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Post subject: Christmas, Guitars and Airplanes
Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:13 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Never flown with a guitar and amp. Son and I are ready to book a pair of flights halfway across the country for the Christmas Holiday's, with most likely at least 1 plane change, and would like to take 2 guitars and one amp.

Figure, if we do this, we should take the toughest guitars with the toughest cases. Probably the Strat and Epiphone G-400 with SKB's.

The Strat's an '07 and it came with the older SKB molded case, which is flat on the hinged side with the remainder guitar shaped. It does not have the new TSA locks, so I know not to lock it. My Sons Epiphone did not come with a case, but I got a scratch and dent SKB that DOES have TSA locks for a nice price.

I figure with the available amps, DeLuxe Reverb, Blues Jr. NOS, Pro Jr, Roland Cube 30x that probably the safest one to take, regarding 'traveling/handling toughness' would be the Cube. Although I much prefer playing through the others, the Pro Jr is the only one comperable in size to the Cube, at ~ 20#. Considering taking it for this reason after first removing the tubes and packing them in our luggage. Wish I'd have kept the original boxs and packing with them, but that stuff was really beginning to pile up so I trashed it.

I know an unpressurized cargo hold on an airplane will get colder than an icebox, and that we'll let them warm for hours in their cases before we open them upon arrival, but wonder if this climate will still be too hard on the guitars to even put them through it. Or if they'll end up getting opened and re inspected in between flights, subjecting the most likely now ice cold guitars to sudden inrushs of warm air.

I figure I should call the airline and talk with them as well.

Any cautions or advice offered would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

---------------------------------------

GEAR LIST

Taylor 310
Gibson Les Paul Studio, upgrd w/TonePros/Kluson vintage lockers
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster
Gretsch G6122-1962 Country Classic
Rickenbacker 360

Peterson StroboStomp2 Pedal Tuner
Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octavio/Fuzz
VOX V848 Clyde McCoy Wah
Ibanez TS-808, Keely more/less Mod w/True Bypass
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
Booty-Oue Retro-Comp v2.3
DigiTech JamMan Looper Pedal
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus
Lehle Little Dual Amp Switcher
Little Lehle True Byp Eff Loup Sw Pdl
Whirlwind Selector A/B Box
Many Monsters

Fender Pro Jr. upgrd w/Jensen P10R
Fender Blues Jr. NOS
Fender Deluxe Reverb (65 VR)

---Sons---
Baby Taylor
Epiphone G-400, upgrd w/Gib 490R/498Ts, Schaller lockers, RS/CTS/Switchcraft lectrical
Gretsch G5120, upgrd w/TV Jones Classics, CTS/Switchcraft lectrical
Marshall GV-2 Gov nor
DigiTech Grunge Pedal
Roland Cube 30X


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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:20 am
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When I take my gear back and forth to and from the states, which I try to limit I use Fed Ex or UPS.

It can be a little pricey depending on how much gear you are sending, but it is definately worth it than leaving it in the hands of the gorillas at the airport.

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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:34 am
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I think I would rather box and ship UPS or FedEx too.

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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:05 am
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I agree use fedx the last time I took a guitar with me to Canada for a 10 day Hunting trip I shipped three guns and one guitar and micro cube by Fedx they made it safe and took care of all the paper work which is a pain in the neck for the firearms In fact they got to the guide before we did.

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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:31 am
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I'd also go with another shipping solution, other than the minimum wage baggage handlers on an airline, who are normally known for misplacing and mishandling things. My clothes? Not too concerned. My guitars or amps? Big difference.

But if you did use the plane for transporting them, I'd be careful about putting those tubes in any carry-on luggage. Security is not going to like to looks of those, and it might hold things up while they thoroughly check things out. Just a forewarning.


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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:04 pm
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As we know, after 9/11 rules about what you could take on airlines got very tight indeed. All of that has been gradually eased over the years and these days there are no official restrictions on musicians taking instruments as large as guitars in cases into the cabin as hand luggage.

However, some airlines have not followed the official rules in relaxing their restrictions in this area, and even with those that have you can turn up at check-in and find the ground crew won't let you on with the guit, no matter what the company's regs actually are.

I simply would not put a guitar through baggage handling and into the hold, but it is therefore necessary to check in advance that the airline will allow you to walk on with the instrument, and have a copy of that confirmation in writing to show to people at check-in and at the gate, in case of doubts.

So happens, there is a short item about this very matter in the current issue (#309) of Guitarist magazine; page 16.

Cheers - C


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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:37 pm
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CAFeathers wrote:
I think I would rather box and ship UPS or FedEx too.


