GUITAR FLIGHT CASES

Subject: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: Anne
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 09:38 PM

Hi All: I'll be travelling from CT to Tucson for the Tucson Folk Festival and am quite sur with the new restrictions on carry-on luggage, that I will not be able to put my guitar in the overhead as I usually do? I guess it's time to make an investment in a flight case. Any particular brand that you reccomend?

Thanks, Anne

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: DonMeixner
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:56 PM

Box it well and send it UPS/FEDEX ground traffic or buy the seatnext to you. Leo Kotke tells about his flight case and guitar getting bounced out of a widebody. The case looked good but the guitar inside wasn't usable for many months. He borrowd a friends Martin for the show and he was grateful but he said he missed his Bozo Guitar.

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: Bert
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 08:42 AM

I used to work for a company that made baggage handling equipment. They have this device euphemistically called a "PUSHER". It had large paddles which knock the bag off of the conveyor - "POW" - it goes flying in the air and hits a rubber curtain and drops onto the conveyor below.

So when you have packed you guitar just throw it out of a second floor window to see if you packed it good enough.

I would use a hard case that is well lined. Don't put anything else in the case, you don't want a capo bouncing around in there. Then pack the case in a heavy cardboard box (You will probably have to make your own) with plenty of bubble wrap or other padding.

If you don't feel confident enough to kick the bag downstairs then you haven't packed it properly.

Bert.

P.S. You could try to make prior arrangements to carry it on the plane. They will sometimes agree.

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:09 PM

Some of the airlines still have aboard some jets a hanging locker for foldovers. If you check in advance you can find out. If so, a good gig bag hangiing in with the suits is cheaper than buying another seat and absolutely nothing is worse than baggage handling on an airline. I'm always amazed when there is anything left for me to pick up!!!

catspaw

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: Bert
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:30 PM

The problem with baggage handling is the mechanics of it all. You have this conveyor hurtling along with a bag every four feet. The pusher has to select it's bag, push it onto the other conveyor, and get out of the way before the next bag arrives.
You can't slow the conveyors down, everyone complains enough about waiting for baggage as it is.
Imagine an airport with say 40 gates, planes arriving every few minutes. bags coming from the gates into a central "matrix" getting sorted onto the correct conveyor to get to either their connecting flight or the pick up.
It's a bloody miracle that ANY bags get to where they are supposed to.

Bert.

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 02:26 PM

In a "previous life" I averaged five flights to somewhere every week and to be truthful, never had a luggage problem. Most of the time though I was your typical business type with the requisite 2-suiter and attache case. I also got to spend a lot of time in airports and met a lot of airline folks. I'm sure he'd have gotten possibly fired for it, but I had a long association with a guy who gave me a grand tour of baggage at Hartsfield in Atlanta...one of my favorite airports. SIMPLY AMAZING!!! I was totally gassed, but at the same time I was very impressed with the flow, I was equally impressed with the possibility for serious damage. Of course I don't think any machine can match a baggage handler for sheer brutality!!!!!

catspaw

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: Jim Dalin
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 04:33 PM

Calton is the choice of many touring professionals. Take a look at Christine Lavin's web site at http://www.christinelavin.com/guitar_cases.html for a thorough treatment of the subject.

First Quality Music Supplies (www.fqms.com) has them at an attractive price, that is, lower than most other suppliers but still expensive enough to make you gasp. Still, they're worth it. Good luck.

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From:
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:55 PM

There is a lot of discussion about this subject on the newsgroup rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic. You can try a dejaNews search for "cases".

Don't forget the other problem of theft. I have heard that one professional guitarist carries his guitar in one of those fold up things for clothes and puts his clothes in his guitar case which he checks. Then when he gets to his destination, he changes things around.

When I used to travel with photographic equipment, I put the gear in duty free bags and nobody ever questiioned my bringing them on. You would need a pretty big duty-free bag for a guitar ;)

Murray

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: Lyle
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 10:08 PM

In addition to a good case, consideration should also be given to insurance should anything happen to the guitar. If it goes with you, or accompanies you on a passenger plane, the amount you can recover will be the same as lost baggage -- around $200.00 U.S. A good friend who flies frequently and has a classical guitar sends the guitar by air frieght, where the handling is *much* better, and the insurance for full value is very cheap.

Lyle

Subject: RE: GUITAR FLIGHT CASES
From: Bert
Date: 09 Apr 99 - 10:34 AM

Air freight handling is better at the beginning and end of the journey but if the flight is not direct then it goes through the transfer conveyors along with all the other stuff.

Bert.