How To Properly Pack A Synthesizer Keyboard For Shipping

This video, via zibbybone, offers his take on how to properly pack a synthesizer keyboard for shipping.

Here’s what he has to say about the video:

A couple of years ago, I made a video on how to pack a 1U rack unit for shipping and had many requests to make a video showing how to pack a keyboard. So here you go. It’s pretty much common sense, but I am still surprised by the poor packing jobs on gear that I buy from individuals (and some businesses).

Cheesy background music by yours truly with a Roland Fantom X6 & Novation Bass Station 2.

If you’ve got your own tips on shipping synths and other electronic music gear, let us know in the comments!

22 thoughts on “How To Properly Pack A Synthesizer Keyboard For Shipping

    1. it might be common sense, but your assuming most people have that and that is just down right not true. plus next time someone sends a synth to you that is not shipped properly you send bitch them out and send them this video.

  1. A shipping pet peeve i have is when the item is not double-boxed, just sent in its original box with a label slapped on. Just seems lazy. Plus everyone can see what the package contains.

    1. Yeah, same here. I was surprised to receive my Tempest that way, and I’d ordered it directly from the Dave Smith Instruments website.

  2. I usually plaster a dozen or so stamps on my synths and shove them directly into the mailbox. It’s also easier to carry a MiniMoog on a bus when you can hold it by the power cord.

  3. I’ve received two keyboards that were not packed like this, and they both were mangled in shipping as a result.

    The first was a vintage Sequential Keyboard. When it arrived, half the voices would not play, so I had to ship it to Wine Country and spend several hundred getting it repaired.

    The second was a workstation keyboard that – no lie – got shipped UPS in a padded gig bag. The end caps got mangled, the mod wheel had to be replaced and the back of it got a big dent in it.

    In both cases, it was a pain working with the eBay seller to work out a fair resolution. The first guy just abandoned his eBay account!

  4. This plays out like a “what NOT to do” video. Several errors. 1: put some bubble wrap beneath the keys! 2: Use MORE bubble wrap! 3: NEVER use peanuts! Get yer lazy ass to Home Depot and buy a roll of bubble wrap. 3: Double box! I know it’s difficult to find boxes that fit large vintage synths. The answer is quite simple really. Go to a place that sells boxes (in the US Home Depot sells them for about $1 a piece or less). Buy a bunch of them. Cut the box to it’s one long piece and build the box around it with scissors and a box cutter for scoring for new folds. Then, box it again! 4: Peanuts are for the weak and novice! 5: When you are done with the bubble wrap, use more bubble wrap!

    1. I’ve shipped dozens of synths WORLDWIDE exactly how I describe in the video and none have ever arrived damaged. Two layers of bubble wrap and proper void fill have always been sufficient for my parcels. Look at the comments about my packing in my eBay feedback: z808

      If people want to use a ton of bubble wrap for shipping, that’s great. People should AT LEAST do what I show in this video. It’s not that hard

      1. Still seems inadvisable to bounce the box like that. Could un-seat a chip or something. Sure, maybe a UPS guy will do it anyways, but you don’t need to help him out 😉

  5. I get my wife to do that sort of thing, when it comes to rapping and packing she is an artist. I have even known her to bubble rap my electric tooth brush when we go away, can’t fault it.

  6. I once got a Casio CZ1000 (regular size 61 keys not a mini) off eBay. It came to me wrapped in about a half a dozen men’s shirts (!!) with a sheet of cardboard wrapped around it that was held on with a few wraps of duct tape. No damage and the shirts were actually in pretty good shape so I washed them and donated them. Who needs bubble-wrap when you’ve got 100% cotton!! LOL!

  7. Ive found that at least half of the synths I get shipped to me, where I dont control it, are not packaged well. Ive seen some messed up stuff and weird boxes. Ive shipped gear all over the world, but I always package very well and have very few problems. Its way better to be safe then to have to deal with the aftermath, but when your dealing with old keyboards there is always some dice roll involved.

  8. I received a Kurzweil K2000R (rack) in single box and with only that brow packing paper bunched up in similar fashion. It had cut the “bonus” HOSA midi cable (two core) directly in half. I received my ASR-10 packed properly, but the single box as beaten to shit, and it was left on it’s side in the rain. Note – never put your goods on top of anything you want to survive. 2: double boxing comes into its own in the second half of the trip.

  9. Great video! Thanks! Sorry about all the angry idiot commenters. Trolls and punks whose mommies didn’t pick them up when they cried or something. Probably still live with mommy and make shitty synthesizer music. Thanks again. I will buy from this guy anytime. Thanks for taking the time to make the video.

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