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Club Alleva-Coppolo (Part 15)

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#581
Ivan M said:
I could not agree with you more, for all that traveling it would scare the crap out of me every single time. Although i don't own an Alleva-Coppolo i have a NYC Sadowsky 5 and just ordered another but a Vintage 5, i recently moved down to the sunshine state but i flew to NYC paid for my first SADOWSKY and drove back down and i will do the same when my vintage 5 is built, i worry too much how the airlines will treat such an expensive item, i know you can ask and sometimes they will let you bring it on board, but what if they don't and it has to be checked in...Not a comfortable flight at least for me...Good idea for you and your baby...Post some pics of your build when done.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they've been pretty great about letting me bring the bass on board and leaving it in the coat closet, but the last time I had a gig in Chicago, I went to get the bass and somebody had taken it out and put it back in upside down, so the AC was on it's headstock the whole flight. I was sick. Fortunately nothing happened since my Igig bag is SO GREAT, but I swore I wouldn't fly with it again.

And since you AND Chef asked for pics, here's a little taste before it's finished. I'm just waiting to have it routed for a Nordstrand P5 at the neck!

IMG_0965.jpg

IMG_0966.jpg

IMG_0967.jpg
 
#582
bassdoubler said:
Yeah, they've been pretty great about letting me bring the bass on board and leaving it in the coat closet, but the last time I had a gig in Chicago, I went to get the bass and somebody had taken it out and put it back in upside down, so the AC was on it's headstock the whole flight. I was sick. Fortunately nothing happened since my Igig bag is SO GREAT, but I swore I wouldn't fly with it again.

And since you AND Chef asked for pics, here's a little taste before it's finished. I'm just waiting to have it routed for a Nordstrand P5 at the neck!

IMG_0965.jpg

IMG_0966.jpg

IMG_0967.jpg
Click to expand...

Now that is BRIGHT....Pretty cool though.
 
#584
bassdoubler said:
thanks guys! You know, I recently decided to retire my AC from any and all gigs outside NYC. I'm just too afraid of something happening to it. Next month I'll be in Boston, Vermont, Colorado, LA, ATL, and FL and I REALLY hate flying with my KBP5. So, I'm about to finish my new project bass which will be my go to bass unless I'm recording or doing some little gig in the city. I'll post some pics as soon as it's done but in the meantime just imagine what Prince's AC would look like if he had custom ordered one from Jimmy....:D
Click to expand...

Mitch... U dont "carry on" your bass?
We travel Continental and even though we are ELITE we get a little resistance..but im always up for a good fight. Haha

Id say 95% of the time the bass goes up top. Only express jets do they take the bass to a compartment under the plane and give it back to me at the gate.

Im more afraid of the careless belt workers than the actual plane compartment.
 
#589
@traveling with instruments...

Carry on is RISKY. They can always deny you space in the closet, in which case you WILL be forced to "gate check" your bass. Then you're screwed. IF you ever see it again, it will probably be damaged.

Otherwise, all risk is mitigated by simply using an ATA approved case. That's the reason they exist. For musicians that travel, and (rightfully) want to play the bass they love and are most familiar with.

Yeah, ATA cases are heavy, but you can always also bring a lighter case for use at your destination... carry on a decent gig bag that folds, put it in a checked garment bag, or heck, even check it if it's a non-folding soft case. Put some underwear in there or something. :D

Bottom line is, yeah, travel with your best bass... just protect it appropriately.
 
#592
my biggest worry with checking the bass isn't even that it'll get tossed around by some a-hole bag tosser so much....but it could possibly not make it on the right flight and end up somewhere else (which has happened to my bags before) or that a-hole bag tosser decides to pull it off the line and take it home with him. I had a friend who's cousin worked for the airlines doing luggage, and he admitted to stealing both a les paul and an MTD from people flying far overseas since he figured they wouldn't be back to look for them and file police reports....just scared the crap out of me....so at least if I fight to bring it on in my Igig bag I KNOW it's making it on the plane with me and to my gig. I've had to gate check it before in even thinner gig bags in the past and it's always been ok though....
 
#593
bassdoubler said:
my biggest worry with checking the bass isn't even that it'll get tossed around by some a-hole bag tosser so much....but it could possibly not make it on the right flight and end up somewhere else (which has happened to my bags before) or that a-hole bag tosser decides to pull it off the line and take it home with him. I had a friend who's cousin worked for the airlines doing luggage, and he admitted to stealing both a les paul and an MTD from people flying far overseas since he figured they wouldn't be back to look for them and file police reports....just scared the crap out of me....so at least if I fight to bring it on in my Igig bag I KNOW it's making it on the plane with me and to my gig. I've had to gate check it before in even thinner gig bags in the past and it's always been ok though....
Click to expand...
Yeah, there's no guarantee it will be damaged if gate checked, but I'm more concerned about the lack of any kind of assurance it WON'T be. :)

True, theft risk is always present... no matter how it gets on the plane, really. The only safe way is if you manage to get it into the closet. That's the risk on that one, tho... there's also no guarantee you will always be able to.

