what is your experience with carry on an instrument on airplane?

I've never carried on an instrument.
I checked my Alembic in the 80's once. Fear and dread come to mind when I actually say the handler pitch it into the cargo hold. I had loosened the strings before I checked it. Suffice it to say, after that, nothing was wrong with the bass (the player, yes, but not the bass).

It's SOP that all accordians and bagpipes get thrown out the back once the plane is above 30,000 feet.

Actually, back on topic, the best place for your guitar is in the storage near first class.  I've never heard of anyone having a issue with this.  You don't want it in the general storage area if possible.

A Steinberger "Broom" is the easiest to travel with.

I've never had a guitar damaged when checked on a plan...   Just get an industrial flight case...


I'd prefer not to check guitars but...  A.  Some airlines got real tough after 9/11.  B.  Its just a room thing... "where do you put it on a plane nowadays."

Unless you can fly first, or have your own jet..

Some say my Alembic is a "hot air" guitar.

Guitarhacker


 I was told I could buy a seat ticket for the guitar. And that would be the safest way to travel with it. 

 

and your guitar didn't like the economy class seat ???

the ticket counte rtold me I had to check my instrument, said wouldnt fit in the overhead...
 
 

Graf is German for Led?

Guitars on a plane are as bad as "Snakes on a plane" in my opinion. However, if you have a good sturdy ATA case, there's usually no need to worry. If you DON'T and your guitar ends up in the cargo bay...be afraid....be VERY afraid.

I've lived and learned with this over the years. Thankfully none of my guitars were ever damaged, but some of my cases were which is what made me change up my gameplan. If you can't afford a killer ATA case, there are other things you can do that work wonders.

First off, and this is a must even if you have an ATA case. Wrap the important parts of the guitar in bubble wrap. If you can buy enough to where you wrap the entire guitar, do it. But if not, wrap anything that can move. For example, those that use floating trems like a Floyd etc or any trem at all, put a piece of bubble wrap under the trem so that the trem doens't slam into the wood of the guitar. Bubble wrap under the back of the neck where the guitar lays in the case and a sheet on top of the guitar. This can really help and is easy and affordable.

Next, I always like to bring two guitars with me. In this example, two ATA cases would be a bit pricey. So I'll use two regular cases, do the bubble wrap thing and then put both guitars into a hockey bag. This counts as one item. Slap fragile in as many spots as you can on the bag and the cases. Not that it matters, but it looks cool.

In all my years of flying all over the world, I've only seen one guy treat my instruments like a human being. An elderly gent from Continental (who I always seemed to get handling me when flying to Europe) was so gentle, it was awesome. I find out he was a guitar player...so it's understandable why now. :)

Tuning: I've heard mixed reviews on this that you should lessen the tension on your strings when flying. I tune down to a low C by default, but I never touched my tuning. Coming fresh off a plane, my guitars are usually in near perfect tune other than my low E (which is a C for me) being a few increments sharp or flat.

+1 to Tim's advice on opening the case. Definitely try to wait for as long as you can. That said, you should open it immediately just to quickly check to see if your guitar is ok. Just dont spend any great length playing it or examining it for little details. See that it's there, nothing is broken and close it back up for an hour or two. You'll notice the guitar will be freezing cold...this is why you want it to stay in the case closed up for a while as the sudden temp change could really effect it. Then again, most of us are in situations like this all the time with our guitars if you play live. I've done shows in the freezing cold where my guitars were kept at room temp before I played only to be frozen when I played live. I've kept them in 72 degree air condition and then played in 105-120 degree heat....it can definitely take a toll, but that goes with the territory when you play live.

-Danny

advice on opening the case. Definitely try to wait for as long as you can. That said, you should open it immediately just to quickly check to see if your guitar is ok.

Sorry Danny, I'd have to disagree about the 'immediately' statement. 
Do not open the case until the inside of the case has acclimated to the outside. I'd say at least an hour.
I watched in horror as the top of my Martin turned to spiderwebs as I opened the case after landing.

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

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!

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!

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

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