Posted by reconsider putting stuff in your bell on May 28, 2001 at 07:28:58:
In Reply to: Newspaper in bell posted by Casey on May 27, 2001 at 18:31:26:
I know a guy who stuffed sweatshirts down his bell for a European tour. When he was going through customs in one of the European countries, the stuff in his bell made the customs officials suspicious that he might be hiding contraband inside his tuba....in a nutshell they basically destroyed his tuba trying to find contraband. The good news is they found nothing and let the guy go on his way; the bad news is the guy had a destroyed tuba and customs had no legal liability for it. I've always heard that when travelling overseas, it's best not to put anything in your bell for this reason.
I've travelled extensively and never had any problem with an empty bell. Just make sure the tuba is tight inside its case and not moving around.