Godin tric case

Twang

Anyone use one of these with a gypsy guitar? They seem like a good compromise between a hard case and a gig bag. Lighter and more comfortable to carry around. But might give your guitar more chance of survival than a gig bag if you are forced to put the guitar in the airplane hold.

https://godinguitars.com/tric.htm

The only other options I see at the moment are:

Buy a “seat” for your guitar. Complete piece of mind but who can regularly afford to do that.

Hard case. Good piece of mind but really not fun to carry about at festivals etc.

Gig bag. Best comfortable option but no option at all if there is even a small risk of the guitar ending up in the hold. Hoping you can sweet talk your way onto the plane with it is not an option. If it works 9 time out of 10. It’s a certainty your guitar will be trashed on the 10th when they make you put it in the hold.

Dont fly. It’s such a drag though getting there by other modes.

Take both a gig bag and hard case. Leave hard case where your staying. Problem is any half decent gig back is gonna be pretty bulky and not very foldable.

Twang

I think its a shame that airlines don’t charge a special rate for taking a guitar into the cabin. A cheaper rate than having to buy a whole ticket for your guitar. It’s not as if they would be inundated with guitars.

juanderer

I've used one for a couple of years and I'm glad I have. Haven't flown with it but I assume it would at least be as protective as your average hardshell case. It's slightly bulkier, also, but much lighter. I'd still opt for the HSC to fly if I'm uncertain of whether It'll be allowed on board.

I have the largest model (can't remember the name) and it fits a Favino-sized guitar well. I recently noticed that one of the straps tore the liner at the bottom but I'm not necessarily careful when I pick it up (probably by that same strap) so I'm at least partially to blame there.

Russell Letson

Tric (and Tric-style) cases are very good at impact protection--a local store used to demo them by throwing a loaded one down a staircase. They're also good against bumps, but not what I would choose for crush protection, which is a major hazard of airline baggage-handling systems.

If I'm not flying, I've found the Travelite foam/nylon cases to be as protective as a conventional hardshell--their TL-150 is dreadnaught size. And I have flown with a Travelite when the guitar was a Taylor GS-Mini rather than something more valuable. (Though I also gate-check if I can't get the guitar into the cabin.)

Just checked Amazon, which is where I got my Travelite a few years ago, and the customer reviews suggest that they might be having some quality-control problems, so maybe it would be best to check them out in person, though not all stores carry them. (Gator seems to be a more commonly-stocked brand.)

My actual travel rig for a full-size guitar is an old SuperCase (foam/masonite/nylon-skinned) for the flight and a TKL 5414 gig bag for walking around at the workshop. The TKL folds in half, so I have to use a bigger suitcase to accommodate it, but it's worth the bother not to have to spend a week lugging a flight case around a hilly campus. Next time (once the Plague has passed), I'll try out the second-hand Calton I found last year--it's big enough for a 17" archtop.

Lango-Django

Ive got a case of that style, think I paid a hundred bucks for it.

I used to use it for air travel. Sigh.