Shipping a large amount of guitars, amps and steels

Howard Steinberg · From: St. Petersburg, Florida , USA

Hello - Not sure where to put this, so I’ll try it here. Some of you who know me may be aware that I live in Florida for 6 months of the year and New Hampshire for the rest of the year.

In the next few months I plan to make Florida my permanent home. I need to send 15 high end guitars, 2 pedal steels and 6 amplifiers to my place in Florida. I’ll be using a moving company to move most of the household. I’m pretty uncomfortable with using the moving company for the guitars etc.

I’m guessing that I may not be the first person to confront this. At this stage of life I’m not comfortable with renting a cargo van and driving them down. Any thoughts on the best way to do this will be greatly appreciated.
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Justice Pro Lite (4-5), Justice D-10 (8-5)x2 , Quilter Steelaire, Hilton Pedal, BJ's bar.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I can appreciate your quandary.

Two years ago, I decided I was going to permanently return to the UK. I knew that an ocean voyage was unavoidable for the bulk of my possessions - musical instruments, books, my model buses - and, as uncomfortable as it made me, I realized that I had to 'let go'.

It was all listed and fully insured (the premium alone was around $500) but, thirteen weeks later, it all arrived in perfect condition at my new address. Guitars were in their cases and packed in cartons - all arrived unscathed, including my vintage Martins.

The move was a mistake and, seven months later, I reversed the whole process. This time, my anxiety level was much reduced and, sure enough, everything arrived back in FL intact (coincidentally, thirteen weeks later - again!)

I know what it's like to ship even one instrument (say, for a sale) and the stress levels until it's been safely delivered. But all your instruments? Believe me, I sympathize but I had a happy outcome.

Shipping my possessions to the UK and back, quite apart from the paperwork for HM Customs & Excise, probably cost me $5,500 - a salutary lesson that taught me to ignore a mid- (or 'late') - life crisis in the future! Smile

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Jeff Garden · From: Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA

I had a similar experience to Roger's years ago. I was facing a military transfer and didn't want government movers anywhere near my musical instruments. I had a luthier friend who built high-end archtop guitars and asked him if he would be willing to pack up my collection (for a fee of course!) with the same care he would ship out one of his creations. It wasn't cheap but everything arrived in perfect condition via FedEx. He did tell me the careful packing was a lot of work and he'd never do it again Smile

Northern Lights Music in Littleton NH routinely deals in high end instruments - might be worth a call to see if they can help you out with packing and shipping.
https://northernlightsmusic.com/

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Unless you can find some type of specialty shipper that specializes in high-end items like valuable musical instruments, I would honestly be more uncomfortable shipping my guitars and amps via conventional carrier like UPS, Fedex, etc., than having a reputable moving company ship them with the furniture. With the movers, one at least has the chance to be there while they're being loaded in and out at both ends. If you packed them in boxes, as you'd have to do with any other carrier, that would be more protection than, let's say, most furniture gets. I'd insure them for full value, of course.

If I had anything really valuable and irreplaceable - '30s Martin Herringbone, early-mid 50s Strat or Tele, '50s Les Paul, etc. - I'd make room in my vehicle to ride with me, period. I have shipped clothes and other personal articles back home when I'd pick something up on a trip.

If I just had 15 guitars, 2 pedal steels, and 6 amps, they'd fit in the back of my Honda Element. Possibly even with the back seats just folded up, but certainly with the back seats out - in that case I'd just have the movers take the back seats. I've gotten around 30 guitars in there with the seats out. If you don't have anything that big, I imagine one can rent a pretty comfortable mini-van, SUV, or station wagon that would hold your cargo with the seats out.

Jeff Garden · From: Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA

The problem with driving a load of expensive guitars yourself is the paranoia and anxiety that sets in if you're overnight for several nights enroute. Do you "feel lucky", cover everything with blankets and leave it locked in your vehicle overnight in the parking lot? Do you decide to unload/load each night and cart everything back and forth to your hotel/motel room with everyone watching you - (everyone knows what's in a guitar case)? Are you ok with locking the room and heading out to a nearby restaurant for a quick meal?

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I used to live with that worry, especially on the three or four day drive to ND every year.

I'd wrestle with the pros and cons but always ended up using the hotel's luggage cart for all my guitars. Sad

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Samuel Phillippe · From: Douglas Michigan, USA

On the other hand.....my story......
Was moving from Connecticut to Michigan and facing your problem. Decided to pack up my guitars amps etc myself but ran out of room.
MY BEST BUDDY said Let me pack them up and drive them out when i come to see you......THAT WAS in 1966 and I still haven't seen or heard from him.
Now I take my chances of hauling them with me in the car, take them out When i stop for the night and only eat to go food, my wife sits and waits for me in the car.....

Sam

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Connecticut to Michigan? Give him a break - it's a long way.

Give him a bit more time. Smile

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

When I stop to eat on the road, I have to be able to see my car as I take each mouthful.

