# Road trips... car-top carriers for guitars?



## takk (Dec 26, 2006)

Hi everyone,

Newbie here looking for help with a guitar transportation issue. The van died and the rear cargo area of the new Mazda 3 Sport (sport=hatchback) turns out to be too small for carrying acoustic guitars in hard-shell cases. 

I know many would consider it blasphemy to even mention car roof and guitar in the same sentence, but the options are kinda limited. With four passengers (incl 2 tall guys), putting the guitars in the car is not going to work (at least not for a 14 -hour road trip from Halifax to Montreal!). I'm looking at Thule hard-shell roof-rack carriers but holy $$$!!! And I'm not sure the bigger ones are even big enough to carry a couple of guitars (why don't they just give the dimensions consistently on the websites?!). Does "big enough to carry two sets of golf clubs" mean it will fit at least one guitar? There are also a couple of soft-shell luggage bags that might work, but they aren't water-proof (just water-resistant). 

Does anyone have any experience, advice, suggestions? :confused-smiley-010 

Thanks!


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

I've had good luck with shipping by bus; pack them well and ship them to yourself with instructions to hold for pickup, and a phone number to contact you at. The bus guys tend to be a lot gentler handling things than freight carriers. Don't forget insurance, just in case. 

We have shipped christmas presents all over the country for years and never lost a package or had anything broken. I sent my Takamine from Saint John to Toronto a few years ago - no problems. I have even shipped spotlights (with lamps in!) by bus. 

Probably a lot safer and warmer than the roof of the car!


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