Getting an upright bass from America to Tokyo

3 comments

1. Call your airline. You can check it in luggage but the requirements differ a bit between airlines and flights.

   We shipped our instruments by sea. Stage piano, violin, guitar, bass; all amazingly survived without damage. They were each wrapped in several layers of plastic, and in hard cases.

2. In the process of moving my cello to Japan from the U.S. The big question to ask yourself is, how expensive/meaningful is this instrument to me, and would it be better to sell it in the U.S. and buy in Japan? In my case, the cello’s worth the hassle. So here’s the hassle.

   1) Tune down the strings and take out the wedge. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, talk to your local instrument shop and tell them you’re traveling internationally with it. They’ll do it for you.
   2) When I went to UPS/FedEx, they quoted about $3000 and above to ship it. Without insurance it would have been about $1800.
   2) If you’re willing to take a chance on it being destroyed, you can check it.
   3) The safest option and one I’m currently pursuing is buying a plane ticket for it. Buying a one way ticket for the cello is cheaper than shipping it.

   Adding: No matter what option you take, if you don’t already have a hard case, get a hard case and pad it for travel.

   Also a good guide to check out: https://gregorybeaver.com/the-2017-guide-to-flying-with-a-cello-f27439d329ec

3. The costs when I looked into it were pretty prohibitive; are you moving long term or for a short stay? If it’s short term, a rental is likely going to be a better option for you.

   Airlines will let you check basses (used to be you could book a seat for it, those days are over though), but you’ll need a hard case for that. Strongly recommend removing the bridge and the sound post, there’s plenty of shops in Tokyo that’ll be able to pop them back in if you’re not handy with a sound post setter (which tbh how many of us are XD). Id start with your local shop to see if they have a hard case, some of them will do a long term rental on them instead of a sale.

   The other downside: having a hard case means you have to store a hard case, and if that’s not part of your apartment plan, you can also get in touch with freight companies to see if they can crate it for you. At the time that I was idly looking the costs were pretty similar, but there was a shortage of packing materials at the time that I have not personally checked up on in the meantime.

   Good luck! I lived in west Michigan as a kid and got to see Gary Karr’s bass in person at the Guarneri House after the airlines accidentally tore its neck off, but happily it was still a repairable fix so there’s only so wretched it can get XD

   Edit: right one last thought; every airline you will fly with has a musical instrument policy, and so does TSA. Print those documents out and bring them with you, and be prepared to be polite-but-firm about them. The FAA and the musicians union came to some agreements about this about a decade ago.

   Write instructions for how to properly pack and inspect your instrument, and be prepared for TSA to not let you touch, only observe and direct if they ask for your assistance.

   Also get a bow case and bring those as a carry on – I’m about to head into work so I can’t look it up, but I believe per the FAA and the musician unions agreement, the airline might be required to let you bring that as an additional carry on if you’re on an American airline and should prioritized putting it in steward storage before checking it, but it helps if you are outrageously nice to your flight attendants (which tbh is your best advice for traveling period)