For those of you traveling bassists out there...

alohajoy123 · #1 07-13-2009, 07:36 PM

Are you a traveling or touring upright bassist? This one is for you...Living in Hawaii, I was touring the West Coast USA and Asia up until 2004, when I took some time off. Wanting to resume, I tried recently to tour again. When booked on a Continental Airlines flight to the East Coast, I asked them the policy on flying with the upright bass, and gave them the dimensions of the bass case: height, lenght, width, depth, and weight. This is what I did when I traveled before. And when the reservations were made, I would have them note that I would be showing up with an exceptionally large piece of luggage, and no one there should be freaked out.

A few days later, an airlines agent called back and flat out said they will not accept it as a piece of luggage. Too big. They didn't even consider an over-weight fee...it was "NO."

I talked to another bassist and was able to borrow a bass in New York. But the more I talked to other bassists, it seems the trend is to leave your own bass at home and either borrow or rent a bass on the road.

Is there anyone out there touring/traveling with their upright, and how are you doing it? Is there a secret someone in the different airline companies I have to talk to, to get clearance to travel with the upright bass? Has the golden age of flying come and gone, and we bassists no longer travel with our own bass? How are you guys and girls doing it?

Mahalo from Hawaii,

Nathaniel

JtheJazzMan · #2 07-13-2009, 08:17 PM

This is something I mentioned in a recent thread. To me, renting or borrowing a bass is far from a good option. We spend so much time modifying and customising to get basses to feel comfortable and to reflect our personal tone, that changing basses when it comes to the actual tour seems to defeat the whole thing.

With full sized acoustic basses you can have detachable necks, I know renaud garcia has one, though he certainly has the cash to spare.

A step down in size you could look at cut down acoustic basses such as the czech ease, dave holland uses one.

Or even smaller you could then look at mainly electric or fully electric double basses.

Or as bassists we could all try to pressure the airline companies, though I think we will be forced to compromise.

Square Bear · #3 07-13-2009, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alohajoy123

Has the golden age of flying come and gone?

yes.

in all seriousness, i'd like to know about this myself right now. i will be moving to the east coast in a few weeks, and i am flying and shipping my stuff. the question is what i should do with my bass. this is a little different than what you're talking about as i don't have the option of just borrowing or renting one for a short trip.

continental may be more strict than other airlines, i've heard people have better luck on southwest or united (?) but with no personal experience, i'm of little help in this case.

Andrew McGregor · #4 07-13-2009, 09:53 PM

Remind the airlines that they have an international treaty obligation to carry musical instruments. Therefore they can't reject your bass (unfortunately, they do have the right to charge pretty much anything they want up to what you paid for your ticket).

Bijoux · #5 07-13-2009, 10:14 PM

I recently noticed on youtube that a lot of the guys traveling today are playing some of smaller size upright basses. Like the one the Kolstein makes and a couple of others, without mentioning electric uprights.
Well, first of all I think that is very sad for a number of reasons. But anyway, I also noticed that some guys are always able to travel with their basses. Just not long ago I was playing at a Festival on the east coast and brian Bromberg was playing upright. we stayed in the same hotel and he left his travel case by the front door, so basically there has to be at least one airline that does it.

JtheJazzMan · #6 07-13-2009, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew McGregor

Remind the airlines that they have an international treaty obligation to carry musical instruments. Therefore they can't reject your bass (unfortunately, they do have the right to charge pretty much anything they want up to what you paid for your ticket).

What worries me though, is if the airlines are ignorant about shipping double basses then I dont think you want them touching your bass at all. A student I know studied in vienna for a year, and the apart from the usual BS of involved in shipping, they left his bass out on the tarmac on a hot day, and ruined the varnish, and who knows else what damage done to the glue from extreme heat.

Perhaps specialised courier companies? Do fedex or UPS have special arrangements?

world.jeremy · #7 07-13-2009, 10:29 PM

I have been told that Grey Hound (at least in Canada) is the best bet. Someone I know shipped a bass out from Vancouver to Toronto and it was around $100-150.

Andrew McGregor · #8 07-14-2009, 05:19 AM

Bass travel cases should be hard, skinned with nylon, waterproof, and WHITE. That way they'll stay cool if they do get left outside, which realistically will happen sometime... there's just no avoiding it at some airports, no matter how hard the airline tries. They will also get rained on.

The hold of a plane, by contrast, is a bit chilly, but otherwise much the same conditions as the cabin (very dry, in other words).

solofiddle · #9 07-14-2009, 08:10 AM

Get a folding bass!

I saw this guy play it at a concert in Columbus not too long ago and it was passable, as far as sound goes. Amazing to watch him put it together and then pack it up after the show!

txstatebass · #10 07-14-2009, 08:22 AM

Go Southwest Airlines if you can. They only charge an oversize baggage fee of $50. Great service and the lady at the counter didn't even flinch when she saw me come in with the case. Make sure you take out objects that may increase weight. Leave your tuner, end-pin, rosin, books, toothbrush, whatever in your other luggage bag. This will help you avoid any weight limit charges.

alohajoy123 · #11 07-14-2009, 02:09 PM

On the trip I went to Asia for in 2004, United counted my bass case as three (3) pieces of luggage. So in addition to a personal piece of luggage, I had four (4) pieces of luggage, and with the United's two piece limit at the time, I had to pay for an additional two pieces of baggage, at $80 a piece. Luckily, crying to my agent, they took care of it. But that was my experience with United back then.

