I’m moving to another continent and am trying to weigh the pros and cons of selling all my and buying it back on the other side, or dealing with shipping everything. Overall I’m trying to keep the move as minimal as possible - pretty much just bringing my clothes as checked baggage on a flight and shipping a few boxes of records.
Anyone been in this situation? I’m interested to hear experiences.
Chicago to Berlin. Weather should be relatively similar, at least
I should also mention I’m capable of switching power supplies over to the right voltages (not an engineer but have spent enough years fixing and building gear), so that’s not an issue for me.
If I had any precious or otherwise special vintage gear or such that I felt attached to, I’d store it somewhere or leave it to care of a reliable person back home. Everything else I would sell and then buy the equipment I needed in the new place.
I could see going either way. Shipping your stuff means you keep whatever gear you’re used to. But selling and buying on the other side allows you more flexibility (more cash when you need it, did you really need certain gear, etc.). Another option: Why not just pack / ship what you want right away, and sort out the other stuff as you go along? Is the move indefinite, or just for a few months? Either way - good luck with such a big move. It must be exciting to move to another country.
What gear? Unless it’s super rare I’d sell and re-buy. Berlin has a big used market obviously.
Wow, go you! There are some pretty amazing record shops in Berlin but I was SHOCKED at how much more expensive records were. (and clothing, I would ship clothing if I were you, because a pair of Levi’s over there will run you $100 USD)
On the other hand, groceries, food, and beer, are so, so, so much cheaper over there.
If I were a little less settled in my life at this point I would be quite jealous!
Be prepared to not be able to shop (even for groceries) on Sunday, it’s something that takes some getting used to.
I shipped my whole list of gear from Switzerland to Australia. Everything worked fine, just took about 2 - 3 months to arrive. If you are shipping anyway and the move is permanent go for it. Otherwise store it until you return. Really depends also on the gear you have.
Before I moved cross town, sold almost everything except my acoustic and it was liberating to start new. Keep the foundation and build from there.
Yeah, already been exposed to some of the cultural and financial differences from the US - some good, some bad! Overall, much better 
I don’t have any vintage gear anymore. I’d like to say I got tired of fixing it, but really I was just dumb and sold things when I shouldn’t have.
I guess mainly my concern is that I’m gonna sell things for cheaper than I can buy them back for in a new place. Gear seams generally more expensive in the EU, especially for US brands like DSI and Moog.
I bet in the end it all works out evenly - the difference between selling and buying again vs shipping things over will probably be relatively similar.
But yeah, looking forward to a fresh start. Might try wearing that fedora my friends would normally call me out on.
Fill up a van, go on a ship. Drive to new destination.
Hah, I haven’t owned a vehicle in 10yrs!
I am the “reliable person” taking care of my friend’s music production gear. He moved from Brazil to Europe and trusted me to take care of his dynaudio bm5 monitors along with an akai giant keyboard. Coincidence or not my Octatrack arrived in the same day. Can you imagine how happy I was???
Shipping stuff between the US and the EU can be surprisingly affordable if you’re willing to wait a bit longer. I’d check out the options, eapecially if we’re talking about US brands like DSI and Moog which tend to be a lot more expensive over here.
I’m in similar position, possible Hong Kong to london move. Everything is more expensive so I’m taking my stuff with me. The upside of the move is I won’t be so tempted to buy stuff and focus more on what I have. Which, admittedly, is more than enough.
I moved to Canada many years ago. Donated a lot of basic gear to a friend and kept a few special things to ship. With a decent shipping company, it should be as easy as packing the stuff well and waiting a few months for it to arrive - unless you want to pay a lot more, I think they wait for the right-sized space in a container to appear.
Good luck!
Unless you have some special strong attachment to the gear then id sell and buy again. Shipping can cost a lot of $ as well as stress having to wait for it and hoping it all arrives in one piece.
I had to move cross continent with a upright bass, sold it and bought a used one once I moved and it end up costing nothing. Just buy used and you should save up a lot of cash.