Best way and carrier to ship a Euphonium

[Markmc611]

I've shipped out a few trombones using floor lamp boxes (U-Haul), using USPS. What's a good way to ship a euphonium, and what's the target cost?

[ghmerrill]

There are a bunch of threads about shipping, various carriers, costs, and experiences on TubeNet. Most of these apply to shipping tubas which, purely because of their size, present a problem that other instruments generally don't. However, looking at those threads could provide you with a lot of insight -- including information about packing and things to beware of.

One thing you'll see is that the predominant view is that the best/safest/cheapest carrier is Greyhound. This doesn't provide you with door to door service -- since the item has to be taken to a Greyhound depot to be shipped, and then picked up at a Greyhound depot by the recipient. And there are a few unhappy stories about tubas languishing in a depot for some time. But overall the opinion is that Greyhound is the best way and instruments don't get abused or squashed. I know that when I ordered my Mack Brass euph it was shipped via Greyhound and I picked it up in Durham with no problems at all. I think the shipping cost for that was $50.

If you want to go that way, you might email Tom McGrady and ask him for any hints he could offer. He ships a lot of euphoniums.

If I needed to ship a euph and for some reason couldn't use Greyhound, I think I'd choose USPS and try to pack it in a box inside a box (with packing peanuts between them). But you also want to be sure that the horn isn't at all loose in it's case. For a tuba, it's fairly common to find a cheap toy ball that will just fit in the bell and cushion it against the end of the case. Then add some padding (foam or styrofoam or whatever) so the horn isn't shifting around inside the case at all.

[davewerden]

Gary's advice is great! Let me add one more thing I've been thinking about lately. I've had a lot of euphoniums shipped to me over the years and have observed the results of long-distance shipping/bouncing/carrying etc.

If I were to do this today with a euphonium, I would start with the steps above by using the horn's own hard case and putting something inside the bell to hold it away from the end of the case. I have used a plastic bag filled with packing material, stuffed full to the right degree to force the horn slightly away from the bell-end of the case. The bag should fit inside the bell so any pressure of a drop first is spread to the throat of the bell, which is very strong when the pressure is distributed this way. Then of course you would secure the horn inside the case with the case's straps or more padding if need be, and you would securely wrap/pad or remove any other loose pieces (i.e. mouthpieces, lyres, etc.).

And I would fit the case into a larger cardboard box. However, for this task I would not rely solely on packing peanuts. I would supplement their use with larger pieces like the pillow bags I find in all my Amazon orders or even crumpled newspaper. The idea is to make sure the hard case is not able to "settle" against the cardboard in shipping. Peanuts can be "shifty" - if you pack the case with 4" of clearance on each side, it can end up resting on the bottom after the peanuts have jiggled their way into different positions. I suppose you could use the stuffed-plastic-bag technique above on a larger scale to do this. Anyway, I would not want the horn to ever get too close to any of the 6 sides of the box.

You also want to make sure you find a box that is both large AND sturdy. Look for heavy-weight cardboard. The box should be taped or even stapled very well so the flaps can't shift around. I don't have an industrial stapler, so I just make sure to use 3M packing tape, to tape several strips across (perpendicular to) the flaps' seams, and to finish off with strips of tape along each seam as well. As you do this, just keep the mental image of how this box can be folded completely flat when empty. This should encourage you to do proper engineering with your packing tape!

[ghmerrill]

One other thing: Whatever you do, do NOT put loose packing peanuts in the case with the horn. I bought my old Amati oval euph via Ebay and it was shipped from Bulgaria. Ultimate delivery was by USPS. It came through just fine EXCEPT ...

The seller had put the horn (no case) in a box of loose packing peanuts. This protected the the horn adequately, but it took me several iterations, a trombone snake, and some water pressure to get all the peanuts out of the horn. You can imagine what a euphonium sounds like with one or two packing peanuts stuck somewhere in its tubing.

Dave's suggestion about packing pillows is excellent. Much better than peanuts in circumstances where it's possible to use the pillows.

[Garcky]

I once bought an Eb sousaphone on eBay. It actually had its original case, which was held together with duct tape. I talked to the seller on the phone, who lived about 200 miles from where I did. There was direct Greyhound service between the two cities, so I just had him put it on the next bus out. It went fine. He just shipped it in the case. No problems. I'd be much more concerned if there had been changes of buses on the trip. I met the bus at my end, and they let me take the case out of the bus myself. Good thing, because the bottom was falling out of the case. No damage at all to the horn.

[RickF]

When I got my M5050 from Tuba Exchange a little over a year ago, they shipped it UPS with it strapped to a pallet. They have an account so their prices for shipping are pretty good. I checked with UPS to see how much it would cost for me to ship a euphonium (total wt ~ 68#) that way. They quoted me $700. Yikes!

Tuba Exchange packed the horn very well in an over-sized box with plenty of room for extra packing material. First, the hard case is very well designed with a support to hold the top bow of the horn in place so the bell shouldn't strike the case.



Here are few pictures showing how it was packed. Note all the packing martial so the case does not come in contact
with walls of the box:







Norm Pearson, professional tubist, posted a very detailed description on how to pack a tuba (or euphonium) for shipment. He provides lots of pictures too. Here's a link:

Packing a tuba for shipping