Ship guitar from USA to UK?

Subject: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 07:10 AM

I'm thinking about buying a guitar in the USA, and I'm open to suggestions as to the best way to get it shipped at a sensible price to the UK. Of course bloody UK customs will want their slice too.

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 07:37 AM

Private sale or from a dealer?

I've imported three Martins from a dealer, no problems, he shipped via FedEx (although he nowadays uses UPS). Important to make sure that suitable insurance is in place. Customs will want c. 24% of the declared value plus shipping costs.

I don't recall the shipping costs on the guitars (they were ten, seven, and five years ago) but I think it was in a range $200 - $250 incl. insurance, depending on the declared value.

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 08:51 AM

Ebay. And of course you are right about other things.

Over here in Blighty we have a website called "Parcel2Go" that finds the best price for parcels and it is amazing how cheap some of the deals are. Maybe US has similar. I've had good deals in the past off UPS and DHL - but not always. I've posted cheaply to Canada - but the customs people thought the guitar pickups were bombs and dismantled them. I had a guitar shipped by Houston Brass in the USA to me but that was expensive (and the guitar was total horsepoo that cost me £500 to get made playable). And there were some people in Miami who used to ship me Elixir strings for a total price including delivery that was less than the wholesale price in the UK - what could they have been up to (grin)?

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 09:30 AM

Richard - you may be probably already aware;
but it needs to be mentioned that the new rigid CITES Rosewood Trade Regulations
are a complete bastard for international guitar selling & buying...

Private international 2nd hand sales will not be exempt, unless age of guitar can be proven earlier than new regulations were implemented.
[I'm not too sure of exact law on this point...???]

Yet another bloody complication to argue with jobsworth customs officials...!!!

At least worth googling, even if you plan to ignore it all and hope for luck...???

Some major guitar brands are now completely abandoning rosewood from manufacturing.

Plenty of online guides provided by internet guitar shops..

eg.. https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/blog/2017/05/19/a-guide-to-the-cites-law-on-rosewood-guitars/

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 10:20 AM

The guitar is about 1967

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 10:30 AM

I know nothing about guitars but I've stopped buying CDs from US. I used to get some from CDBaby but the last one the Customs, as was said, take the cost of postage into account which brought its cost over the VAT level, then the PO charged me for collecting the said fees. All in all it doubled the cost of the CD. Or it would have. Our postie just ignored all this as I was out and just put it through the door!
RtS

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: GUEST,rewster
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 12:02 PM

I bought a book from the USA and customs charged more duty than I'd paid for it.
My mate who has a guitar shop reckons you don't save anything, plus you can't try before you buy...

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 12:25 PM

yes but its a bigger place - they've got more guitars to choose from.

i got a bass guitar -with duties and postage it only came to about seventy quid.

there wasn't one like it in England.

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 12:46 PM

Up to about a decade ago, buying guitars on ebay from USA worked out much cheaper, even after extortionate courier charges, and customs / Vat / post office impositions...

..but that was when the quid still had much higher value in relation to the dollar,
and before shipping charges increased so much...

Also small items were more attractive, but then the spending limit was reduced by a few crucial quid.

Whoever's idea that was, it was just mean spirited...!!!

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 02:28 PM

I've given up on the idea. US readers, it is a Hagstrom H22 (Sammy) at about the third of the price it would command in say Germany. You may wish to snap it up!

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 05:14 PM

The crappy X-Rate has made a bit of a buggeration of buying guitars from the US. In 2007, when we had a rate of £1 = $2, and with a 40% discount off List offered by the US dealer, I saved around a grand on an OM-28 Marquis, even after Duty and VAT.

The pound going through the floor is another thing the BrexShitters didn't mention during their campaign of deceit in 2016.

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 06 Sep 17 - 07:13 AM

Fedex is very good, they collected and delivered a banjo I was selling, from Bradford to New York in 3 days, I don't know how much it cost as the recipient paid for the delivery.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 06 Sep 17 - 08:35 AM

By the time you pay all the hand outs associated with importing a guitar from trump land, you may as well get a cheap flight out there and choose your own.

Perhaps take a plywood cutout with you in a case, then replace it with your Martin to bring back - so you just went for a short holiday and played at a couple of folk clubs!!!!!

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 06 Sep 17 - 12:11 PM

True nowadays, Bonzo, but it wasn't always like that. And, of course, if UK retailers gave the same kind of discounts as US dealers, there would be no reason to buy from the US at all.

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: GUEST,rewster
Date: 06 Sep 17 - 02:37 PM

Don't try Bonzo's trick - US customs can trace the guitar no problem

Subject: RE: Ship guitar from USA to UK?
From: leeneia
Date: 07 Sep 17 - 11:13 AM

Richard has changed his mind about buying the guitar, but his question made me curious.

Here's a YouTube video of someone playing a Hagstrom H22. It is Swedish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO6tKSVLrqM