Shipping a Djembe. How?

[fooddude]

I am eventually moving back to NYC from Cali. No way in heck I am leaving my beautiful Mali djembe in Cali, lol.

So, how would one ship it? It is a large 14"er. How much do you think it'll cost? What kinda box and how should I pack it? What shipping company; cheapest, best, etc.?

It is quite heavy.

Since I already started a S&H thread, I might as well ask a similar question ..same questions as above, but for an electric Guitar (Strat) & also an acoustic...?

Thanks... any help appreciated

[Carl]

If you have the cash, I would look around for a packaging and shipping company.

2 upsides

1) they know how to ship fragile things and they have the hardware to do it
2) you can get it insured to cover the "worst case"

If you can find one that specializes in musical instruments, all the better.

If money is an issue, then I would recommend UPS slow service (ground usually, but check with your local office to see what they have) At my previous job I did a lot of shipping. We used FedEx because they were faster in most cases, but if speed is not an issue UPS is a bit cheaper.

As far as packaging goes, protect the skin 1st and foremost. (I am assuming you are tuning it down for shipping) If you can get a metal plate to put over the skin that would be good (pizza pan works great) After that you should be worried about scratching damage to the shell I would put a padded pizza pan on the top, wrap the whole thing in a djembe bag if available, or cloth if not (towels are nice for this if you are moving lock-stock-and-barrel) then find a box to fit, moving stores and home depot have quite a selection.

As a general rule of thumb, when you are finished packaging, nothing should slide around inside the box, pad everything!

As to the guitar, if it comes with a hard case, find a box to fit and you should be OK. In both cases you should be able to have them labeled "musical instrument" or at the very least "fragile".

As to cost... who knows? prices were still going up the last time I checked 3 months ago... I would not be surprised at over $100 each for a cross country ship, possibly much more for the djembe if it is very heavy.

Hope this helps.

C