Shipping instruments?

[bandito 24]

I have 3 bass guitars that I want to California, any idea how I should go about doing this? I only have one hard case and one soft one, but no case for my accoustic bass. From your experience how roughly are the belongings handled and tossed around in transit? Most companies I've looked at have specific box sizes and basses are far too long to fit in even the largest of them. Any company recomendations?

 

In addition to the basses I will have a couple of boxes of personal belongings like art supplies, photos and frames, stuffed toys, books, dvds, cds and vinyl, as well as a large 3 square foot artwork which is very delicate, and a 22x18" painting by my late grandfather. I'm not planning to ship any furniture or any brand new electronics (with the exception of my personal laptop which will be in my hand lugage). Any idea if I would have to pay customs on any of this stuff?

[Wuozopo 4,293]

You do not pay custom duty on your personal belongings as an immigrant.

 

Experience shipping an antique wall clock belonging to my gr gr grandfather:

 I paid the shipping company to build a custom crate. Also insured my shipment which isn't cheap. Everything arrived flawlessly. The crate turned out to be not so fancy. It was strips of thin quarter inch wood with gaps between the slats. But they had used that foam in a can that goes solid to completely surround the clock (protected by layers of thick plastic). So it was a plastic wrapped clock surrounded by 3 inches of rigid foam that custom fit every nook and cranny of the clock, inside a wooden crate.  Maybe you could make one. Otherwise if you use a shipping company,, they can make custom crates for fragile items. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

Watch the video on this page and read the rest of the page https://www.shipit.co.uk/safer-packing.htm

 

i used this company. My pallet was 2 cu meters. They charge by the size of the finished wrapped bundle.

[Boiler 45,525]

I have heard of people booking an extra seat for their instruments.

[thatguyuknow 147]

Same thing happened with me in February. I was flying with United business, called ahead, took one guitar on the plane in the overhead, one guitar went into my checked, it was a strat so I took the neck off, and put the neck into a plastic waste pipe and filled it with packing peanuts. The body I just wrapped in clothes. My third guitar went with ups, got a box from eBay, massive amounts of polystyrene , foam and peanuts, arrived all good. 
 

bass guitar might be tricky though because of the size. If I were you I’d dump the soft cases take off the necks and handle them as 2 pieces.