Shipping Advice Please...

[Wendigo]

Hi all,

I'm guessing that some of you have experience shipping amps and guitars overseas. I'm moving to Canada from Germany next year and was wondering: what's the cheapest yet still reliable way to send a half-stack, two guitars with cases, a computer tower, and two large KEF stereo speakers? I looked at FedEx and it made me almost crap....literally 800€ or so just for the half-stack. Any ideas? Billy, you must have done this with your visits to England or something? We looked into a container but it only makes sense if you ship everything you own, as it costs about 15-20,000€ door to door, which we aren't doing. Help.

[bclaire]

Yikes.

I have bought stuff from the UK and shipping is now pretty much out of control compared to a few years ago.

I'm trying to think of something creative, but it's not coming this early before I've had my coffee...

The guitars: I'd try to have them as my carry-on if you're traveling with another person when you come over.

In all honesty, if you can't find a cheap way to ship, I'd sell the half stack cab and buy one when you get to Canada. Ditto the computer since they get obsolete quickly anyway.

I wonder if you could contact a moving company that does overseas and see if your stuff could tag-along with someone else who is moving there? Some way to just get it over there?

I'll ask at school - we have a lot of international students who bring their stuff over for the school year - I'll see what they do. (But to be fair, most of their families are pretty well off)

[Les Paul Lover]

My brother in law moved back to England from Germany and got a bunch of stuff (including his precious bicycle) sent back to England.

He did with marine shipping. Super slow. But reasonably cost economic, I think he paid around £300 for it all.

[Wendigo]

After much searching and thought, I'm just gonna sell all the stuff, except for the two best guitars and my computer (I built it myself and it's fully up to date and I always swap components for better ones....worth like 2500€). The marshall YJM is gone, a student will take the Dual Dark for a decent price, and the cabs will just go on Ebay. A shame, because i've narrowed down my gear over all the years to the stuff I like, but in the end, as long as i have the SG200 Yamaha i'm good. All the rest can be bought in Canada like you said Billy. Now to sell all my hifi crap, and everything else we have.

[bclaire]

It's a drag to have to sell stuff, but it's a bigger drag to try to ship stuff....

[Borderline Productions]

I have a couch that I have spent more moving it than it cost to buy it.

Tough choices.