This is always a quandry and cause for churning guts.
Although you often see the handling of instruments by shippers presented as abuse, I don't think that's normally the cause of damage. The problem is that a long, thin, heavy AND delicate package is going to be a problem to handle in a world that's mostly dealing with Amazon.com boxes with 2 DVDs inside. That's not to say that there are no cases of outright intentional abuse, but I think in most case, I suspect the handers along the way don't give a damn about what's in the box as long as they don't have to carry it too far.
Shipping insurance is also a bit of a problem. Just like theft insurance, the issue here is valuation of the instrument. If you think your bass is worth $12,000, the shipper will (probably, more below) be happy to sell you that amount of insurance, but in the event that there are damages, the insurance adjuster may contest your valuation if you can't back it up with a recent formal appraisal. If you are taking delivery of a new bass that you just bought, the receipt is iron-clad proof, but if you've owned the instrument for years and are sending it for repair, or it is a used instrument, then you could easily be challenged on a claim. You might argue that the value of an instrument that you've owned for 8 years has increased, but, as has often been discussed here, the reality is that the market value of a used instrument is probably unchanged at best and a new instrument will only be worth a fraction of the original price. Although replacement value may have increased dramatically during the time you've owned your instrument, I don't think that helps your instrument's appraisal value much other that a small uplift in used prices.
So, if you go with the shipper's insurance, you may end up in the sad situation of having paid some nominal sum for insurance that wasn't worth anything. If you had an instrument that you thought was worth $5000 but ended up with a $2000 settlement, then you can end up with no Alembic and no ability to buy a new one (or a similar used one).
In the case of FedEx, there's actually a
specific limitation of a maximum of $500 declared valuation on guitars over 20 years old or with customization or personalization. Generally, this $500 limit applies for anything where there's an element of collectability, is not easily replaceable, or is hard to formally value. They have external insurance carriers that write insurance on stuff like this, or you need to find your own.
There's often some discussions here about musical instrument insurance from specialized agents. Although this will be much more expensive than shipper's insurance, you'll have much better chances of being made whole if there's a problem going this route. I don't have this kind of insurance, but it seems like posters who do have had good results. Shipper's insurance will be much more effective if you can get a formal appraisal of the condition and current valuation right before you send it. The cost of doing this should be peanuts compared to the value of these instruments.
Of course, the best thing is to not have damage in the first place. The key thing is to make sure that the instrument can't move around at all inside the case during shipping, which means extra foam padding or bubble wrap to immobilize it in the case. You need a really solid packing box (no small feat), not one that's torn, pieced together or otherwise lacking integrity. If you can find a box big enough (raid your local music store for a keyboard box) and you're handy, I think you could build a crate-like cage around the case with 1x4 and 1/4 plywood that would provide a pretty heavy level of protection without costing very much.
David Fung
