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Quick question... when shipping a piston tuba, would you keep the pistons IN the tuba, or REMOVE them first (and of course, wrap them well, and clearly label them 1, 2, 3, and 4).

I've never taken them out before, but the thought crossed my mind tonight.

I would leave the pistons in, but take out the springs.

AH! Heh, well that's a whole lot easier. Thanks!

bloke wrote:The manufacturers remove nothing for shipping. The springs protect the valve guides from banging against the bottoms of the guide slots.

Yeah, bloke is right. There is no reason to remove the pistons during shipping. If everything is packed as it should be it is a non-issue.

BRSousa wrote:

bloke wrote:The manufacturers remove nothing for shipping. The springs protect the valve guides from banging against the bottoms of the guide slots.

Yeah, bloke is right. There is no reason to remove the pistons during shipping. If everything is packed as it should be it is a non-issue.

I think the operative phrase is "if everything is packed as it should be". Manufacturers will pack correctly: the OP is not a manufacturer, and may not have the materials/knowledge to pack it equally safely.

And I shudder to contradict the esteemed Bloke, but I thought the button pads coming into contact with the valve caps determine how far a valve would descend into a cylinder. That's what we pay repairmen for, to align the ports.

Karl "who prefers rotors anyway" H.

Howdy!
I have a question: are you shipping with or without a case/gig bag? In every shipping/transportation instance that I've encountered has involved a case or gig bag(s). I've used my MTS hard case for shipping and domestic/international flights with my CC and when my F was shipped to me I had a gig bags ordered for both horns. Ferguson Music (hornguys.com) packed the horn inside of its bag and then inside the CC bag and THEN in the giant box with a lifetime supply of packing peanuts. In both instances I've NEVER had issues with the valves upon arrival. If it's still something that you're worried about (which is understandable) you could LIGHTLY tape down the valves. As long as your not compressing them as hard as you can and you use a tape with minimal adhesive you should be fine. You won't mess up the felts (if that's what's on it) enough to mess with the alignment and you're springs shouldn't be harmed (CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG). This is similar to the valve guard on the Altieri gig bags; a peer of mine owns one and his valves are in fine shape.

NOW...
In general, with regards to shipping, it's usually the bell you have to worry about. If your horn shifts the tiniest bit or the packaging takes any kind of serious blow, the bell can very easily crease. You can remedy the situation by:

a. Purchasing and filling the bell with the shipping balloons. They look like small small plastic pillows.
b. carving/making yourself a (styro)foam insert.
c. Inflating a beach ball inside the bell.
d. Stuffing in a few cheap pillows.

The idea is to fill the bell firmly so that if there is any kind of external blow the bell will have something to add resistance and transfer the energy. Ideally, the best rule of thumb for shipping is to acquire a box to allow 4-6 inches of clearance around the horn, surrounding the horn with an even layer of packing material (peanuts), fill the bell and tape the crap out of it. I do apologize for the lengthy side-tangent. Once I got started I couldn't stop! However, these are items that do need to be addressed.

Good luck!
-CT

Thanks for the great replies everyone!

I should have clarified up front though, I've shipped several tubas before, so I'd like to think I've got the process down pretty well. An added benefit this time around, I'm shipping a detachable bell tuba... so it'll be easier to totally wrap the crap out of everything and fit it in 2 slightly more reasonable-sized boxes.

It was just that the thought crossed my mind about the piston valves, and if that made any difference. I won't sweat it then...

Thanks!

bloke wrote:Shipping an instrument inside a hard case (even when the hard case is surrounded by a carton) is always more risky than shipping an instrument that is not inside a hard case.

Slightly mixed feelings on this. I always ship tubas bell up, with usually 5" of peanuts at the bottom, then a carboard buffer, then the case and horn. I also bubble wrap where I can in the case. Never had a problem; I almost dare UPS to screw 'em up!

Of course, some cases I trust more than others...

All that said, ship Greyhound.

J.c.S.

J.c. Sherman wrote:

bloke wrote:Shipping an instrument inside a hard case (even when the hard case is surrounded by a carton) is always more risky than shipping an instrument that is not inside a hard case.

Slightly mixed feelings on this. I always ship tubas bell up.....

Yeah.... but that doesn't mean the bell with stay up. Murphy pretty much says "A well-packaged tuba that falls off a conveyor belt will ALWAYS land with the bell-end down".

A thirty pound package dropped from a height of just a few feet will generate A LOT of inertia! Add another twenty pounds for the case and the energy that's gathered in a three foot free-fall is astronomical.

Back to pistons...I like to disassemble them and put them back together with the springs reversed to hold the pistons DOWN.

I'm sure someone will tell me that this does some horrible invisible evil to the innards - but it removes the possibility of most of the truly ugly and obvious things that can do wrong with the pistons held UP by the springs.

I routinely do this when travelling by air, or any other situation where I : a) have the time, and b) expect someone other than me to handle the package.