It is right an example transport a Theorbo from Italy to Japan using DHL. There was no physical damage on the instrument. http://kakitoshilute.blogspot.com/2011/03/theorbo-shipping-using-dhl.html
********************************************* Toshiaki Kakinami E-mail : tk...@orchid.plala.or.jp Blog : http://kakitoshilute.blogspot.com ********************************************* -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Philip Soren Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 11:50 AM To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] Lute: Air Travel Advice I am about to move to China for 18 months for business. This is entirely too much time to be without my Renaissance lute. After calling both airlines and both airports that I will use to leave the country, the procedure for taking a "guitar" seems to be: they might let you take it as a carry on item; if they don't, they will gate check it. (A gate check is where you go through TSA and normal security with the instrument in hand, then, at the time of boarding at the gate, hand it off to an attendant who then puts it somewhere in the belly of the plane with strollers and wheelchairs and such, then hands it back to you after disembarking.) I have never done this before. I'm quite scared, having read horror stories all over the internet about damaged guitars. However, 90% of those stories have to do with the instrument going through normal checked baggage, e.g., the carousel and the baggage handler monkeys. If I can gate check my instrument (after having tuned the strings down, plastic-bagged it inside the case, and tossed an oasis humidifier in), everything should be okay, right? In theory? I suppose my other option is to bundle it up and ship it to China. But not only is that in the $250+ price range, that will get handled by a LOT of different people. That scares me even more. What do you all think? Some people here I'm sure has had some experience with lute air travel. P.S. Buying another cross-Pacific ticket for my lute to sit next to me is completely out of the question, unfortunately. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