I would too... I wouldn't want to loose one of my babies! :cry: :lol: 8)

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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:55 pm
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Then too, as airlines begin to charge for extra weight, carry-ons and so forth, you may find that partially offsets the cost of shipping. I've had something like 6 or 7 guitars shipped via FedEx or UPS and not a one has ever been damaged.

Where I work, if we fly a tech to set up a remote customer site, we never send the PC on the plane with him. Instead, we always ship FedEx and have it go directly to the client's site. We're 1 for 2 (way back) with sending computers on the plane -- one arrived okay and the other got lost. We're probably almost 100% on the thousands we've sent by FedEx.


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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:15 pm
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Even if you do wind up calling the airlines, take what they say with a big grain of salt. I traveled to Phoenix recently on US Airways. I had been assured over the phone that I would be allowed to carry my Strat on board in a soft case, but the gate agents in San Antonio forced me to gate-check it. I was not happy at all. Fortunately, no harm was done, but I don't think I'll be traveling with my guitar again anytime soon. :?


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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:39 pm
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Ship them and have insurance on them.

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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:22 pm
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russianracehorse wrote:
Even if you do wind up calling the airlines, take what they say with a big grain of salt. I traveled to Phoenix recently on US Airways. I had been assured over the phone that I would be allowed to carry my Strat on board in a soft case, but the gate agents in San Antonio forced me to gate-check it. I was not happy at all. Fortunately, no harm was done, but I don't think I'll be traveling with my guitar again anytime soon. :?


Wow! So did you have to put it through baggage handling in a gig bag? Nasty!

You were amazingly lucky if your guitar survived that unscathed.

An object lesson to everyone.

Cheers - C


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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:55 pm
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Ceri wrote:
russianracehorse wrote:
Even if you do wind up calling the airlines, take what they say with a big grain of salt. I traveled to Phoenix recently on US Airways. I had been assured over the phone that I would be allowed to carry my Strat on board in a soft case, but the gate agents in San Antonio forced me to gate-check it. I was not happy at all. Fortunately, no harm was done, but I don't think I'll be traveling with my guitar again anytime soon. :?


Wow! So did you have to put it through baggage handling in a gig bag? Nasty!

You were amazingly lucky if your guitar survived that unscathed.

An object lesson to everyone.

Cheers - C


Well, not the full-bore baggage handling. They took it at the gate and put it on top of the load. Then they handed it to me at the gate at the far end. But my mind was going over visions of a snapped neck during the entire flight.

I knew I was taking a big chance with the bag--I've read all the lectures and horror stories on this very site. But it's my $200 Squier, so I thought I'd risk it. Even though everything turned out fine, I don't think I'll do it again. :shock:


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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:16 pm
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How long of a vacation is it? Just wondering because at times during holiday breaks from college I worried about making arrangements to bring this or that with me, but then once I got to my destination, there was so much other stuff and catching up with people to do during the holidays, whatever it is that I had to make special arrangements to bring, never ended up being used...just a thought....

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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:45 am
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Thank's everyone for all your thoughts.

We'll be back for 12 days, counting the first and last that we'll be traveling.

Since my initial post I've had a chance to look at the TSA website, as well as the 3 potential airlines rules regarding Musical Instruments, Carry On Baggage, Checked Baggage (gonna start paying for everything on economy flights now) and Over Weight Baggage.

Still have plenty of time to figure things out, but what I think we'll end up doing is to take the Son's Epi G-400 (SG) and either the the Pro Jr. (Jensen P10R arrives for it today) or the Cube. The amps are the same size and fall within carry on limitations. Have over twice the $ invested in the PJ, but I'm sure it'll sound much nicer than the Cube with the new speaker. Although there's a bunch of effects in the cube and it'll probably travel better. If I take the PJ, I'll either remove and repack the tubes or do something to secure them.

The Guitar doesn't fall within carry on measurements. I'll call ahead after we make reservations, go in plenty early and if I can sweet talk someone into letting us carry on the guitar, cool. If not, I'll roll the dice and give it to the gorillas.

It's pretty well built, and the scratch and dent SKB it's now in should protect it just fine.

If it gets busted, I can salvage the good junk we're going to install tomorrow (2 year old Gib 490R/498T's, RS/CTS/Switchcraft guts and Schaller lockers) on it and buy another. Maybe I can insure it for a few hunerd for the flight. I think my Son would like to show it off to his friends and family anyway.

It'd be great to have 2 guitars to plug in at the same time, (single input amps but I have switches that will facillitate) but all things considered, we'll probably just end up sharing while we're there.


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