2012 Airline Carry On Regulations for Guitars

Jazzaferri

Good thoughts Russell. Also for all remember to take some tension off the strings. I usually put mine down to Db. That way if......as happened to me......someone gives your guitar flying lessons....has a much better chance of surviving intact.

Several years ago went to pick up my guitar from the specialty pickup area....one of those flights where it got checked. Waited around for a while and was just getting ready to go and ask what had happened heard the cart pull up, some loud words, and my guitar came flying through the opening...missed the nice shiny pickup ramp entirely and fortunately skidded across the floor. No one was hit and there were a lot of shocked faces. Guitar survived, case did too but was chipped in the process.

Bones

Hmmm, what about slacking the strings enough to remove the bridge? That way if they cave in the top of the case a bit it won't drive the bridge thru the top of the guitar? I've never traveled with a guitar but I'm just trying to think of the worst case scenario (thinking about flying to DIJ this year). Does anyone have any actual examples of how the airlines have damaged guitars (i.e. what type of onslaught we are defending against)? Probably just about any type of abuse that one can imagine? Now I'm starting to get paranoid.

Russell Letson

The primary hazards would seem to be shock (drops of six feet or more) and crushing (getting other luggage piled on top; getting caught between a baggage truck and a hard place).* Shock is minimized by immobilizing the guitar, especially the headstock, in a tight-fitting space with plenty of cushioning around it. You don't want the instrument slopping around inside the case, which is why it is often recommended that you put extra padding around the headstock. A case with a rigid shell and insufficient padding is going to transfer shock to the guitar, and that headstock join is one of the vulnerable spots, as is the tailblock, with its strap pin or output jack sticking out. One of the reasons I like foam cases is that the exterior itself absorbs shock. Of course, that means giving up some crush resistance, which is why I like the stiffened top/bottom of the old ProTecs and SuperCases: the foam resists some crush forces around the perimeter, and the Masonite or whatever offers protection on the large areas of top and sides. It's not as bulletproof as a Calton or Hoffee, but it's not a bad price-performance tradeoff.

And yes, when I fly with an archtop of my Dunn, I loosen the strings and remove the bridge, just in case the worst kind of crushing force or impact gets applied to the package.

* And don't forget being left out in the rain or cold.

Jazzaferri

Check out the youtube of United Breaks a Guitars

They now use it for customer service training...how NOT to handle a customers baggage and the claim

The only other bad experience I have had with a guitar is years back when Delta wouldn't let me even gate check my Dobro, the case got really done in on the carousel, something ground into for a while then more stuff got piled on top. Only the cone and the cover plate were damaged. Had it been a regular guitar I am sure the top would have been broken.

Never had a problem since I started travelling with a sax.