Shipping a Bass

[Kid Gurry]

I recently had an experience that I thought might be worth sharing with the TB community. I purchased a bass from fellow TB member The Jump Cat, who lives near Detroit. I live near Seattle. I contacted the fine folks at Hammond Ashley who not only provided me with a flight case to use for shipping, but they also arranged all the logistics for me--great people! At any rate, they sent the empty case to Detroit via Greyhound. Once there, Jump Cat and Mrs. Jump Cat spent considerable time and effort packing the bass into the case; straps, air bags, foam padding, the works! Unfortunately, when the bass arrived at Hammond Ashley, they found that the air bags had been deflated, foam not properly placed, etc. The result was the neck had broken loose from the body and there were pieces of the edges laying in the bottom of the case from where the bass had been rubbing against the inside of the hinge. I'm sure we'll never know who unpacked the case and re-packed it so carelessly. When it arrived in Seattle, there was TSA (Homeland Security) tape on the outside of the case, and a TSA inspection tag inside , but it also could have been Greyhound. The moral of the story is that in this situation, there is a period of time when your bass will be out of your control and at the mercy of a third party. So don't forget to get insurance! While the empty case was en route to Detroit, I added the bass to the personal property rider on my homeowner's insurance. It cost me about $15, and I've already received a check that will cover the repairs that will commence this week at Hammond Ashley.

[thejumpcat]

Having played that Swingmaster for the last 12 years, I was extremely disappointed when Kid Gurry emailed me with what had happened to it.

I'm not sure who to point the finger at (TSA, Greyhound?), but here's a suggestion for anyone shipping an instrument. It may sound like overkill, but if your insurance company isn't as understanding as the Kid's, it'll be worth it:

Videotape the shipping process. If I could do it over, I would begin rolling the tape in the Greyhound station with me playing it, followed by loosening the strings, removing the bridge and the soundpost, and then the entire "loading" of the bass in the trunk.

Make sure you capture the straps being tightened; making sure the endpin does not come into contact with the bottom of the trunk; that the neck is suspended; and that ALL the air bags have been inflated and properly placed around the instrument. Lastly, show the trunk being locked and turned over to the Greyhound clerk.

And make sure if you're the buyer, you've got it insured.

Have any other TBers run into anything like this?

I'm in the process of getting a new bass down in Cincy -- and I'll be making the drive myself to bring it back home.