Bass Trunk Rental
NEW - self-serve reservations!
Simply click the 'RESERVE NOW' button below
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Shipping a bass you purchased at QBC?
You're eligible for the Loyal Customer rate of $75 for trunk rental! Let us know when you call/email your rental reservation, or we will give you the discount code to book the trunk rental online. |
TONS O' DETAILED INFORMATION:
NB: though imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and gee, we do like to be flattered (blush), it has been brought to QBC's attention that another site is using a directly copy/pasted selection of our researched (and copyrighted) info from this page. Keepin' it classy. QBC's broad knowledge base and (actual, direct) experience are among the many reasons our clientele chooses us. If we use information from other sources, we'll include references and give credit. - Standard fiberglass bass trunk rents for $120/week ($75/week for a bass from QBC) - Customer pays shipping charges: COD when picking up at your destination - pre-paid when returning to us. - You must have your own Air Cargo account number to ship the trunk anywhere but back to us. - We can ship through Southwest Air Cargo, Alaska Air Cargo, or Greyhound Package Express. Average costs are about $350 each way. Must be picked up at the cargo terminal in the destination city. We regret that we can not ship by rail (we've tried) due to the lack of Amtrak's required type of cargo loading facility at its Houston depot. - Airport pick-up or delivery of your bass or the rental trunk starts at $50 each way. - Airlines are notoriously capricious about allowing basses as checked baggage although they are now legally required to take them (AFM members can read the document here), but anecdotally, our trunks have never been denied on board. We strongly recommend calling the airline in advance, adding the bass as oversize baggage to your reservation, specifying it is a musical instrument, and paying the oversize fee in advance. Look up, print out and carry with you a copy of your airline's baggage policy demonstrating the bass is allowed. In this instance, you are less likely to be denied or charged an enormous fee at the ticket counter. When you approach the counter, tow the trunk in a low, horizontal position and lay it on the floor. Prepare to be extremely polite in all circumstances. We deliberately leave baggage stickers on our trunk showing its weight, destinations and frequent travel dates, likely showing your chosen airline has carried it before. Our friends have also had success by engaging a baggage porter at the curb to take the bass directly to baggage check instead of the ticket counter. - Trunk fits in virtually any mid-size SUV and up. It does not fit in the front seat of a Volvo sedan (we tried). - At your travel destination, request a minivan taxi. They are often the most common size taxi seen, and we have never heard of anyone having trouble obtaining one. - Not recommended: using airport shuttle van. The bass trunk often will not fit in the cargo door on top of the passenger seats. - Most basses will fit in our trunk inside their soft gig bags. In the event you are concerned about weight, we recommend packing your gig bag inside a large duffel as an extra bag. - Most damage to basses in transit is caused by TSA, not baggage handlers. As you know, TSA answers to no one: not the passengers or the airlines, and are famously ignorant of how to repack something they just unpacked for inspection. We recommend including packing instructions, with your phone number to call if there are any questions, in the trunk conspicuously on top of your bass, along with a request to be allowed to do the repacking yourself after inspection is completed. - We have not yet had the opportunity to try, but welcome your feedback on: motion-activated camera in the trunk to document TSA inspection, and use of the new product "Tile" to verify your bass is on board your aircraft. Theoretically, this should eliminate basses being left behind or mis-routed. - It is more likely for a bass to be damaged by impact when under string tension, as the neck and top are loaded with over 200 lbs. of pressure. It's a consideration for all string players to know how to reset their sound posts, and be able to take the safety measure of de-tuning their instruments for travel. |