craigb

Danny Danzi


Slap fragile in as many spots as you can on the bag and the cases. Not that it matters, but it looks cool. 

Coming form one of the coolest guitar players on tihs forum it HAS TO BE sound advice.

offnote


I mean a guitar or small keyboard similar size in soft bag,
Is it a big risk to try to take without asking and see how it goes?
What is the worse case scenario?  

Everything you need to know on this topic can be seen in this video:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSUb6ejl9Ms

dmbaer


Everything you need to know on this topic can be seen in this video:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSUb6ejl9Ms

LOL, I guess I'll never fly United...

Hi,

San Francisco Progressive Music Festival in 1999.

Richard Barbieri's (Porcupine Tree) Prophet 5 took a nasty spill at the airport. And when they got to the venue, the technicians opened it up and spread it on the floor and were trying to find where the problem was. In between they hit every Radio Shack and electronic store they could find to no avail. At about 2 PM, and this was about 2 hours after they arrived, Richard said something polite like ... don't worry about it ... I'll figure it out, and it appears that he borrowed a similar keyboard from Per Lindh and spent the next 4 hours behind the curtains programming the synthesizers while two other bands played. When PT went on at 8PM, the show was great and Steven apologized for the different sound and the purist that Richard was, but thanked him for his effort, and that we are still Porcupine Tree. They put on a show and then some ... there was no way, that more than half the audience could EVER tell that a keyboard was missing! ...

A roadie, outside was complaining that the band sounded terrible, and I finally had enough of it, and in front of Sean Ahearn (the producer) that if he didn't like the show leave right now ... I've never head this band and they sound absolutely magnificent and you are being a picky turkey ... and the band is showing a lot more professionalism that you ever have in supporting the band that you work for. Please leave. Sean stood there and pointed to the door.

It was a magnificent show ... and they even got pulled off for an encore which they happily did ... but I doubt that most folks could tell that this band did not know what they were doing, or couldn't play ... Richard came off as one of the most professional, and important players around ... dedicated to his craft and his work to the last minute ... and making it work ... with a different machine.

I seriously doubt that many players can ever overcome that ... and pull off a show and get a standing ovation!

Massive highlight ... picture of Richard in the dark while Bondage Fruit played I think it was, is on my website! PT did not want pictures taken and unlike the other bands, PT never even had a sound check ... it's like they already knew what they would sound like and were ready to go from the first moment. Quite a massive difference from anyone else ... but at least you know that PT is not about this or that ... it is about musicianship at a very high level, and Richard Barbieri is the best Richard Wright you will EVER find out there and a massive player on his own as well. The most under rated keyboard player out there ... that does not get credit for his unbelievable amount of work, and knowledge and musical sense ... what he did backstage for his group and team ... is short of miraculous, but it shows you a commitment and care that is above and beyond any ... "reason" ... !!! All of us, would die to have someone like that on our band!

offnote

dmbaer


Everything you need to know on this topic can be seen in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSUb6ejl9Ms

LOL, I guess I'll never fly United...

Amon Duul 2's take on "Fly United" ... was a bit more fun ... and sexy!

bapu

craigb

Danny Danzi


Slap fragile in as many spots as you can on the bag and the cases. Not that it matters, but it looks cool. 

Coming form one of the coolest guitar players on tihs forum it HAS TO BE sound advice.

Friend of mine was one of those ... comedians ... or fun guys ... he had a huge sticker on the guitar case ... that said ... "if you do not handle this guitar with care you don't lke this blonde and you are a ... FAGGOT!"
 
He joked that he never saw a single nick anywhere in his case, wherever he went.
 
But a guitar is nothing ... you ought to see the incredible and amazing trashing that a 15k Harp that is 7 ft tall can take ... and my sister said that she just about had to take the strings out to make sure that any tension did not make the whole thing worse! The case for that thing was ... yeah ... not acceptable, regardless of what the situation and case is. I think this is the main reason why my sister stopped playing with the symphony ... the harps they had were absolute merde and out of shape and you would not use it anywhere!

