how to ship a digital piano

I'm interested in selling my Kawai MP9000 digital piano. This beast weights 40 kg when packaged with its original carton, and won't fit in most sedan.

My question is, how do i ship it?

I'm thinking of selling it on ebay, but wasn't sure how to deal with shipping this huge thing.

Thanks.

PS 40 Kilograms are about 90 American weight.

Xah
http://xahlee.org/PageTwo_dir/more.html

You don't say where you are located, but if you are selling on ebay, I assume you're in the US. So all you have to do it put it in the carton and call UPS for pickup. (Actually I'd drive it to a UPS station

You didn't save the box it came in, right? In the US you could call a piano carriage company. Most major moving companies would have a box that large as well as styrofoam peanuts to pack it in. For info in Europe, ask Christoff.

Any heavy keyboard I find can be packed fairly effectively and cheaply by :

1) Finding a box or building one that has at least 4' on each end for an inch or so of high density material like rubber or those corrigated corners or the like, and three inch of softer material like foam packed tightly. Also at least 3 inches all the way around. Use common sense to vary these parameters depending on the board, but for yours I'm guessing this would be close. 2) Take that cheap bedding foam, a long strip probably 8 inches wide. Or at least a bunch of 3 foot lengths that wide. Wrap them around and around EACH end of the keyboard. (So that, for instance, if the board had a joy stick the foam might actually cover it. Avoid this of course. Stick a thick cardboard surround around any such feature so it doesn't get broken!) At this point, looking at the keyboard from front view, it resembles a 'dumbbell'. Just tightly wind that foam until it is big enough to fit snugly in the box.

3) Tape it up and insure it. I guarantee that if it gets damaged in shipping, the box WILL show extensive damage and you will easily be able to collect insurance on it. But unless something extreme happens, it should be safe. In my experience, it's only been ones that were packed far less effectively than this which got damaged by the shipper. I got a farfisa a while back and the guy didn't notice only one loose screw was holding the chassis in. It shook around and caused lots of damage. But that wasn't ups's fault.

-Bob

6mm ply, a sufficient length of 2x1' lumber and some nails, knock it up to a box the right shape, and to all intents and purposes, once you've got your packing material (lots of soft materials in there, you're looking to isolate the piano from the box, i.e. lots of damping materials, don't use blocks, use sort of furniture foam, or even towels or blankets), you've a bomb proof box. I know that my hardcases are built less robustly than that...

You could always say something like, local sales encouraged due to shipping cost of this item.

Brian

If an overseas customer crops up with the money then get onto any shipping and handling company (usually local to a port) and ask for advice and even go visit them.

I've worked for a wildlife cameraman and most of the time before shipping out was spent going to these sort of people for specialist advice.