I just bought a bass off eBay and offered to help the seller with some pointers on shipping the instrument, and I figured others might find the information helpful as well. Keep in mind these pointers are based on my personal experience. I’m not dealer, but I’ve shipped my fair share of instruments and I’ve had the good fortune of never having one (that I packed) suffer damage. Unfortunately, I’ve had many poorly-packed instruments sent to me, each with its own battle scars. So without further ado:

How to Ship a Bass

Scenario #1) No Case

If you don’t have a hardcase for the instrument, double box it. Wrap the bass in a material that won’t chemically react with the instrument’s finish or physically mar it in any way (if all else fails, a trash bag will work). Place the bass within a box (we’ll call this the ‘internal’ box) with dimensions similar to that of an appropriate hardshell case. Place padding around the instrument so that it is snug within the internal box. Seal this box and give it a shake test. If the bass slides around, you need more padding. If the bass is snug,then place this ‘internal’ box within a box that is larger by about 2″ all sides. (Larger than 2″ is okay, you’ll just need more padding.) Place padding around the internal box until it is snug within the external box. Tape up your box, slap on the address label and you’re done.

Scenario #2) Gig Bagged

Follow same steps above except forget about wrapping the bass before you put it in the internal box. That’s what the gig bag is for.

Scenario #3) Hardshell Case

With a hardshell, there isn’t a need for an ‘internal box’ because that’s what the case is. So to start, check the bass’s fit within the hardshell case. If you can shake the case (while closed) and the bass doesn’t shift, you’re okay. If the bass is shifting within the case, figure out where it’s shifting and pad those areas to eliminate this movement. Once any internal movement has been eliminated, the ‘cased’ bass needs to go within the ‘external box’. As with the previous example, I like to have a few extra inches of padding between the case and external box. However, with the added weight of the hardshell case it is extremely important that the space between the case and the external box is jammed with as much padding as possible (bagged air, packing peanuts, styrofoam remnants, bubble wrap, newspaper, etc) so that the hardshell case can’t easily shift back and forth within the confines of the external box. Once you’ve got this padding in place, tape up the box and ship out.

Caveat #1) Do I HAVE to pad between the hardshell case and the external box?

Technically, no, you don’t HAVE to. But you should. I’ve had basses shipped where the external box was sized the same as the hardshell case; the case provided the only real padding and the box was there to keep the outside of the case from getting beat up. These basses arrived with no problems whatsoever. (In fact, a lot of manufacturers ship this way.) However, I think you’re just asking for trouble to send an instrument like this. All it would take is one well-placed blow to the box to go right through the single layer of cardboard and into your case (and potentially your bass depending on how hard and deep the impact is). I’d rather not leave it to chance and add that extra padding.

Caveat #2) Packing materials

Think about what material you’re using to pad your boxes and how much weight that material will add to the overall package and shipping cost. My favorite packing material is bagged air. Most manufacturers and online retailers use this stuff because it provides the most cushion with the smallest amount and weight of material. If I don’t have bagged air, packing peanuts are my next choice because of the light weight. I’ve had to use newspaper as a last resort before, but any type of paper packaging gets heavy if you actually do a good padding job.

Caveat #3) Tape

I prefer reinforced paper tape. It just holds better. If you don’t have paper tape, use shipping tape. If you don’t have shipping tape, use packing tape.

Caveat #4) Bass prep

The only thing you really need to do to a bass before shipping it is to put it in the case or gigbag. That’s it. Leave it tuned up. Detuning is not good for a traveling bass. Unless you’ve got some super fancy instrument that already has special care requirements of its own, just put the bass in the case and start packing.

Caveat #5) Choosing a Carrier

Avoid UPS like the plague. They break stuff. I’ve never had a problem with Fedex or USPS. My preference is USPS because they have more locations, they’re cheaper, and they tend not to deliver packages that embody the term ‘FUBAR.’ Your mileage may vary.