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Since I now find myself with 2 G50s that will go out for alterations, I wanted to take a little more time with my box craft as it will be used several times.

Basic ingredients:
1 refrigerator box - single layer cardboard
2 4X8 2" foam boards
Various foam rubber blocking
1 roll gorilla tape
Razor knife & hot glue to reconstruct box

Box size 29X36X48 Greyhound limit - 29X47X82
est weight with tuba 50 lbs

I wanted the box to have more tensile strength, so I added the 2" foam board with notched sides - very little weight resulting in a much more rigid container. The bell wedge was made with leftover foam board. I did use the special foam board glue for corners, but the notched dovetail construction does the trick so well.

Normally when shipping, I run around town looking for old furniture on the side of the road as foam rubber is very expensive. I also have a good friend in the upholstery business - he turned me on to several pieces of high-grade white foam... the good stuff! The foam is put in place with Gorilla spray adhesive and Weldwood contact cement. Foam is easily cut with an electric knife.

The box size is totally customized to each instrument. I did notice after construction this box will fit most instruments. I take a large box, undo all seams and make new folds to fit my needs. I dimple the fold lines with something like a sharpy cap or blunt end of a knife. This makes folding easier and a better job. The new flaps are then assembled with loads of hot glue.

I left the inner chamber large enough to accommodate some bubble wrap around the tuba.

Hopefully, the box will be used several times - then I will have to find the room the store it.
Total cost: around $150 - I try not to add up or think too much when I'm doing stuff that gives me pleasure.

Tim's new CB50 & G50/York Bell & bugle shipping box

Wow, nice!

A few suggestions:
* Wrap the whole horn in bubble wrap before it goes in the box.
* Consider taking the valves springs out, and wrapping the tuba to keep them down.
* I like to put the warning stickers on the box in English and Spanish. Besides Fragile, include Do Not Stack, and arrows to tell which side is "Up".

It's actually very simple to move a tuba around and not destroy or damage it. Unfortunately, simple things are hard for people. Looks like you're doing a real nice job to mitigate the stupidity and lack of care by others. Good luck!

PS, shipping with Greyhound is pretty safe, but there are odd cases of things going lost. There is basically no insurance through Greyhound. I would suggest getting the tuba insured (Clarion) before it leaves the house, so if it gets lost, damaged, bus crashes (God forbid, I hope not!)... Your tuba would be covered.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Yes, I left room for bubble wrap. Plus, I have air pillows and a bunch of small beach balls (8-10 inch that will fill up space.
The goal is to not use peanuts!

Tim

The degradable peanuts (corn-based?) work just fine, and dissolve completely in water.

Don't ask me how they are made and how good/bad they still are... But it's easy to make them "go away."

All advice was taken and ready to ship.

Tuba wrapped in large bubble wrap.
Foam saddle allows tuba some spring action for hard bumps
Extra space filled with large air pillows - some small beach balls I was given at a recent beach theme gig.
Box marked with up arrows
Insurance secured

Total weight with tuba 67 lbs
Charge from Pensacola to Davenport Iowa $157.00 Greyhound

I love building stuff as much as I enjoy tuba playing.

Lee Stofer will do a complete break down on this instrument - tweak all joints, taper lead pipe, adjust some braces.
1915 York bugle/bell with G50 valve set.

That's sure to delight whoever receives that box. I'm sure many of us are right now thinking as I am of tubas we have received that were packed with so much less care.

I've thought about using foam board like that, as reinforcement panel lining, that I've seen the local big box stores selling as insulation - which I believe has been "extruded" polystyrene, as opposed to "expanded" - pink or blue - and I think I'd surface glue the box cardboard to the panels.

Nice! I use double walled Cardboard boxes from home Depot.
I buy 2 large boxes and insert one box into the other. Take them up together.
This creates a tall box that fits a tuba or sousaphone.

I second on Greyhound being a really good affordable choice. And yes, they do have insurance. But only up to $1000. But that's better than nothing I suppose.