I suppose the other option is to ship it with insurance. If you're actually "touring", generally there's a bus/truck which is pretty trustworthy. It's just when you're traveling ad hoc to one or maybe two locations. That's the hard one.
 
#594
Vic said:
@traveling with instruments...

Carry on is RISKY. They can always deny you space in the closet, in which case you WILL be forced to "gate check" your bass. Then you're screwed. IF you ever see it again, it will probably be damaged.

Otherwise, all risk is mitigated by simply using an ATA approved case. That's the reason they exist. For musicians that travel, and (rightfully) want to play the bass they love and are most familiar with.

Yeah, ATA cases are heavy, but you can always also bring a lighter case for use at your destination... carry on a decent gig bag that folds, put it in a checked garment bag, or heck, even check it if it's a non-folding soft case. Put some underwear in there or something. :D

Bottom line is, yeah, travel with your best bass... just protect it appropriately.
Click to expand...
+1 to every word of this.

I was 16 years old when my band mates and I had our first flying gig... and we have referred to Alaska Airlines as "Alaska SCARElines" ever since.

I very definitely would NOT ever try to fly with a bass as my carry on.

If you like gig bags, then here is an ATA case you might like. You latch this shell around your gig bag and wheel it on out.

But I prefer hardshell cases, and ATA cases when flying.
 
#595
bassdoubler said:
my biggest worry with checking the bass isn't even that it'll get tossed around by some a-hole bag tosser so much... but it could possibly not make it on the right flight and end up somewhere else (which has happened to my bags before)... so at least if I fight to bring it on in my Igig bag I KNOW it's making it on the plane with me and to my gig. I've had to gate check it before in even thinner gig bags in the past and it's always been ok though....
Click to expand...
Hm. I have TWO nightmare stories you need to hear.

#1 - I was flying from Juneau to New York for a short business trip (in days, not miles) and had no bags to check... but after I got on the plane they forced me to "gate check" my carry on. It could have fit in an overhead bin had there been a bin with enough room for it.

The "carry on" bag never got to New York.

It was left at the gate by airlines employees.

Eventually they found it and sent it out to New York, but by the time it got there, I was already back in Alaska.

#2 - I was flying from Anchorage to Washington D.C. and my carry on had to be get checked... then lost, never to be found again.

I had to go to business meetings in jeans and a Bela' Fleck and the Flecktones t-shirt, which on one hand was highly inappropriate dress for the circumstances, but on the other hand I was the envy of all present, because I had a great excuse to be dressed the way we all wanted to be!

In short, if you carry on a bass, you very definitely do NOT "KNOW it's making it on the plane with me and to my gig."

I have sent gear FedEx and insured to my hotel. It gets there and you don't have to haul it around. And I've sent gear air freight insured, and picked it up at the air freight office near the airport...

But I very definitely would not risk a bass in a gig bag unless I was VERY sure it was staying in the cabin with me.
 
#596
The sad truth is it's always a crap shoot when flying, whether carry-on or checked. Carry-on works 90% of the time for me but I have skipped a handful of flights due to a pissy gate clerk who insisted I check it, which I will not do except on the little puddle jumpers where you can usually rap with them before it goes under. Checked is equally scary for me since the time my #1 bass for years went on a tour of Spain w/o me, leaving me gigging with borrowed basses, and remarkably showed up a few weeks after I got home. The single most stressful part of flying for me is, can I smuggle it on, not the lines, waits, reach-arounds, etc. I won't take an "A" bass anymore which is a drag.
 
#597
I had to gate check my bass in a gig bag in Australia going back to the USA... I was horrified.. It made it OK though...
Last year i flew my Alleva to France in an ATA.. they charged the production company $150 for baggage ,
I try to Gate check as often as i can unless it is international then i do the ATA and let the company pay...
 
#599
I guess because we ALWAYS fly..(no road tours) i ALWAYS carry on..

I would NEVER check my bass! NEVER! Me and my Mono Case always make it on. Insurance is definately a great idea.
Accidents happen so we can never say we are 100% safe.


Being gold and platinum members with continental has its perks!
 
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