Shipping large item to London


Hi, I need to ship a vintage Fender Rhodes (~ 2' x 2' x 4', 130 lbs) to my nephew in London.  I thought people who had shipped large speakers or amps might have some useful suggestions!  Thanks very much, KB

kb54

Standard would be custom crated with different durometer or whatever of packing foam, palletized and air-freighted. You don't want to buy the full-custom road case for this thing. Cool instrument. Maybe talk to some brokers or some are on here?

It might be cheaper to sell it here and send your nephew the funds to buy one in London.

@dill 

I  have to send him this one- it was his father's and I've been saving it for him!

Understood, I agree with whart on having it crated. If cost is no object air freight is the way to go, otherwise it's the slow boat to London. I would contact FedEx to start.

search "freight forwarders".  they can take care of what you need from the pick up to the crating to the delivery.

Part of the trick is how it is packed. We went through this on our move from NY to Tx. There was a specialty packing company that came and had a whole selection of different foams-- with different "springiness" (what I referred to as durometer). They took measurements, evaluated the stuff to be crated- including the horns on my Avantgarde Duos. When they came back with the crates and packing, this was like custom level stuff. It was not cheap but everything they handled arrived unscathed. 

So, in addition to freight brokers, etc. (I had a friend who palletized his cars to ship all over the world for events- back then it was "relatively" cheap), you gotta look at the packing. Once packed properly and palletized, you are pretty safe--

Never used craters and freighters- they aren't particularly cheap either. The company I used was a third party vendor to moving companies. 

And obviously you aren't commissioning a flight just to take the Rhodes- it will tag a long with other stuff. 

Good luck- I think some research here will pay off.

Thank you very much for all the responses!  I will follow up on your suggestions.  Thanks again, KB