Flying with acoustic 3/4 DB

[andydye]

Help please!

It's looking very likely that I'll need to get me and my db to Switzerland in March for a weekend of shows (plenty of time to work out how the feck to do it) and I'm looking for ideas/options for flight-proofing it...

It isn't an expensive db, less than £1k so paying over £1k for a flightcase for it feels a bit overkill, especially when I may not need to fly with it again and certainly have nowhere to keep a mahoosive db flightcase!

Flightcase hire? Any recommendations? Any offers?

Just general help please

[ambient]

Is it not possible to hire an instrument while you're over there?

Or borrow one?

[TPJ]

9 hours ago, ambient said:

Is it not possible to hire an instrument while you're over there?

Or borrow one?

+1

These days it's increasingly difficult flying with DB. Google John Pattituchi and the damage the baggage gorrillas did to his bass which was in an expensive flight case. A Chadwick would be ideal.

With this much time before a gig, maybe look at the hiring situation and also, put it out to the talkbass massive. It's pretty global and you may find someone willing to help with a bass that's playable. You could also look for local orchestras in the region where you'll be playing and see if you can contact the bassist(s).

Edited December 12, 2017 by TPJ

[Martin Penning]

Hi Andy Dye,

 

You can hire a flight-case from Matt Heighway near Oxford.

http://www.meticulous.org.uk/casehire.html

I`ve just returned from flying with a bass to New York, I went with United there was no problem getting the bass on the plane but charges have gone up in the last couple of years. I was charged both for overweight and over-size baggage at $500 each way. I have heard that some airlines like Brussels Airline will charge only £15 if your flight-case is light enough. A Stevenson case will be over weight to comply with this. Good luck!

 

cheers

Martin

[jrixn1]

Could you drive there?

[neilp]

I think I'd drive, if at all possible. The thought of my bass in the hold of an aircraft terrifies me....

[Marc S]

I'd go with hiring a bass, I think. Alternatively, You could also consider getting yourself an Eminence folding EUB
I had one of these, and as they have a small acoustic / chambered body, they sound very DB-like, with some EQ'ing.
The added advantage, is that the folding version packs away into a Golf Case

The idea behind this, is that Airlines are apparently "golfer friendly" - so taking anything in a golf club case on a plane, you get a heavily discounted rate....
The golf flight case is a sturdy hard case, with wheels on one end, so it's easy to lug around (though it's not heavy anyway really) plus, your bass packs away inside an additional padded soft case. So it's pretty well protected inside a strong case and well padded gigbag (which also doubles up as a softcase / gigbag for when you don't need the hard case)

When you return, you could then sell the Eminence for pretty much what you paid for it.....
Just another thought....

Edited December 13, 2017 by Marc S

[BassBod]

Hire - or EUB, unless there is a very healthy budget for travel.

[Happy Jack]

Have you been on SwissChat?

[Rabbie]

Hire or borrow from a Swiss player. DB players are great guys. When I have flown, I have hired, and boy am I glad. I had a Chadwick folding bass too, which I bought because I had had flying gigs and almost instantly as soon as I got it, my flying gigs stopped...so I don’t know how it is to fly with. I took it oodles of uk gigs though and it was a great instrument and a talking point pre and post gigs, so if you think of flying often you may want to look at Charlie’s site foldingbass.com, Charlie is a real gent to deal with. I also had an eminence folding bass: it sounds great but I missed the rest of the body so I sold it after only a couple of months, but it is a quality instrument. As you’ll have guessed, none of this is cheap, apart from borrowing, or hiring a ply bass, so I would go for that if it’s a one-off. All the very very best.