Taking an Instrument Out of India: Flying With It, or Shipping It From Mumbai

Between October and the end of December we field more questions about getting an instrument out of the country than at any other time of year. Some of that is the festival and wedding season, some of it is people visiting family in India who want to take something home, and some of it is that overseas orders tend to cluster before the year closes.

The question is nearly always the same one. Should I carry it myself, or should you send it. There is no single right answer, but there is a sensible way to decide.

Carrying It Yourself

Assume the hold

Unless you have written confirmation otherwise, plan for the instrument to travel in the hold. A sitar in its case is not far off four feet long and will not go into an overhead locker on most aircraft. A tanpura is longer still. A tabla set is heavy rather than bulky. A harmonium is heavy, awkward and squarely a checked item.

Airline policy on musical instruments differs between carriers, and it changes. Some will sell a seat for an instrument, some will take it as oversize baggage, and some will refuse at the gate what the website appeared to allow. Ring the airline, get the answer by email, and carry that email with you. Do this before you book.

If it is going in the hold, it needs a hard case. A padded gig bag is for a car boot and a rehearsal room, not for a baggage belt. Match the case to the instrument before you fly rather than after you land, and if you are not certain what will fit, ask us before you buy one. Our cases are listed under accessories.

What to do to the instrument first

Slacken the strings, but do not remove them and do not go completely slack. On a sitar, take the playing strings and the sympathetic strings down by two or three tones each. That takes the load off the neck without letting the bridge lift, which is what happens when the tension goes altogether. A bridge that moves in transit takes the jawari with it, and jawari is bench work rather than something you fix at the other end.

Pegs are the other thing. A sitar that has lived in Mumbai air holds moisture in the wood, and a peg that is perfectly snug here can work loose within a week of arriving somewhere dry. Push each peg firmly home before packing, and expect to attend to them again at the other end.

For a tabla set, pack the drums so that nothing rests against the syahi on either one. The black is the part that does not forgive pressure. Keep the rings out of the case if they will sit against a face.

Nothing loose should travel inside the case. A spare set of strings in a pouch is fine. A tuning hammer rattling about next to a gourd is not.

Sending It Instead

For anyone not already at the airport this is the easier route, and for anything large or fragile it is usually the better one.

We ship worldwide from Mumbai, insured. The instrument is packed for freight rather than for a baggage handler, it is covered in transit, and you are not negotiating with a check-in counter at five in the morning.

Timing is the part people underestimate. Transit time depends on the destination and the service, so tell us the country and we will give you a realistic window rather than an optimistic one. Freight networks are busier from late October onwards, so a December arrival wants to be an October or early November conversation.

Within India, delivery runs seven to ten days for most products, and payment is by UPI, card, cash on delivery or EMI.

Wood, paperwork and what to ask before you order

Rules on protected timbers, rosewood among them, have changed more than once in recent years, and finished instruments are not treated the same way as raw timber. What applies depends on the instrument, the woods in it and the destination.

We would rather you asked us before ordering than found out at a customs desk. Tell us the destination and what you are considering, and we will tell you what woods are in the instrument, so that you can check the position with your own country’s authority before you commit.

The First Fortnight in a Drier Country

This is the part that catches people out, and the part we can speak about with some authority, because everything that leaves our bench leaves a humid coastal city.

An instrument kept in Mumbai will shed moisture when it reaches a dry winter, whether that is northern Europe, the Gulf, North India in January or anywhere with central heating, and wood shrinks slightly as it does. None of this is a fault and none of it is permanent, but the first fortnight needs a little attention.

On a sitar, expect the pegs to need resetting and the instrument to go out of tune more than it did here. Do not force a peg that has gone tight, and do not panic at one that has gone loose. Let the instrument sit in the room it will live in for a few days before judging it. Our notes on sitar maintenance cover pegs, strings and the tarafs, and what we do to an instrument before it leaves is set out on our sitar setup page.

On tabla, dry air is harder on the puddi than damp air is. Keep the drums out of direct heat, away from a radiator or a heater vent, and do not leave them in a car overnight in winter. The tabla FAQs go through this in more detail.

On a harmonium, the bellows leather and the gaskets notice the change first. One that develops a small hiss a month after arriving somewhere dry has usually not broken, it has dried slightly, and it is worth mentioning early rather than living with.

If Something Is Not Right After It Arrives

We cannot accept returns on international orders. Two-way freight on an instrument frequently costs more than the instrument, and we would rather be honest about that at the point of sale than discover it together afterwards.

What we do instead is stay with it. Send a photograph or a short video, or ring, and we will work through setup, tuning or a fault with you on the phone, on WhatsApp or on a video call. Much of what sounds alarming at the other end of the world turns out to be a peg, a bridge shifted by a millimetre, or a string seated wrongly, and all three are things you can be talked through. And we send parts where we can.

Where to Start

If you are still choosing, the sitar buying guide is the place to begin, and the sitars themselves are listed under stringed instruments. If you already own the instrument and the question is only how to move it, the maintenance notes cover what to check before and after.

If you would rather just ask, send a WhatsApp message or ring 98335 99433. Tell us the instrument, the destination and the date you need it there. The date is the part that decides everything else.