How NOT To Pack a Tuba!

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:51 pm

Here's a picture of the latest arrival. This one was proudly packed by Country Lane Antiques in Lowell, Indiana. Luckily, the Holton (Yamaha) YBB-321 arrived 'alive' with no bell damage. It already had some severe valve knuckle damage and I'm used to things arriving pretty smashed up because that's why most horns are sent to me.... to get 'em beat back into shape.

I'm seriously thinking about automatically charging and extra couple of hours for anything that arrives packed in these damned foam peanuts. It this particular case... the peanuts did absolutely no good, anyway. Just try to get a claim from FEDEX with a pack job like this! The case was just shoved into a box with NO clearance on two sides and the small voids were then filled with peanuts. There was no padding inside the case, either.

I HATE foam peanuts! (grumble, grumble, grumble).

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:54 pm

Disgusting...

I thought EVERYONE knew you need foam beer to go with the foam peanuts...

Kevin Hendrick · Post by **Kevin Hendrick** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:56 pm

windshieldbug wrote:Disgusting...

I thought EVERYONE knew you need foam beer to go with the foam peanuts...

Well, yeah -- it needs a "head" start!

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:18 pm

windshieldbug wrote:Disgusting...

I thought EVERYONE knew you need foam beer to go with the foam peanuts...

I could have used a beer after unpacking that mess. Damned peanuts all over the shop floor! (grumbling some more and muttering a few profanities under my breath)

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:30 pm

It took me several HOURS to pack the last two tubas I shipped.

Stefan · Post by **Stefan** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:15 pm

Yeah, I wasn't too happy when I had a brand new tuba shipped to me this past summer in peanuts. And this was from a very high profile company. Tuba was fine, but it was a real pain to deal with. If I needed to ship it back, this would have really upset me.

Stefan

bort · Post by **bort** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:20 pm

Wow... I'd never had a second thought about using styrofoam peanuts. I guess it's more of an annoyance for Dan, Joe, and other people who deal with this on a more regular basis. But the rest of us... sure it's a pain... but how often are we really sending/receiving tubas from our houses!

I guess you could also put *most* of the peanuts in a plastic trash bags before inserting into the box. That would cut down on a lot (but not all) of the mess.

knarfman · Post by **knarfman** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 7:14 pm

How about the experts here getting together and posting (maybe in "Tips") guidance on how TO pack a tuba? For example, I've certainly received some instruments in boxes where peanuts were used, and Osmun Music, in their instructions on how to ship instruments to them, say to use peanuts (and bubble wrap, although not the case). I bet most of us, even if we don't ship horns very often, might well need to do so occasionally, and (at least for an expensive horn) would pay (and work a little) to do it right.

Doug Elliott · Post by **Doug Elliott** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 10:43 pm

Peanuts provide ZERO protection from impacts. They compress all the way to nothing, very easily. Bubble wrap in its various forms remains a cushion during an impact because it can't compress all the way unless it bursts, which really doesn't happen if it's packed well.

Daniel C. Oberloh · Post by **Daniel C. Oberloh** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:02 pm

bloke wrote:Dan,

That WOULD be ONE thing (as they are wont to do) that we could try to get "progressives" to do for us:

OUTLAW Styrofoam packing peanuts.

Why not? They have been cleaning up after ''conservatives'' for decades.

Rick F · Post by **Rick F** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:47 am

knarfman wrote:How about the experts here getting together and posting (maybe in "Tips") guidance on how TO pack a tuba? For example, I've certainly received some instruments in boxes where peanuts were used, and Osmun Music, in their instructions on how to ship instruments to them, say to use peanuts (and bubble wrap, although not the case). I bet most of us, even if we don't ship horns very often, might well need to do so occasionally, and (at least for an expensive horn) would pay (and work a little) to do it right.

There was an excellent thread on how to pack a tuba for shipment written by Norm Pearson (tubaist with L.A. Phil) two years ago. I just found it, but the pictures are unfortunately gone. Too bad because it was very well done. The descriptions are still there though.

Packing a tuba for shipping
Note: Tuba is not in case when shipped

P.S. Dan, I can't believe anyone in the antique business would pack anything that poorly! Sheesh!

tbn.al · Post by **tbn.al** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:27 am

Several years ago I bought a VMI 3301 from Roger at WWBW when they had their clearout sale. The packing method was to fill the extra sturdy cardboard box halfway with liquid foam and place the tuba(wrapped in heavy plastic) on it before it had a chance to fully harden. Then the box was completely filled, hardened and shipped. If I ever need to ship it again the box(foam perfectly formed to the tuba) is in my attic. There was absolutely no way to hurt that tuba during shipment.

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:42 am

DP wrote:
MartyNeilan wrote:It took me several HOURS to pack the last two tubas I shipped.
was mine the third of the "last three"?

No, yours was packed BEFORE those two. Hence the several hours on those two.

(And yours was adequately packed, had it not been dropped from a very high distance and also crushed under abnormally heavy objects on top of it. Hence the bombproof packing on the next two.)

Donn · Post by **Donn** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:27 pm

MartyNeilan wrote:
DP wrote:
MartyNeilan wrote:It took me several HOURS to pack the last two tubas I shipped.
was mine the third of the "last three"?
No, yours was packed BEFORE those two.

According to my guess at the semantics of `third of the "last three"' (fortunately an unusual construct), that may be what it means. If you consider an ordered series "the last one", "the last two", "the last three", ..., the items are introduced in reverse order with respect to time. The third item to appear as the term is expanded, is the third from last (in time), not the last.

Hope that helps!

If you think "several hours" is a long time to spend on packing, try packing a helicon. I would have liked to have had a good sized roll of those packing pillows. I used everything I had laying around from instruments shipped to me, plus a roll of bubble wrap.

Plus internal cardboard structural compartments. That might work for other packing jobs - just a strip of cardboard a little wider than one of the dimensions of the box, fold it up into a narrow box, and make the extra width into flaps that you glue to the sides of the big box. I think that adds a lot of strength, to a big box whose sides can otherwise collapse pretty easily, and it takes up space that you might otherwise be tempted to fill with the forbidden packing peanuts. In practice ... my gluing technique was a little disappointing, but still I am fairly sure it would have held my weight on the big side of the box, right over the valves, without perceptible deflection.

TubeNet

How NOT To Pack a Tuba!

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