Looking to buy 2 octave chimes

[E Stern]

All,

My church is looking to buy a used 2-octave chime set in good condition that we can donate to our sister congregation abroad. Does anyone have any leads on where I should look, and how much we should expect to spend?

Relatedly, how do y'all typically fly with chimes? Carry-on? Checked?

-Libby S, Champaign IL

[Cynthia Erickson]

HI Libby,

I just transported a 3 octave set of chimes to Armenia, a donation from my church to a youth music program there. So I can tell you what I did and my experience with transporting the chimes.

I bought some luggage straps and used those to make sure that the cases stayed closed. Boy, was I glad I did that! One of the cases popped open along the way, and the strap held that case closed. Since I had to collect and recheck my luggage in Austria, I knew that the case was open by that point, and when I got to Armenia, it was open again there when I collected my luggage. (Yes, I did check the two cases of chimes. If you get missionary fares for your airline ticket, you can transport two pieces of luggage for free. I expect you need to work with a travel agent to get those fares. I almost always use a travel agent when I travel to Armenia.)

Take a photo of the chimes in the cases. Take a photo of you playing the chimes. Print these out and put a copy in each case. I also carried a copy of each photo. These do two things. If someone opens the cases to inspect them, they know you know and have proof of the case being full of chimes. And if someone opens the cases, they know what these funny looking things are used for. Or at least they get an idea.

The cases themselves had been stenciled years ago with the name of the church. So that was already on the outside of the cases. I also took along a couple of pieces of music so that if I had to, I could show how these strange looking metal objects created music. I took a solo piece as well as a couple of Armenian church music pieces. (Something that would be familiar to the Armenian customs agents.)

I also took a letter from my church stating that the chimes were being donated.

All but the stenciled cases, taking solo music, and donation letter were ideas that the generous people here on the L gave to me when I asked about traveling with chimes last spring.

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me.

Long time lurker,

Cynthia

Director, Bells of Galilee

Roseville MN

[Nancy Chase]

Wow, if you ever need a job, I need to hire you! That is unbelievable preplanning and organization!  Impressive. Ha ha ha.

---

From: handb...@googlegroups.com <handb...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cynthia Erickson <cynthia....@minnmicro.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 1, 2024 9:05:36 AM
To: Handbell-l <handb...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [HB-L] Re: Looking to buy 2 octave chimes

 

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