try [url="http://www.parcel2go.com/"]these folks..i used them and they are good[/url] Edited October 27, 2009 by mrcrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
project_c Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Do not use Parcelforce. They break stuff and their insurance is not worth the paper it's printed on. I assumed that their connection with Royal Mail would make them reliable (on retrospect, it was a stupid assumption) - I was wrong. Parcelforce are a bunch of useless, careless liars, they are sh!t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 [quote name='Captain Rumble' post='637964' date='Oct 27 2009, 02:38 PM']I'm hoping that some one can help me sort out the best way to ship my Wal to Belgium I have just read through the thread on couriers and now I'm even more worried about it. Is there a company out there that can pack, ship and insure it reliably or can anyone give some pointers on the best way to do things I was kind of hoping someone in the uk wanted it then I would'nt have to do this. such is life any help much appriciated john[/quote] I thought several people in the UK did want it! Ask the purchaser to get on a Eurostar and meet him in London. Safest all round. I once collected two underwater scooters from a bloke in Belgium and a trip across on the ferry turned out to be the best way. +1 for being careful with choice of courier if you do decide to post it. Many have insurance limits for musical instruments in the small print - there's a thread about this somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 CR@P!!!! You sold it. Hope you did good on it, it played beautifully at the SE Bash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 It's coming to Belgium...I'm actually a bit curious who bought it around here. I bought a couple basses on bass-chat and had good experiences with UPS and Fedex (I didn't take the insurance and everytime basses arrived here in perfect condition) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayfan Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 [quote name='silverfoxnik' post='638199' date='Oct 27 2009, 05:25 PM']I used DPD recently to ship a bass to Germany and they were excellent..well priced too![/quote] +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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