"United Breaks Guitars!"

yes Paul but still…i was all fidgety for 7 odd hours. 😮

I know what you mean! I thought about getting a cheaper bass, something like a standard 5 string Fender Jazz, to take on fly out gigs so I wouldn’t have to worry about my G&L getting damaged. The problem would be that I’d spend every gig wishing I were playing my G&L, so I’ve just had to learn to accept the risk of it getting damaged is there and if it happens, it happens. As much as that bass is a part of me and it’s the most important material thing I own, it’s still a tool to be played and there’s no point in having it sat at home just because it might get damaged. I want to be out playing it! The first few times I flew with it, the first thing I did was check it when it came out at the other end was open the case and check it. Now I wait until I get back to the hotel to do that because even if it is damaged, there isn’t much I can do about it at the airport. Again, I’ve just accepted the risk is there and I just get on with it more now instead of worrying.

That said, I’ve done a lot of flying with instruments and it took me probably the best part of 50 flights to stop constantly worrying about whether they’d make it through to the other side intact. I do find red wine helps take your mind off it. Ahhh no, hang on… I drink red wine even when I don’t have my bass. Dammit! 😀

Paul

yes Paul but still…i was all fidgety for 7 odd hours. 😮

I played as a session guitarist for a Indian band at the Byron Bay blues fest in Australia last year. We took our gear with SQ and had no choice but to check the hard cases in. I was anxious the whole flight hoping that my Les Paul comes out alive. It fortunately did, they actually hand delivered my guitar to me at Melbourne near the luggage belt.

I was quite impressed. 🙂

If you have a decent hard case then your guitar should be absolutely fine. I’ve lost count of how many flights my G&L has done in a hard case in the hold but it’s always been absolutely fine, however nervous I get about it!

Paul

I played as a session guitarist for a Indian band at the Byron Bay blues fest in Australia last year. We took our gear with SQ and had no choice but to check the hard cases in. I was anxious the whole flight hoping that my Les Paul comes out alive. It fortunately did, they actually hand delivered my guitar to me at Melbourne near the luggage belt.

I was quite impressed. 🙂

I have flown many times with guitars (on AF and UAl mainly) and I NEVER checked them in. When I see how luggages are handled , it would never cross my mind to let my precisous tool in the hands of some of those guys.
Not all of them are “destroyers” but one if enough….

Try flying on an AF 772 or an ANA 773/744D with guitars. I almost had to put 6 guitars in the hold on 3 sectors on a recent tour in Japan because they simply wouldn’t fit in the overhead bins. It was just by sheer good fortune that the ANA 747 from Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo had less than 200 people on it so we could give each guitar its own seat. Then on the ANA 773 and AF 772 flights there were places in business class we could put them. It’s fine on most airlines but you do occasionally find circumstances where they genuinely won’t fit, although this was the first time in around 150 flights with guitars we’ve ever had any real problems. Flying from MAN to AMS on our way to Bucharest a few weeks ago they ended up in the hold of an F70 because there was just no room in the overheads despite the fact they’d physically fit (although I believe that flight should have been a 734 but ended up as an F70 for whatever reason, hence the lack of space).

As I mentioned in the other thread I do have a hatred for baggage handlers after I saw they way they treated my Musicman Stingray 5 string at Lisbon about 6 years ago. When I fly with my G&L L2500 now I just avoid looking when they load the baggage on. As long as it’s in one piece at the other end I don’t want to know what happens inbetween!

Paul

I have flown many times with guitars (on AF and UAl mainly) and I NEVER checked them in. When I see how luggages are handled , it would never cross my mind to let my precisous tool in the hands of some of those guys.
Not all of them are “destroyers” but one if enough….

“United Breaks Guitars!”

Somebody tell them The Who was doing that in the 60s..

O.K. no demerits, slow news day?:D

But it HAS been mentioned!:p

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=92445

Ah, ok…my bad, but how come it was being mentioned on the news again today then?:o

Besides, I did one better by posting a link for those that may want to watch the video to the song in full!:D

But it HAS been mentioned!:p

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=92445