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Save Shipping costs? Taking off neck?
- Thread starter bassrique
- Start date
If you want to save even more money on shipping, insure the bass that you remove the neck from and then claim the neck broke off en route
There is less risk of damage if you ship a bass disassembled.
As far as “additional insurance coverage” goes it’s hardly worth having IMO. The shipping companies have dozens of ways to get out of paying an insurance claim. And they’ll drag their feet hoping you’ll eventually give up if you ever do make a claim. They’ve been burned too many times by bogus damage claims in the past. Unfortunately, their response has been to behave in an equally bogus manner.
As far as “additional insurance coverage” goes it’s hardly worth having IMO. The shipping companies have dozens of ways to get out of paying an insurance claim. And they’ll drag their feet hoping you’ll eventually give up if you ever do make a claim. They’ve been burned too many times by bogus damage claims in the past. Unfortunately, their response has been to behave in an equally bogus manner.
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Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,794
- Disclosures
- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
basses aren't really made to be disassembled for shipping. Now you have to re-attach the neck, adjusts the truss rod, re-string it, re-set the intonation, etc. unless you're really good at this, you'll have to pay someone to do it thus negating the savings (if any) on shipping
I'm generally wary of strangers' ability to remove a neck without chipping an edge in the neck pocket, so I'd never suggest it just to save a few bucks.
The only time I’ve done this is when shipping internationally and the buyer requested it both times. To some countries, you can’t ship a bass in a case due to its length plus girth. I shipped a bass to Argentina in two shipments for a reasonable amount of money. The downside is what if only one arrives? You don’t have a bass, but the insurance reimbursement will be for a neck. So, I have done it in the past but I won’t going forward.
Fret work is hard (for me at least); the things you listed is easy.
I have a couple instruments with low action, but generally I like medium to medium/high action. Putting a bass back together with low action can be a bit of a chore, so I see what you mean.
Another thumbs up for PirateShip. I use it all the time. Small stuff goes USPS; big stuff goes UPS. A few weeks ago, I sent a neck to a shop for some repair. For the return trip I was able to create a label with the shop as the sender and scheduled a UPS pickup for only $4. Total cost including $1400 insurance was under $23..... all done on line through PirateShip. Just this week I had a strange occurrence.... I always drop off my USPS packages at the P.O. 2 miles from my house. I was dinged an extra $5.23 after the fact because the P.O.s zip code, different from my own, placed the shipment into a different zone. I checked my history and found no other combo of zip codes that I have sent resulted in a zone discrepancy, according to the USPS Zone Chart. Something to check on future shipments.
As far as disassembly.... it's tempting, but I've only sent 1 that way ... to Australia, where declaring the packages as "Parts" has less Customs charges. In general, I avoid taking necks off. It always seems to take some time for things to settle back in after reassembly.
As far as disassembly.... it's tempting, but I've only sent 1 that way ... to Australia, where declaring the packages as "Parts" has less Customs charges. In general, I avoid taking necks off. It always seems to take some time for things to settle back in after reassembly.
Law or no, this is my preferred way to ship. I’ve sent a few in Fender bass shipping boxes I snagged from GC, but absent such a box I won’t ship a bass not in an HSC. Given what is happening in the world of shipping services these days, shipping a bass worth a couple G (or more) and buying a $200 case to ensure it’s safe arrival seems like a complete no brainer.
Seriously? This isn’t rocket science. Those are all very basic skills any bass player should already know how to do - or learn how to do if they don’t.
FWIW, I’ve received a few basses that shipped disassembled and the amount of adjustment needed after reattaching the neck was minimal. No more than was required when shifting from one brand of strings to another.
Lowering the risk of damage is the big attraction for me. There can potentially be a ton of leverage on the neck if the bass is mishandled during shipping, especially if shipped without a case. Taking the neck off and shipping it in a packing tube removes almost any risk of damage to the neck.
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,794
- Disclosures
- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
Good for you! Unfortunately for a lot of people who are perhaps younger and less experienced, or maybe do not access to the proper tools, or maybe live in an apartment with roommates, re-assembling their instrument is not an option.
Not good for me. More like good for any bass player.
Information and instruction on how to do a setup is readily available for anyone who takes a few minutes to look. The instructions which I’ve linked to will spare anyone the trouble of searching for themselves. And it’s simple enough for a junior high student to follow without difficulty. I once walked a young teen through how to do a bass setup over the phone. It’s really is that easy. And they nailed it.
As far as tools go, reattaching a bolt-on neck only requires a common screwdriver. And all that’s needed for a setup is a tuner, an inexpensive and appropriately sized allen key or truss road wrench, and maybe a 6” ruler with 1/32 markings on the first inch. All of the above can be purchased for under $20 new.
I don’t see where living in an apartment with roommates should be any impediment. (I’m assuming were talking about young adults here.) I shared a small apartment with non-musician roomates for a few years. It’s not like you’re going to be using power tools or routing out a body for a pickup. We’re talking old fashioned hand tools and know-how here. You can do a setup at 2:00 AM and not wake up your SO.
Temporarily commandeering a table or countertop covered with a bath towel - or even an ironing board or a space on a carpeted floor in a pinch - was all the work surface needed. And you don’t even need that much since all the setup adjustments you’ll be doing are done with the bass in your lap in a playing position anyway. Having a work surface is just a convenience, not a requirement. I’ve even performed a setup sitting in the back of a stationary car. And I’m no mechanical genius or guitar tech.
I’m not saying this to diss anybody or to toot my own horn. My whole point is that setups are no big deal to do, and easy enough for virtually anyone to accomplish. The first couple of setups might take a half hour or so if you’re new to it. But once you’ve got a few setups under your belt your subsequent setups likely won’t take more than 10 or 15 minutes to perform. And the difference in playability will be immediately noticeable. And once you’ve got one really good setup done, the later ones will require little more than minor tweaks to bring them back to ideal spec.
If you don’t want to do your own maintenance that’s fine provided you don’t mind spending (depending on where you are) $80 and up each time you need it done. Which at a minimum is roughly twice per year for most instruments. And ideally at least a quick check and possible tweak whenever you change your strings. But not wanting to do it because you don’t know how, or are afraid to do it isn’t a very good reason IMO.
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I just shipped a bass like this, mainly because I knew that the chances of the bass arriving without damage were much better if I packaged the neck and body as separate items.
First, however, I cleared it with the buyer to make sure that they were totally OK with that.
First, however, I cleared it with the buyer to make sure that they were totally OK with that.
I shipped a bass in 2 separate boxes.
I did this because of horror stories of smashed basses I had been reading and seeing on here....The bass I shipped was irreplaceable .
