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Moving overseas...need help deciding what to bring.

StudioGC

StudioGC

Sep 20, 2015
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London
#1
My wife's company has promoted her and the promotion means a move to London from the Washington D.C. area. Not sure what I'll do, but I'll figure it out. I once met and chatted with Ronnie Wood at Heathrow, so maybe I'll ring him up for a jam session. Ya right....

Ok, if your browsed the classifieds lately you may have seen a bunch of my gear for sale. I'm moving and need to get down to the minimum of gear. I'm bringing my Markbass Jeff Berlin combo. I'm going to give it a go on converting it to 240volt.

I thought for sure I was going to bring my 1974 Mustang bass and possibly a Squier beater P or J back up. But now I'm really digging my recently put together mutt bass which is a 11.3 pound 1976 Jazz bass. The weight scares me off a bit, but I have to say, it sounds so great I'm almost willing to deal with the weight and keep it. It's perfectly funky and cool and gives a great sound.

Anyway, decisions, decisions.

BTW, my wife's company is paying for a 40' shipping container to move stuff over, what should I load up on? Which bass would you take over?
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#7
I've moved over, and back again, and would underscore that if you're going to sell an old Fender, selling it in Europe will get you more money than in the US. If you have paperwork that shows you've owned it for more than 6 months before moving, it's a Good Thing, as there will be no questions asked about importing it as part of your personal effects (if UK rules are anything like France). You'd want to hold off on converting the Markbass until you're in the UK - the parts will be cheaper. My EBS Drome combo is a screwdriver-only AC volatge conversion to replace a toroidal transformer that cost me something like 30EUR shipped to France from Sweden.
 
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#8
Sid Fang said:
I've moved over, and back again, and would underscore that if you're going to sell an old Fender, selling it in Europe will get you more money than in the US. If you have paperwork that shows you've owned it for more than 6 months before moving, it's a Good Thing, as there will be no questions asked about importing it as part of your personal effects (if UK rules are anything like France). You'd want to hold off on converting the Markbass until you're in the UK - the parts will be cheaper. My EBS Drome combo is a screwdriver-only AC volatge conversion to replace a toroidal transformer that cost me something like 30EUR shipped to France from Sweden.
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Thanks Sid, good to know about the 6 month deal for importing.

From what I read about the Markbass conversion it should be pretty easy. I believe it's changing one of the jumpers over.
 
#10
eastcoasteddie said:
Take the Jazz. You can leave the Mustang with me for the time being....just over the Potomoc in Alexandria...I'll keep it safe. :thumbsup::D
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Ha! My neighbor just that about my Kona Mountain Bike too!

I was just reading what costs extra in the shipping of our household items and a cello is considered extra....guitars aren't mentioned. Phew....bummer for my wife though who's a cello player.
 
#12
StudioGC said:
Thanks Sid, good to know about the 6 month deal for importing.
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The rules may have changed in the ~7 years that I've been back stateside, and the UK is less bureaucratic than France, but be prepared to generate a ridiculous spreadsheet itemizing your household move down to the number of pairs of socks, with some nominal value - if not for US=>UK, you'll have to do it if you ever move back. As far as I know, there's no limit on the value of a duty-free household move, but because people do try to sneak the odd export in, they may ask how much of the total value is stuff less than 6 months old, and regardless they may ask you to sign a statement swearing that you won't sell any of your goods for some period like a year. Not that there's any way they can stop you from selling sooner, but if you do, you better hope you don't run into any other customs/immigration issues in the mean time.
 
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#19
Take both the Mustang and Jazz with you. But be sure to sell the Mustang there before you come back to the states. The rosewood fretboard on the Mustang could possibly cause a lot of grief with the U.S. Customs folks. Read the CITES sticky on TB before you go, may apply to the Cello as well.
 
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#20
As an experienced individual having moved back and forth between Europe and America 4 times, I recommend: sell off ALL your older furniture and bulkier items (especially lower value articles), and take ALL your gear with you. Like Sid Fang said, whatever you decide to eventually sell in the UK, you'll get anywhere between 25% and 40% higher price over here than in the US (save for 110v items).

The same holds true for the itemized list of goods, although they won't ask you about the number of articles of clothing...just a bulk value. But for all appliances you will have to write down serial numbers, model number and year of purchase (estimated is OK). Coming from the US, you may be better off selling all your appliances for cheap, and buying new ones in the UK (or store them in the US until you return...you can't use them here anyhow). I recommend against using step up-converters.

If you have a million questions that you want to ask, and not share with the whole forum, feel free to contact me via PM. I've done this several times, and I don't mind sharing my experience.
 
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