Crackerbarrel's isn't the finest dining but I can usually find a space in front of the restaurant; then I ask to be seated at the window.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Yes, one needs to be very careful taking guitars on the road. I cart anything valuable and easily 'liftable' (by a thief, that is) back and forth to the hotel. If I had some really valuable guitars with me, I'd either get food delivered or, if it was just one, take the guitar with me. I've done it. I also am a maniac about "just getting there". I have driven with a buddy straight from Nashville to the Northeast after a full day at a guitar show. Seriously, I view this type of trip as a "mission". I would also obsess about making sure the vehicle was in tip-top shape for a trip like this. Another argument for renting a mini-van, SUV, wagon, or something like that. If something goes wrong, they would have to send another vehicle.

Having to stay over would impact what route I take and where I would stay. I would avoid staying in urban areas like the plague.

If there's a shipping company that really specializes in stuff like high-end musical instruments, that would obviously be the best choice. I don't know any, but I imagine they exist. I'm sure it would not be cheap, but probably worth it for really high-end stuff.

David Ball · From: North Carolina High Country

For me, the bigger worry than theft from the car has been getting rear-ended in traffic.

Quite a few years ago, I hauled a load of vintage, very valuable banjos down from the DC area to Knoxville where a big museum banjo exhibit was going on. I made sure that the folks who's instruments I was hauling had good insurance. Any one of those banjos was worth more than my house. They assured me that it was OK. My car never left my sight, but it was still that collision factor that kept me worried. Everything came out OK, but I wouldn't want to do it again...

I'd probably vote for going with the moving company and packing all of the instruments myself.

Dave

Samuel Phillippe · From: Douglas Michigan, USA

Chris Templeton · From: The Green Mountain State

You'd probably be there when they are packing things in. I'd make a case and put it on the truck .
Got to be careful with parking at a motel/hotel in some cities like Albuquerque. A lot of Uhaul/moving van break-ins, so maybe bury it/them under things.
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Don R Brown · From: Rochester, New York, USA

What about renting a small enclosed trailer behind your own vehicle? What you listed should not require a cargo van.
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Many play better than I do. Nobody has more fun.

Samuel Phillippe · From: Douglas Michigan, USA

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

I would rent or build a large shipping box like an anvil case and put everything in it and have the movers deal with it. Like touring acts use.
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Bob

ajm · From: Los Angeles

Unless there was NO OTHER WAY I would take them myself.
Tow a trailer, rent a U-Haul van, whatever.
Get someone to go with you as another driver/lookout, which would allow you to drive straight through.

You say that this is the last move of this kind.
It's a one time deal.
Suck it up, find a way to do it, and ensure that when it's over you'll have your instruments forever after that.

I know a young lady that moved from L.A. to Denver back In February.
No instruments, but personal stuff like clothes, shoes, furniture, TV, jewelry, etc.
I don't know who the moving company was, she found them on line, but I don't believe it was one of the major ones.
She has pictures/video/a list of all of the items.
She has video of them loading up the big moving truck.

You know where this is going.
That was back in February and she still does not have her stuff.

At one point it was somewhere in storage in Las Vegas, but that's all I know.
I told her Dad that if we knew where it was we'd rent a truck of our own, go get the stuff, and drive it to Denver.
Problem is he can't nail down where it is exactly.

By the way, he is a retired very high ranking LEO.
So if HE doesn't have the connections to nail these guys, where would that leave any of us?

The bottom line is, once your guitar is gone, it's GONE, most likely forever.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Further to my overseas shipping experience, I must say that the only damage was my fault. I was a little too ambitious and packed too many framed pictures in one box. When the consignment reached my new UK address, I could hear some broken glass in that carton.

I had resigned myself to some loss (I'd heard of someone losing a camera and an expensive overcoat on a shipment to South Africa) but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd packed most things with great care (just not those pictures!) and although the shippers came prepared to pack everything for me, it wasn't necessary.

The outward trip - Naples to NY, container ship to Harwich on Britain's east coast, and delivery to Pinner, Middx - cost me $3300. The US shippers work in tandem with a British counterpart, John Mason's. For the return trip seven months later, I called Mason's again but they had a different US partner. I was amazed that the UK-US trip (door to door) only cost a total of $2100!!!

As for the thought of vintage Martins adrift on the salty tide, well, I had to put it out of my mind. All was well, though. The prices, although they varied, were reasonable when you consider that they see everything through customs at either end.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

What about a POD? (They're large wooden shipping containers, maybe 8-12 cubic yards.) They deliver an empty pod to your house, you fill and pack it yourself, and then they come pick it up & deliver it for you. I don't know much about them, but a lot of people in my area have used them for moving stuff to a new home.

John Brabant · From: Calais, VT, USA

Howard, if you haven't done so already, you may be able to hire my son Chris to drive the stuff down. You could rent a vehicle and he could either drive it down solo or you could ride shotgun. You would need to compensate him and fly him back to Burlington, VT. Let me know if this is of interest to you and I will inquire of him. You can PM me and I will give you my and Chris' contact info.

All the best.
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John Brabant
1978 Emmons D-10 P-P

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