ericf@uwvax.UUCP (Eric Feigenson) (07/16/85)
I've flown with my guitar several times, and it has survived. I attribute
this mostly to luck, so here are my two cents worth about my experience:
- Airlines are inconsistant about letting you bring instruments on
board. My guitar is in a very bulky case, yet it fits in the
overhead compartments on a 727, 737 and DC-9, which aren't very big
(I'm not positive about those model numbers). However, sometimes they
just say *NO* about bringing things on board, and other times they
let you try it. I am told that they are more reluctant about it
on "business" flights; the businessmen don't like it, and it doesn't
leave enough room for their carry-on baggage.
- My very bulky hardshell case has come through OK, though with several
gouges. I always loosen the strings, and pad the inside heavily with
foam, bubble-plastic, and whatever else is handy. The instrument has
so far survived. I put heavy duct tape around the edge of the case,
as well as on the latches/locks, and stick lots of "FRAGILE: Handle
With Care" stickers all over the outside (sometimes I use the ones
that say "GLASS" rather than "FRAGILE", just to stress the point).
- I took an insurance policy out on the instrument. This is not very
helpful when your favorite instrument is destroyed, but at least it
can make it financially feasible to replace it. As mentioned in
previous articles, the airlines will generally not accept responsibility
for damage. Also, my insurance company will insure the instrument only
if it's not on it's way to or from a paying performance (which boils
down to your not being a professional musician).
So, there you have it. I really hesitate to bring my guitar on an airplane,
unless I can afford to buy it its own seat (which I can't). The airlines and
airports aren't always out to get you, however. When flying into Madison,
I was waiting for my guitar to appear on the carousel with the rest of the
baggage. It magically appeared without coming down the chute; apparently,
they hand-carried it from the luggage carrier into the terminal, which was
nice.
Good luck!
--
-Eric Feigenson
Usenet: {seismo, allegra, ihnp4}!uwvax!ericf
Arpanet: ericf@wisc-rsch.arpafaunt@hplabs.UUCP (Doug Faunt) (07/16/85)
news drift in action... Last time Bok, Trickett and Muir were here, Gordon Bok had an electric collapsible bass that he sometimes played like a bass and sometimes strummed like a guitar that was designed for just such situations. I don't know anything more about it, but it looked like a clever idea, and seemed to work. -- ....!hplabs!faunt faunt%hplabs@csnet-relay.ARPA HP is not responsible for anything I say here. In fact, what I say here may have been generated by a noisy telephone line.
dcoleman@vlnvax.DEC (07/19/85)
I saw David Bromberg and his quintet perform recently in Cambridge. After his first few songs, he explained that he was playing a borrowed guitar because "the airlines ate my other guitar." If these accidents happen so frequently, I wonder how professional musicians, who travel a lot between gigs, transport their prized, in some cases irreplaceable, instruments. During the first few songs Bromberg seemed a bit uncomfortable with the borrowed guitar. He had been using his eaten guitar for a long time, hopefully it was only tasted, not digested. "... and a hundred thousand million billion years after that before I will be your fool"
gadfly@ihu1m.UUCP (Gadfly) (07/20/85)
--
I play the viola da gamba (a sort of pre-cello that comes in
three sizes) and have a few vignettes, mostly stuff that
happened to other gambists, since I've not even considered
flying with anything but my bargain-basement treble. This
instrument does fit under an airplane seat--barely--and most
airlines have let me on board with it. There seems to be
no firm rule, though, since Eastern changed their mind on
me once (for the return trip) and so did Republic. By
making a big enough stink, however, I got both lines to
hand carry the instrument on and off, as they claim they do
with the crew's belongings. So that's something to try.
Of course, it may be a standard lie they use--anyone know
if they really do hand carry stuff? Both of those times
whatever they did, they didn't damage anything.
One friend who plays bass gamba (it's midway between cello
and modern bass in size) always gets a second seat for it.
He's had such reservations cancelled, and once insisted that
they put it (or him) in 1st class when coach filled up and
they noticed that the instrument was seated by an emergency
exit. They were ready to put it in baggage. He won finally,
but nearly got kicked off the flight. Well, he nearly got
kicked off because after he won, he insisted on getting
mileage credits for both seats--something most of those
programs' fine print apparently does not entitle you to.
Another gambist gets her tenor viol on board at no extra
cost (it's acoustic guitar size) by telling the flight
attendants very definitively "oh, the top folds down".
Make sure you're not around another musician when you
use that one--I had to bite my tongue to avoid laughing.
--
*** ***
JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** *****
****** ****** 19 Jul 85 [1 Thermidor An CXCIII]
ken perlow ***** *****
(312)979-7753 ** ** ** **
..ihnp4!iwsl8!ken *** ***ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (07/21/85)
Since this topic has come up, I'm sure you'll all be interested to know that the FAA has reduced the flight time requirements for an instrument rating from 200 hours to 125 hours. Umm, wait a minute. You mean this isn't net.aviation? This is really net.music.folk? Sorry.
bill@persci.UUCP (07/22/85)
>[...] If these accidents happen so >frequently, I wonder how professional musicians, who travel a lot between >gigs, transport their prized, in some cases irreplaceable, instruments. [...] In many cases they apparently just check them through. At a recent Magical Strings concert Pam Boulding related a horror story of a lost harp on their last tour. They were going, I think, from Kansas City to (somewhere), Texas, but their harp didn't arrive when they did. The airline finally located it (on its way to Hawaii? I don't remember..) the next day and delivered it an hour before a scheduled concert. I remeber another group in Seattle who had to delay their concert until their instruments arrived from Portland, OR. All of them. The airline really fouled up on some connection! There's got to be a better way to get these instruments transported!
hxe@rayssd.UUCP (Heather Emanuel) (07/28/85)
I have flown all over the world with my guitar and have had
different experiences with each airline and each airport. I have
never had my guitar damaged, though!
As people have mentioned, some airlines will let you carry it on and
some won't. Some in-terminal personnel will tell you you can, and
then the stewardess won't let you. So what I do is this: I check
it as I'm buying the ticket, so it gets tagged and all that, and
tell them I'm going to carry it on no matter what they say. Then I
carry it as far as they let me. Sometimes it's all the way on
board, sometimes it's right to the bottom of the steps, and
sometimes it's only as far as the check-in lounge. What that
accomplishes is this - they must load it by hand at that point.
It's also the last thing on, so it's the first thing off, and I
usually see them hand carry it to the luggage cart. Some airlines
even keep it behind a counter and make you present your ticket for
it, rather than sending it down the carrousel.
Yes, the hard-shell case has been nicked quite a bit, but the guitar
remains intact. (Of course, I loosen the strings, pad the guitar,
etc.) Actually, I'm much more afraid of it getting stolen off the
carrousel than of it getting damaged, so I *run* to the baggage claim
area and position myself right where the stuff first appears.
--
--Heather Emanuel {allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccice5} rayssd!hxe
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I don't think my company *has* an opinion, so the ones in this
article are obviously my own.
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"Ain't life a brook...
Sometimes I feel just like a polished stone" -Ferron