Traveling abroad with my basses

[goolimari]

Hi,

Note: I have posted this in the Luthier's Corner too..as i didnt know where it belonged..if you came across this there, please disregard...

i am in a fix here and any inputs to sort out my problem would be much appreciated...

I will be travelling back to my home country soon (india) and am taking around 2 basses with me..I hate the thought of transorting the guitars as check-in baggage as this would be a 24 hour flight with 2 to 3 stop overs..(with the check-in baggage changing planes as cargo..ouch!)..

and with all the TSA hullabullo, i can take only one piece of carry-on baggage, that too a max of 45 inches linear length (this basically means that the length + width + height of the carry-on baggage must not exceed 45 inches..now the length alone of a standar bass is around 45 inches!)

I was wringing my hands and wondering what to do when i hit upon a brilliant plan.. what if i dismantle the neck, package the body and neck seperately, put it in my carry on baggage, and then put them together at the other end?..this way, i thnk i can fit both the basses in my carry on..

sweet aint it? but then, maybe not..

But the problem is i got them professionally set up recently. my question is, if i take off the neck and then put it back on, will the set up get screwed? i dont think i will have access to good tech guys in india, and will not be back in the US for atleast 8-10 months..i can probably do some basic set up, but not much..

do you guys think this is workable?...

-Regards

Arvind

[7string]

Personally, I can't see a problem with your plan.

Before taking the neck off and after loosening or removing the strings, I would secure the saddles somehow, maybe put something over them and tape them down.

The neck may have a shim in the neck pocket, so be careful when taking the neck off as you'll have to put the shim back in exactly the same place when you re-assemble it.

When all is safely assembled again, you might have to do some setup work as the bass gets used to the temperature and humidity of it's new home.

Hope this helps..

[FF Petro]

The travelling alone will nullify your setup. Stringed instruments do the weirdest things when they get moved to another climate.

I don't think that your idea is a bad one. Maybe next time you could get the setup after you get back.