Freighting/shipping a bass (plus everything else I own...

[basshead56]

Hi all,

While on a return visit to my native Ireland, my fiance did something very silly - bought me a coffin bass!

We were in Ireland for a month so she could finally meet my family, see where I come from and see the sights too as she's never been any further north than Australia.
Before I left Ireland, I'd been living with my parents for a year or so after uni, so all my clothes, cds, books, dvds, bits and pieces and of course... my gear were all in storage there.

So, I also had to make the call about which stuff I'd bin and what to keep (gear included).
My dad is quite pally with the logistics manager of a very large multinational food company, who kindly pointed him in the direction of the freighting company they sub-contract to, and also quoted him corporate rate too! yay!
Packed up the old clothes and personal effects easily enough. and my dad and I packed up all my gear (Marshall and Ampeg rigs, basses, pedal boards etc) - all in their road cases, plenty of bubble wrap and packing tape and more bubble wrap!

Anyway, while on a wee tour around Dublin, she (unbeknownst to me) found a bloke selling a very badass coffin bass and arranged to collect it from him at the train station on our way back to my parents' place! Needless to say, I was very impressed that she had pulled this off, delighted with the instrument (it's a big ugly bugger but sounds stunning!!!) but also a touch disheartened about the logistics involved in getting this back to New Zealand!!!

Now, i knew that getting the rest of the guitars and amps out was going to be hard, but had no idea how hard the double bass issue was going to be.
My old man has since figured it out - he's going to build a crate for it out of treated wood, pack the cr*p out of it and add it to the pile. Apparently this has all been sorted with the logistics company. They have arranged a total cost for all my music gear (subject to final weight) excluding fumigation at customs (here in NZ) from my parents house to my front door here in NZ.

Interesting, my parents were advised by the freighting company not bother freighting my other stuff - as 'Personal effects' is a customs nightmare and can slow the whole thing down with examination, paperwork etc, so they are just going to mail it in bulk.

While the price for freighting was great (for 8 basses, 2 gats, VBA rig in cases, Ampeg 4PRO + 610 rig, Marshall gat halfstack) and the reputation of the firm is excellent, I can't help feel equally as nervous as I am excited about finally having all of my gear in one spot for the first time in 5 years!

Now loads of you will ask why bother shipping it - simple - the availability and cost of this sort of gear down here totally makes it worthwhile - you just can't get it as easily and the price is ridiculous. Thus selling any of it means a greater return for me.

I will also insure the hell out of it.

Anyone done this before? General thoughts?
Cheers
Col

[malbass]

Sounds like you've got it all covered to be honest. My younger brother moved down to NZ a couple of years back, not so much of a musician but he's mad keen on bikes and had four of them to take with him. He had a similar arrangement with a shipping company, packed everything carefully into a giant cardboard box and sent it off. He reckoned because it was sitting on a pallet the package was so heavy that it could only really be moved slowly, avoiding the risk of stuff being thrown around carelessly. Took a while for it all to arrive but it got there in one piece with no issues.