Shipping a Tuba with Amtrak/Packaging a Tuba

[Kpen]

Hey Tubenet! I was wondering if anyone had experience with shipping a horn with Amtrak? How was the experience and cost? On another note, How would you package a tuba for this kind of transportation. What is the safest way to pack a tuba for this kind of transport? Thanks!

[Ace]

I have used Amtrak only once, but it was a good experience. Shipped a Conn 52J from the huge Amtrak shipping warehouse in Oakland CA to a depot in New Jersey where the buyer picked it up and immediately drove it over to Alan Baer's place in New York for tweaking.
The head agent at Oakland favored musical instruments because his wife is a symphony player. He even gave me a, shhh, reduced rate of $95 for the cross country trip. I bought a large expensive triple layer cardboard carton stuffed with peanuts and air-filled plastic sacks, and the agent placed the package on its own pallet for easy moving.

Ace

[Donn]

Worked for me, with an absurdly large irregularly shaped home-made box for a small helicon. Of course that's part of the program: whoever the carrier may be, if it's a tuba in an inadequate box, you're asking for trouble (so inevitably, you're asking for trouble, because there's no reasonable box that's proof against everything possible, but it's a matter of degree.)

What I learned, is that you're utterly dependent on who's at the counter. There are policies about shipping packages, but we're talking about how they're applied in an unusual case. Will the rate be calculated on weight/volume equivalent, so you get soaked because the package is so big, or will they just weigh it? Will they take it at all, or say it's over their size limit? Call them up and find out; then call them up again, and see if you get the same story - probably won't. Your person at the counter doesn't have to be a musician or anything, just someone who knows the ropes and makes things work. See if you can wait for the supervisor to be available, who is probably that person, if things don't look like they're going well.

This was just one experience years ago, and things may be different now.

Once you get it past the counter, it's good, relative to other parcel carriers. At the time, that was how one of the local tuba repairmen preferred to send expensive tubas back to their homes.

[Daniel C. Oberloh]

Many, many times. No real issues. 50 lb limit is strictly enforced. Insurance is available and the staff are pretty good to deal with. It does not go into a few states but thats not been a big problem. The empire Builder goes to Chicago and the Costal Starlight heads all the way to southern Cal. Those two lines transfer to others that have enabled me to get most everywhere I need to but there are times it has not worked out or was not very convenient. I pack my stuff with care and so far have had no issues. I use freight companies when I have to and greyhound when convenient.

D.C. Oberloh
Oberloh Woodwind and Brass Works
Seattle Wa.

[Art Hovey]

Here's my suggestion for packaging if your tuba does not have a hard case:
http://galvanizedjazz.com/tuba/4sale/KingCrate.html

Amtrak is the best way to go IF stations are available in your location and also near the person you are shipping to.

Greyhound Package Express sometimes makes you wait way past the expected arrival date. One tuba took 45 days to get where it was going.