I brought my used Epiphone acoustic with me once. Didn't ask for any special treatment, just checked it in, in it's cheap, cardboard-like case.
It arrived in perfect condition, or as perfect as it was when I boarded the plane.
It only cost me $40 and if anything had happened to it, oh well.
If it had been some multi-thousand dollar guitar, I would have left it at home.

LOL Ed! You're too good to me, thanks! :) Yeah it does sort of look cool even if it's a little cheesy. Hahaha!

Tim: Keep in mind though bro, an acoustic isn't quite as durable as an electric. I'm not trying to disagree with you, but by opening an electric case for a second just to see if any damage has been done, saves you a trip back as well as gives you peace that your instrument is ok. I've done it on all the guitars I've ever brought with me on flights. Just a quick open, look and close. I've had no problems with my guitars and still use them to this day without issues.

I don't know if I'd try it on an acoustic instrument though...totally different animal in my opinion, but I've done it with my Ovation Custom Legend without any issues. Everything you're saying is totally spot on, again I'm not disagreeing. I just haven't experienced anything so far...and man, I got enough flight miles racked up (most of which I always bring 1-2 guitars even if I'm not touring) to where I can fly anywhere for free. 2 of them have seen hundreds of flights so far from 1999 to present and they are still in perfect condition. I just used one tonight for a show as a matter of fact. :)

-Danny

Just a quick note to mention that it's always a good thing to backup the saved areas of anything that has a saved area before you fly.  When I helped out some friends playing a casino gig up here, I actually had pretty much all of the same gear so they simply emailed me their settings and I uploaded them into the gear.  The ONE item I didn't have was a vocal processor and, sure enough, airport security zapped the memory.  There's a ping-pong echo effect for one of the Styx songs (Man In The Wilderness?) where one part has the singer saying "Whoa" and it repeats bouncing left and right. So, when he said the first whoa the keyboardist (off the stage to the left) did the next one and I got the third (off the stage to the right) and so on.  The crowd thought it was just part of the act which was cool.

craigb


Just a quick note to mention that it's always a good thing to backup the saved areas of anything that has a saved area before you fly.  When I helped out some friends playing a casino gig up here, I actually had pretty much all of the same gear so they simply emailed me their settings and I uploaded them into the gear.  The ONE item I didn't have was a vocal processor and, sure enough, airport security zapped the memory.  There's a ping-pong echo effect for one of the Styx songs (Man In The Wilderness?) where one part has the singer saying "Whoa" and it repeats bouncing left and right. So, when he said the first whoa the keyboardist (off the stage to the left) did the next one and I got the third (off the stage to the right) and so on.  The crowd thought it was just part of the act which was cool.

Craig, a little off the beaten path here, but anything you have that saves presets that may be midi, you can back up. I have a little unit I bring with me everywhere I go called a Yamaha MDF 2. It runs on floppy disks and backs up all my patches and is half the size of a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper. It's really great if your battery that holds your memory dies or the unit gets zapped and loses all the presets. Plug in a midi cable, press send, and your entire unit is back the way you saved it in about 30 seconds or less.
 
LOL...speaking of security, picture this...my first time in the UK, I go through security and after I grab my gym back, two guys grab me by the arm and say "you have to come with us, Sir. The contents of your bag needs to be examined.
 
This what they saw: http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/gsp2101/sites/gsp2101main.htm (scroll down until you see the things that look like a bomb lol!)
 
Mine is the gold one...but you can imgaine what that must have looked like through the xray machine. After they escorted me to this little room, I said "I swear it's not a bomb, get me a guitar and a set of headphones and I'll jam for you!" Needless to say, we all had a laugh once they contacted someone that was familiar with hi-tech electronics and I didn't miss my flight home. :)
 
-Danny