The only reason I mention shipping the horn and case separate is that I
have heard quite a few war stories about the flat-wood cases. If the case is
struck where the bell sits, apparently it can do some major damage to the
bell. It sounds like I will probably ship the horn in the case, but with a little
more padding in there too.
I don't know where you are shipping it, but Osmun has recommendations for packing and shipping instruments on his website.
www.osmun.com
Last time I shipped my instrument, I made sure it was in a new box with a minimum of 4" of peanuts on all sides, plus all spaces inside the case were filled with foam rubber or bubble wrap. All extraneous items were removed from the case or wrapped in bubblewrap and secured. I've had very good luck going to shipping stores like Parcel Plus and Mailboxes Etc (now the UPS Store?) and giving them the bucks to pack it right (and take some responsibility.)
I did a Google searches on "shipping an instrument" and "shipping your horn" and found the following sites with recommendations for packing.
http://www.hmtrad.com/instr/rep-ship.html (with a case so you can file a better claim with the carrier should damage occur)
However, I also saw sites that *did* recommend shipping instruments outside of cases. One said this was good for small instruments (purtle.com), one only works on the trumpet family (doctorvalve.com/), and one did not mention our instruments, just trumpets/trombones/tubas. (snhmusic.com/)
++++ I think we can all agree that our instruments are not small, and it scares me to think of shipping it without any kind of case to protect the bends and the bell.++++
When the repair folks get back from Bloomington (Osmun, BrassArts, Lawson, Pope, etc.), I think all would agree the instrument should be shipped in the case, but padding should be included both inside and outside the case.
Margaret
Margaret Dikel JCCSO Librarian / Horn 11218 Ashley Drive, Rockville MD 20852 301-881-0122 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