Hawaiian Airlines, they saw me coming with my bass, and just charged me an extra baggage fee for being overweight back in X-mas of 2007. The fee back then was $50. Kinda like Southwest!

When traveling on Continental May of 2008, I advised them that I would be traveling with an upright, and they asked for the dimensions. I gave them the numbers, and they called back and said it was too big, they wouldn't accept it. No extra charge, no extra piece of luggage...they just weren't going to accept it. Period.

When calling a few of these airlines to get information, I was calling a call center somewhere in Asia, where apparently they do not have upright basses and did NOT know what I was talking about. I said it was like a very large violin, and they told me to carry it on the plane if its a violin! I said, "I WISH I COULD DO THAT!!!"

What other airlines are doing what??? I agree with jthejazzman, I don't want to borrow or rent, I love the feel of mine and have trouble adapting quick to someone else's instrument. And if you know about Hawaii, there are a few basses on the outerislands I have played that had major soundpost issues, humidity issues, etc., where I would have loved to have my instrument at the time. You ask a friend if you can borrow their bass, and they say, "Sure, we'll get it out of storage when you come," and you start worrying about what condition its in...

I play a few acoustic strolling type of gigs, and an electric is not an option, although I love a few of those EUB's out there.

Square Bear, if you're moving, you got to take your upright with you, and its just a one time deal. Just make sure you call the airlines first. See what they say.

I was just trying to see which airlines are letting upright basses fly, and which airlines are like Continental, not accepting of upright basses.

Square Bear · #12 07-15-2009, 11:56 PM

went to phoenix yesterday to look at some instruments. i found something i really like and wanted to try, so this guy steve (some of you may know him from string emporium) took it to the airport last night and shipped it via southwest air cargo (this is southwest airlines, but air cargo is in a totally different place than the airport terminal). i'd say after this experience that this is really the way to go, and the way that i will send my bass to hartford... air travel is best because there is less time in handling and in transit which greatly reduces the risk of damage. also, you should put it on an evening flight so that the temperature doesn't ever get too hot. i got all sorts of great info from steve, who probably ships more basses than anyone anywhere. he said he's only had one incident ever, and it was covered by insurance which is pretty good i'd say. when i picked up the bass this morning, the guys at the airport said they've seen bass trunks plenty of times and asked if i'd play them a tune. really nice guys! what i'm going to do is either borrow or rent a trunk, take it to air cargo the night before we fly out and it will be at the airport the next day when we get in. really easy.

**Matthew Tucker** · #13 07-16-2009, 01:07 AM

I suppose you have already seen my recent post in the setup section, but if you haven't, look at the size of these two flight cases:

A large bass will fit into these very easily and you can fit them across the back seat of a car. I think removable necks are the way basses need to be built nowadays. (I like the folding bass idea, its REALLY neat, but its a lot of work to do and I wouldn't want to try to convert an existing bass that way.)

**Matthew Tucker** · #14 07-18-2009, 05:42 PM

http://www.youtube.com/v/5YGc4zOqozo

Square Bear · #15 07-18-2009, 06:56 PM

i did see the other thread. beautiful work by the way, really looks great. i think you're on to something, it's a perfect solution for someone who travels for gigs a lot. unfortunately, i basically never travel with a bass. i'm moving for graduate school and this is a one time thing for me, so i guess i'll have to use a trunk and cross my fingers. really nerve-racking.

**Matthew Tucker** · #16 07-18-2009, 07:04 PM

If I were you I'd consider taking the bridge off, but you'd have to consider putting your sound post back in place, (and maybe you'd need a "bridge stick" to put the bridge back up

)

Or at least slackening off the strings a few turns.

Square Bear · #17 07-18-2009, 07:15 PM

will definitely tune down a bit. i expect my bass will expand quite a bit going from california to the east coast mid-summer.

tonequixote · #18 07-19-2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

If I were you I'd consider taking the bridge off, but you'd have to consider putting your sound post back in place, (and maybe you'd need a "bridge stick" to put the bridge back up

)

Or at least slackening off the strings a few turns.

Or cutting a hole and needing a "hatch" in the side of your bass to set a soundpost

( j/k nice work )

Ike Harris · #19 07-19-2009, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

I suppose you have already seen my recent post in the setup section, but if you haven't, look at the size of these two flight cases:

A large bass will fit into these very easily and you can fit them across the back seat of a car. I think removable necks are the way basses need to be built nowadays. (I like the folding bass idea, its REALLY neat, but its a lot of work to do and I wouldn't want to try to convert an existing bass that way.)

Is there a thread on the folding bass yet? Anyway, Charlie Chadwick lives just about a mile from my house and brought it over one day. Since he's struck a deal with Shen to build these for him, they come already in "folding mode". I'm sure if one needs tweaking or something he will oblige. To me, the bass works great plugged in, just as any other good bass. It seems quieter than average acoustically because of the necessary mods to make it do it's thing. Certainly a viable option for the serious traveller. BTW, I've heard it with his Full Circle and one owner had an Underwood with his - for my money, go with the Full Circle.

Ike

Jazzdogg · #20 07-19-2009, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alohajoy123

<SNIP> I play a few acoustic strolling type of gigs, and an electric is not an option, although I love a few of those EUB's out there. <SNIP>

If you find an EUB that works for you, and are concerned that being tethered to an amplifier by a cord will bring your strolling days to an end, you may want to consider using a wireless unit. My X2 wirless works flawlessly, and although I use mine primarly with five-string electric (aka "pork chop"), I wouldn't hesistate to use it with an EUB.