OK …i believe this is the 2nd time I’ve posted this info, but in lieu of the "My chanter has been damaged post,
I’ll do it again.
In the past, I’ve gotten a UPS packet that was essentially splinters…ZERO exaggeration.
I’ve shipped TONS of gear over the years. Recently, when shipping chantters, i go to my local ups packing store and buy THE HEAVIEST cardboard tube (whish is btw their largest. This tube’ll support me standing on it and I’m about 190lbs. I put the chanter in a small/tight fitting tube, and THEN pack it in the heavy large tube. I DON’T CARE about the cost. Anything, to forgo the filing the claim for damaged goods BS.
The last person I sent a chanter to (here to Eire/USPS Global priority i.e. FEDEX), told me it took him 10 minutes to get into the tube…PERFECT!
follow suite shippers, and you’ll have no probs. That is unless the shipper looses the package, and if that happens oh well…
I have also used, and seen used by others, PVC (Schedule 40 should suffice) tubing. Wrapping the chanter in bubble wrap for an easy sliding fit into the tube and sealing the ends with bubble wrap and several layers of packing tape has worked with UPS (about the worst of the lot), FedEx, USPS, and the Canadian Post. The weight is a bit more than cardboard, but the contents will survive.
I bought a flute a bit back from a C & F type and I literally had to saw the tube that it came in to get it out. It was awesome. Very cathartic… and I felt like I was opening a treasure chest…
there is no WORST when it comes to shippers. DHL might be good one time, and f*ck your chanter to pieces the next. My friend used to work for UPS and tells me they’d have contests to see who could throw a parcel the furthest. If it happens there, it happens everywhere (just heard some stories about USPS too). Whatever! Shipper beware! Pack your instrument like you’re putting it in a time capsule to be found in the year 3050. If the parcel gets lost, you were never meant to own it for long.
ps insure it (via musicians insurance, or through the carrier) so if you do loose it, it won’t be long before you own one again.'Tis a mercenary approach , but getting to crazy about it will do your head in, but good.
I’ve had bad experiences with all the common carriers. UPS, FedEX and DHL crush things. USPS loses things.
For an expensive instrument I’d recommend getting insurance with Clarion. It’s actually cheaper than the carrier’s crummy coverage.
I have had a problem with chanters shipped in a heavy PVC tube. The layers of tape at the end of the tube had been broken through by the hard edge of the pipe. The chanter had almost fallen out.
I’ve used the plain old Post Office for all my shipping. I’ve posted chanters 7 or 8 times, a few practice sets and recently my full set. I had one problem with a chanter when the brass air intake was cracked along the weld when it arrived - but in fairness, it might have been partly due to the light job I did of packing the chanter. When I sent my full set recently, I spent $25 on bubblewrap.