Help with a Yamaha TRB 1006 6 String

Kennington

Hey, need some help from you guys on this,

Well Im going over to America for two weeks soon and have my eye on this Yamaha TRB 1006 priced a few of them at around $900. I was just wondering is there anyway to bring it home without gettin stung by customs?

Also has anyone seen this on a online guitar shop in EU (where I dont think it will get stung by customs?)

Pic of it below:

Doctor J

Nice, very nice. You might be able to breeze through without declaring it, just carry it through and whistle

Kennington

Ah i wouldnt say that would work! ........................................would it?

Zapp Brannigan

buy it, make it look old and used, hide it under loadsa suitcases and if asked say your bringing it home for a friend or something. thats what im doing come this november! wish me luck!!

Kennington

Good luck! What are you plannin to buy?

Zapp Brannigan

LTD Deluxe M-1000FM
http://www.espguitars.com/images/guitars/m1000_stblk.jpg

Doctor J

Getting a used and worn case might help

cormhag

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_artikel-176137.html but youll probably end up paying more this way. i dunno

sound_wave

just walk through with it and chance it i'd say, if anyone says anthing, make a break for it!

John

Doctor J wrote:

Getting a used and worn case might help

Buy some stickers and stick them on to your new case. Then rough the edges up with sandpaper and spill tea on some of the stickers. Maybe a splash of paint for that really worn look.

cormhag

i heard something about saying it is for repair or something. maybe find out about that?

Kennington

Also, anyone know of places where you can drop in your bass to get the action done and possibly the pickups changed? I think Music Maker do the action but not too sure about pickups

feylya

Derrick Nelson, contacts details in the resource thread.

mayordenis

"THIS???? this is a towel that i brought with me"
no more questions asked,
they're american after all.

Kennington

"Sorry sir is that a guitar your carrying??"

"Well ill tell you what it isnt - a bomb"

"oh very good sir! move on!"

Doctor J

Everything is cool until you return to shamrockland. Only then can you be charged import duty, that's when you'd be expected to declare it. A technique that has been claimed to be used before is to bring a cheap instrument to the states and declare it on the way out, then swap the good instrument for the return journey. If anyone asks, "Hey I declared this on the way out" etc. Don't know how successful this would be. If you choose to do this is up to you, TBH the tax hit on a €900 instrument isn't going to be that much.

clay

just walk through - how can they possibly prove that you bought it while you were over there...it could have been one you already owned over there, it could have been a gift. I don't know what airport you're flying back into but I've brought a guitar abroad with me 5 or 6 times in the last couple of years and I've never been challenged in Dublin airport anyway.

Kennington

Cheers guys! Good bit of info there, just in reply to Doctor J, how much would tax on a $900 bass be?

Doctor J

About €180

Zapp Brannigan

its 21% percent on their evaluation of it i believe.

Doctor J

It's 21% VAT on whatever the receipt says it cost plus about 4% import duty, if you don't have an Irish reciept or won't show the real receipt, I imagine they'd "evaluate" it alright.

Zapp Brannigan

****, im gonna have to be uberslick about the whole thing.
make it all antique!