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Would you trust your bass in the hold on a plane?


Clarky
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Clarky - just take the bass in a gig bag and put it in the overhead. I've done this at least a hundred times and maybe only once had to put it in the hold, in which case I insisted I walk it to the foot of the plane and pick it up there on arrival. Playing ball with this request usually works and I'm allowed to carry it all the way to the steps of the plane. When I get there I'm somehow forgotten what I was supposed to do and then just put it in the overhead, unless some over-zealous cabin crew dictates otherwise. When I check in I try to carry the bass behind me, bottom of case on the ground, so it's out of sight from the check in person. If they spot it and say it needs to be checked into the hold I proceed with the above. Always worked and never had a damaged bass yet.

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  • 6 months later...

Going to revive this thread after seeing the post about someone's Fender being damaged on the way to Musikmesse and knowing that I have to fly over to Holland soon with my bass.

Is an ABS case enough to protect it? I might put some bubble wrap or something in too just to make sure, or should I invest in a proper flight case?

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I'm browsing around Thomann and they're surprisingly cheap actually. There's a Harley Benton plywood one for £58 or an aluminium one for £75 or alternatively a Rockbass one (Warwick IIRC, I had one with my Thumb that went when I traded it) that's £84. They should be enough, right?

I think it's definitely going to be worth the plunge.

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How much is your bass worth? I wouldn't buy a Harley Benton bass so I wouldn't buy one of their cases either.

I'd have a look at the full flight cases here:

[url="http://www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk/music/typeproducts.asp?groupID=3980"]http://www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk/music...sp?groupID=3980[/url]

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[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1191703' date='Apr 7 2011, 01:35 PM']Going to revive this thread after seeing the post about someone's Fender being damaged on the way to Musikmesse and knowing that I have to fly over to Holland soon with my bass.

Is an ABS case enough to protect it? I might put some bubble wrap or something in too just to make sure, or should I invest in a proper flight case?[/quote]

I flew to Italy with a Spector bass in the hold. I wrapped the neck and body in bubble wrap and put it in a hard case and then wrapped the case in bubble wrap and covered it with 'fragile' tape.
As soon as it came off the plane I unwrapped it to give it a check over before leaving the airport. It arrived and returned without a scratch.
It can be risky but you just have to be careful.

Hope this helps.

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It's a Sandberg so it's no Ritter, but it's not a cheap bass. £150 sounds a little steep (though they do look good) compared to what else is out there. I had one of the Rockcase flight cases with my Thumb and I doubt a bass inside would've taken damage if it had fallen out of the hold during a flight, never mind being put in one. The one I had was constantly being stood on, having amps etc put on top of it and it never got damaged (at least by me, it was well used before I got it).

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[quote name='chris_b' post='1191796' date='Apr 7 2011, 03:01 PM']Maybe someone here has a full flight case you can "borrow"?[/quote]

While anyone offering would be very kind, I have no issues forking out £150 for a flight case if it's deemed that that's the safest option. :) While my Sandberg isn't the most expensive bass and I'm not bothered about superficial damage to it (it looks a bit beat up anyway and it suits it IMO) anything like neck problems with it and I'd be gutted.

I'd want to be sure that a £150 case is going to give an advantage over an £85 case though before I fork out the extra £65 as as much as I want to protect it, I don't want to throw away money.

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[quote name='voxpop' post='1191793' date='Apr 7 2011, 02:58 PM']I flew to Italy with a Spector bass in the hold. I wrapped the neck and body in bubble wrap and put it in a hard case and then wrapped the case in bubble wrap and covered it with 'fragile' tape.
As soon as it came off the plane I unwrapped it to give it a check over before leaving the airport. It arrived and returned without a scratch.
It can be risky but you just have to be careful.

Hope this helps.[/quote]
I'm sure, 9 times out of 10 all will be well... not good odds though.
Of course, as has been said, it all depends what value you put on your bass.

A full flightcase with foam cut for your specific instrument [b]is[/b] the safest option.

If it's just for the one trip, why can't you take it in a gig bag on board with you?

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The thread's several months old, I bumped it instead of starting a new one. :)

I can't take the bass on board with me because we're on a really strict budget and avoiding all costs that we can (a flight case can be re-used indefinitely so it's not something I'd consider an issue with budget for one trip). Plus with a whole band going, there'd be too much kit between us to try and sneak it on, or potentially even storage if we did get it all on.

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[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1191886' date='Apr 7 2011, 04:12 PM']The thread's several months old, I bumped it instead of starting a new one. :)

I can't take the bass on board with me because we're on a really strict budget and avoiding all costs that we can (a flight case can be re-used indefinitely so it's not something I'd consider an issue with budget for one trip). Plus with a whole band going, there'd be too much kit between us to try and sneak it on, or potentially even storage if we did get it all on.[/quote]

Oh yeah, silly me.

I was going to unsubscribe but these threads are quite handy to keep track of.

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I've never done this myself, but several times I've been checking in for a flight and seen musicians and/or bands trying to check in their instruments, either as cabin luggage or into the hold.

What I've seen every time is confused check-in staff, contradictory advice being given, huge excess baggage charges being levied, etc.

The situation has only got worse since 9/11 and ludicrous levels of high-vis security. If they make you take your shoes off in case there's a bomb in there, you have to assume that a BC Rich is going to make them nervous ...

If it was me doing it (for the first time), I think I'd make every effort to nail it down with the airline before going anywhere near the airport, and then allow at least an extra hour for check-in.

Or you could take the ferry. :)

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To be honest I wouldn't put a bass in the hold at all costs, but if there was no choice, I would probably go Hiscox. Even the basic liteflite standard cases are ridiculously solid, so surely the top end pro Hiscox cases should withstand a flight? I play double bass in an orchestra too and one of the old violinists accidently drove over his hiscox violin case (no I don't know how either!), but his violin was absolutely fine - case took the brunt of it.

My advise would be to always try and get it onto the plane with you.

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I would if I had a flightcase. I remember thinking this when I borrowed Conan's Status S2 for a weekend, complete with the original flight case. It weighed as much as a small country and was completely impractical for UK use (I can imagine the torture of gigging with it!). However, even if they ran the plane over it on the runway I think it would protect the bass. If I was ever going to be flying my bass around I'd probably get a flight case.

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