Flying with a guitar

[spdolan]

Hi Folks

 

I am sure this topic has been covered, but as the search function is still down, please humor me.

 

I am traveling to the Bahamas in February, and want to take a guitar with me. We are flying the dreaded Delta, and I am anxious to hear your horror stories and advice on the best way to go about this.

 

I have considered three things

 

1. Buying a Backpacker and carrying it on.

2. Buying a beater, padding the hell out of it and gate-loading it.

3. Buying a serious flight case for my Takamine, padding the living hell out of it, and gate-loading it.

 

Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

Dolan

[LaurentB]

I recently heard about someone having his guitar damaged even in a flightcase...

[Bilbo]

Buy a beater at your destination. That way it won't get lost as well as broken.

[spdolan]

bilbo

 

i thought of that as well, but im not sure of gc's in the bahamas

 

D

[guitarist21]

I've flown a couple of times with my guitars and I've learned a couple of things:

 

1) Anything can happen, so be prepared. If you don't have a flight case (molded to your guitar's shape is a must) you should try to buy one. If you can't, pad your case as best as possible. Make sure everything is properly humidified; prepare for really dry holding areas.

 

2) Anything can happen, so don't be terrified if it does. Your guitar will most likely get banged around a lot. It may get lost, therefore I almost never fly with a guitar I can't replace. If you must fly with the guitar (i.e. you're moving across the ocean or something) the most you can do is pad it as much as possible and hope for the best!

 

Airplanes are very hit-and-miss nowadays. Hope this helps!

 

Ellen

[Cldplytkmn]

six or eight months ago i flew to louisiana to see a buddy of mine... i needed to take my hummingbird for some photo work. I flew on two smaller jets and two larger ones all in all, and i gate checked it in its normal case (with the strings slack and the headstock completely supported) and had no trouble. On the smaller jets the guitar was the last thing to go into the holds and the first thing to come out (i watched) and on the larger jets the guitar was in the cabin where they put strollers and things like that... i had no problems at all and i wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

[Stackabones]

Two ideas:

 

Aria Sinsonido. I've got the nylon-string version and it plays very well. About as compact as you can get. When taken apart and put into its gigbag, its about a yard long by 10" wide by a couple of inches thick. (I also have a Backpacker Steel String. Don't like it that much and I probably need to get rid of it.)

 

or,

 

Visit a pawnshop down there, get a plywood cheapie, beat the heck out of it on the beach, and then pawn it before you go back! You'll have a much more interesting story if you do this.

[min7b5]

I

[Whalebot]

Sorry, couldn't resist. But I agree about the Backpacker, can't stand the suckers.

[Terry Allan Hall]

I've just (last week) invested a small fortune in a pair of Carlton cases for my Guild and Taylor...used to just buy a pair of 1/2 price tickets and strap 'em into the seats on each side of me, but the Dept. of Homeland Paranoia queered that deal!

 

Horror story du jour: In Nov. of 1976, I flew to France to play some European dates...not a single problem w/ carrying my guitar (a "Banner" J-45 that my grandfather had given me for my 13th b'day) onto the plane, but on the way back, it absolutely had to go into the luggage hold.

 

Being in a fairly new Harptone Deluxe case, I thought it would be OK, until I saw one of AA's "luggage gorillas" hurl the case to the conveyance belt, missing it entirely...the guitar crashed to the ground and when I opened the case, I found a lot of broken wood! (In spite of slacking the strings).

 

After several months of "back and forth" AA finally settled for $35, as it was an "old guitar", and that was what they decided it was worth...

 

Today, I fly ONLY if there's no other way around it!

[Bert]

Have you checked out the "Clam"? It suspends your factory case inside of a corrugated plastic (heavy duty material that the Post Office uses to carry stacks of letters) case that will hold up to the harshest of luggage gorillas. At your destination leave the Clam in your room and use your factory case to go to the gig. When I went to Hungary last year I carried my Rainsong WS-300 (12 string) in a Gator GPE-Dread case which is airline rated (and only cost me $119.00!!). On the trip over I checked it at the gate in Raleigh (small shuttle jet to Dulles) and carried it aboard the large jets to Frankfurt and Budapest. The stewardresses had no quams about me putting it into the coat/baby stroller/etc. closet. On the trip back I checked it with my baggage and when I got back to Raleigh the only damage to the case was where I had attached a luggage padlock to the locking tab and apparently a conveyor had caught it and jecked the locking hingepin apart. The lock was still there holding the locking tab to the case with its hasp. The Gator has recessed twist latches like Anvil, etc. wolden cases so it is quite secure. The padded leather handle is quite comfortable as there was a lot of walking in Hungary.....BD

[billie_morini]

I have flown with my Takamine in its factory hard case many times. Flights have been to/from Germany and US, as well as, across US. Once or twice, a non-guitar playing buddy of mine put it on a plane for me. With the hard case, the guitar is too large for the cabin so it has always gone in the baggage hole. There has never been damage to the guitar and very little scuffing on the case.

 

One time exiting Germany a security guy wanted me to play the guitar for him. It was not clear to me whether he wanted to make sure it was real or wanted to hear some music.

[Sweb]

Last time I took a guitar on a plane the damn thing crashed. This Saturday I'm flying up to Chicago and taking a guitar. I'm banking on the odds of lightning striking twice.

[Cldplytkmn]

if you take pliers in your guitar case like i did, make sure they're under 4 inches... i had to open the guitar going through security because i had some normal size needle nose pliers in there...

[Whalebot]

 

Originally posted by Sweb Last time I took a guitar on a plane the damn thing crashed. This Saturday I'm flying up to Chicago and taking a guitar. I'm banking on the odds of lightning striking twice.

 

The plane crashed? Jeez!

[Sweb]

 

Originally posted by Whalebot The plane crashed? Jeez!

 

 

Crash-landed. Everyone managed to get out mostly unharmed before the plane burned to a cinder - including my guitar, luggage and other gear. Crashed into the edge of a jungle so most of the injuries were from scampering through the sharp-edged jungle vegetation and falling into huge bomb-craters from WWII. Monsooning at the time. What a day. Could have been an episode on "Lost".

[keyshore]

Hi Dolan,

We seem to be in the same ship, i have just got a great deal for a Takamine EF400SC guitar from Music123, this will be carried by a friend of mine who travels from JFK to Mumbai(India) on 8th Dec along with his wife and a 6 year old child. As per airline rules he is entitled to carry as free baggage 2 suitcases each for the adult, 1 for the child,each case should have linear dimension(length+height+width) of not more than 62 inches and weight of 32 kgs. So he will carry a total of 5 case, my guitar will be the 6th case. For this he probably will have to pay excess baggage. If any of you have travelled this way, could you please tell me how much excess charge is collected for such a situtation?.

The EF400SC came with a Hardshell case, I was considering to buy a Gator moulded case. I called Kaman Music(Takamine Distributer) who told me that the original hardshell case is adequate for the travel in Aircraft hold, provided that the strings are loosened completely and the headstock is supported by newspapers or bubble wrap. Also you need to keep your fingers crossed and a lot of prayers!!

Regards,

Keyshore

[fastvfr]

I always use a regular case and gate check. I

[keyshore]

Hi,

What case do you use? Is it a moulded case or a hardshell? Also what guitar do you have?

Regards,

Keyshore