Originally Posted by richardm123

I do not have guitars but I brought a modular synth (Buchla 200e) synth over as luggage when I moved to Canada a few years ago. It is very valuable ($25,000) so I paid the extra insurance and it was worth it.

Originally Posted by Deficient

(sorry, this is very long winded, the cliffsnotes of it is in bold)

My situation is that I am getting married to a Canadian in Canada this year and will be there for a month, before returning home to UK to complete my degree and do all the necessary for getting PR status. All being well I will hopefully be landing as a permanent resident in Canada late next year.

I have been contemplating how to move my possessions over. I don't have a huge amount of things and I reckon I can get feasibly get everything moved by way of excess baggage on my flight.

One issue is my guitars. I have two (one electric, one acoustic) and I have figured out that bringing them works out better than selling them and buying them again in Canada, even when the cost of buying hard cases for them for the flight is taken into account (the hard cases can be quite spendy). Additional baggage fees (with BA at least) are such that the 1st add'l bag is relatively cheap, but any further add'l bags are quite costly, which I don't mind too much, but I'm still keen to get the biggest bang for my buck, being a poor student.

Here's my rough calculation based on flying BA and paying their additional baggage fees for both guitars on the journey where I land as PR.

2x hard cases @ c£50 each = £100
2x add'l baggage fees one way @ £72 each = £144

Total = an awful lot of £££?? (£244 for the maths hounds )

And obviously I don't pay any import duty/tax as I am bringing them in as a landing PR.


Now my theory is this....

I buy one hard case for the acoustic (i.e. the larger guitar) and bring acoustic guitar with me on my earlier trip (the one this year where I am getting married) and leave the guitar in Canada, bring the empty case back to the UK and then on my PR landing trip take the electric guitar (suitably wrapped/cushioned inside the somewhat-too-big case).

Money wise that works out:

1x hard case @ £50
2x 1st add'l baggage fee (trip#1 return) @ £32 = £64
1x add'l baggage fee (trip#2 one way) @ £72

Total = not so much £££ (£186! or in other words a saving of almost £60)

Essentially the saving I make is on not having to buy a second guitar case that I'll never use for any other purpose. And I also have less stuff to stack precariously on a trolley and wheel around the airports on the second trip, as an additional benefit.


So the big question is this:

On my arrival on the first trip, are Canadian customs likely to accept that I am bringing my guitar for recreational use on the earlier trip and that I am "bringing it home to the UK with me" afterwards, and therefore not hit me for duty?

People take instruments on vacation for personal use all the time, right? And customs can't really know that I've left it behind once they've let me through with it?

Truth be told I don't even know how much tax/duty I would pay on the thing. I suspect less than £60 worth. The guitar is worth about £200. So either way, even if I get hit, I'm winning?

I am concerned because flying home with an empty guitar case might be a headscratcher but I don't encounter Canadian customs when leaving anyway? UK customs could ask questions and assume I bought the case in Canada but a UK receipt for the case would clear that up, and it's not over the value threshold for bringing stuff home anyway (my wedding ring is a bigger concern tbh, any suggestions for that btw?)

Maybe you guys can tell me if I am being ridiculous/taking a dumb risk for such a small saving, or missing something obvious that makes this whole scheme fall apart? This whole immigration thing is a spendy affair though, and any little savings I can make on this and that will hopefully add up.

Originally Posted by leggy969

Word of warning, don't try and fit your electric into your acoustic case by 'padding' it out.....my friend and lead guitarist in my band is a sound-engineer/road crew for the Happy Mondays and he did what you are intending.....and it failed miserably....broken headstock & damaged pick-ups to a vintage Gibson Les Paul.
Hence, they only made that mistake once!!

Hope this is helpful to you

Originally Posted by leggy969

Word of warning, don't try and fit your electric into your acoustic case by 'padding' it out.....my friend and lead guitarist in my band is a sound-engineer/road crew for the Happy Mondays and he did what you are intending.....and it failed miserably....broken headstock & damaged pick-ups to a vintage Gibson Les Paul.
Hence, they only made that mistake once!!

Originally Posted by Deficient

Oh wow. Noted.

As for Canadian Affair, they're not so handy for me since I'm from Edinburgh and destination is Montreal, but good shout anyway, I gather they're a moneysaver for other routes.

Originally Posted by Craig1987

As a les paul player, that's a punchable offense in my book.

Originally Posted by leggy969

Yeah I totally agree! Fortunately for my mate, he's a top notch sound engineer and knew the bands sound-mix inside out so he kept his job....though it cost him a whole sh#tload of beer during their States/Canada tour in 2008!!!!

Originally Posted by Craig1987

I can imagine. I suppose it could be chalked down to an accident... Les Pauls may be built "like a brick s***house" but they have their weak points... Most notably where the neck joins with the headstock, the heel and... just the neck in general... When you say the pickups were damaged, I'm guessing that means that the guitar itself was in pretty bad nick, or was it just some random event where the neck was broken and the pickups were damaged???

My best guess is that either the guitar was beat up, but the only significant damage was to the neck and the pickups... Or the neck broke due to poor support and possibly the pickups were banging off the top of the case, or maybe the pickup cavity was busted?

I'm curious, even though I hate to see a gibson getting damaged... It's like a car wreck you can't look away from. Sickening, but you still look...

Originally Posted by Londonuck

I see this has struck a cord with many people.



I'll get my coat

Originally Posted by Simon Legree

Maybe so but it isn't something to fret about !

Originally Posted by Londonuck

Let the punage begin!

Originally Posted by JandG

Oh dear...we're going to see a whole 'string' of guitar-related puns now!