🎸 How to Move Musical Instruments Without Breaking Them or Your Will to Live
Moving instruments sounds simple. Until you realize your trumpet case weighs more than your dog and your drum kit takes up more space than your actual bed. Welcome to the nightmare with strings attached—literally.
Here’s the raw truth: moving musical instruments is a pain. They’re fragile, oddly shaped, emotionally valuable, and somehow heavier than they look. But don’t worry. We’re here to help you survive the chaos—one back-breaking box at a time.
💀 Step 1: Understand This Isn’t Just “Packing”
This isn’t packing. It’s preventing heartbreak. Instruments aren’t IKEA furniture—they don’t forgive mistakes. One wrong bump and your guitar turns into firewood with strings.
Treat every instrument like it cost $10,000, even if you bought it at a flea market next to a guy selling taxidermy owls. Respect it. Wrap it. Pray for it.
🎸 Step 2: Guitars, Basses & Other Stringed Time Bombs
- Loosen the strings: Tension = snapping. Snapping = screaming. You = broke.
- Hard case or nothing: If you don’t have a hard case, wrap it in enough padding to survive a fall down the stairs. Which may actually happen.
- No case? No excuses: Old hoodies, duct tape, a blanket from your childhood. Do what you must.
- Write “FRAGILE” big enough to guilt the movers: Bonus points if you add “I cry easily.”
🥁 Step 3: Drums – AKA, the Space-Hogging Overachievers
- Disassemble everything: Sticks, cymbals, stands, egos—break it all down.
- Use cases if you can afford them: If not, wrap every piece like it’s a newborn alien baby.
- Nest drums inside each other: Like Russian dolls, but louder and more judgmental.
- Label everything or cry later: If you don’t know where your floor tom legs are, neither will the universe.
🎻 Step 4: Violins, Violas & Orchestral Drama Queens
- Loosen strings and bow hair: Snap one and you’ll understand regret on a cellular level.
- Case = non-negotiable: Unless you want to explain to your kid why their violin sounds like a plastic spoon now.
- Don’t cram it next to boxes of detergent: You’d be surprised how many people do. Don’t be that person.
🎷 Step 5: Brass & Woodwinds – Compact but Vengeful
- Clean before moving: Not for the instrument—for your own dignity.
- Pack tightly in the case: If you hear it rattling, that’s the sound of incoming repair bills.
- Never stack: A clarinet under your toaster oven is a hate crime against music.
🔥 Step 6: General Survival Tips
- Bubble wrap is your best friend: Wrap it like you’re hiding contraband.
- Mark boxes like your sanity depends on it: Because it kind of does.
- Climate-controlled truck = extra cost, but worth it: You can replace a lamp. You can’t replace warped wood and crushed dreams.
- Leave nothing loose: Unless you enjoy the sound of chaos at every speed bump.
💸 Step 7: Money-Saving (That Doesn’t Involve Regret)
- Use your clothes for padding: Your t-shirts haven’t seen daylight since 2019 anyway.
- DIY with caution: If you don’t know what you’re doing, Google it—or just stop. YouTube is full of cautionary tales.
- Move the valuable stuff yourself: If it fits in your backseat, keep it there like a nervous pet.
- Beg your musician friends for cases: They’ll lend them. Musicians are broke, but generous.
🚚 Step 8: Moving Day – AKA, The Hunger Games
Load instruments last so they come out first. Keep them upright. Keep them safe. Keep them away from your cousin Jeff who dropped a blender last time and said “oops” like it was a hiccup.
Don’t let anyone balance anything on top of them. Especially not their vape collection or box of expired batteries.
🛠️ Step 9: After the Move – Reality Check
Unpack the instruments first. Let them sit for a day if possible. Don’t tune right away. Let them breathe. They’ve been through things. So have you. Go eat something. You look tired.
🤷♂️ Should You Hire Pros?
If the instrument is worth more than your car, yes. If it’s an heirloom, double yes. If you’re not built like a forklift, triple yes. Pros have cases, gear, insurance, and functioning spinal columns.
☠️ Final Words of Wisdom (Or Warning)
Moving instruments isn’t just about protecting gear—it’s about protecting your sanity. Take shortcuts and you’ll regret it. Do it right and you’ll still probably swear a lot, but at least your cello won’t be crying from inside a cracked case.
Want more brutally honest moving tips? Visit MovingHell.com—where we turn disasters into how-to guides, and rage into content.
Written by someone who once moved a drum set alone in the rain. Mistakes were made. Learn from them. — Moving Hell