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Travelling With a Bass

W

Wannaflea

Jun 7, 2011
627
5
Jersey, CI
www.facebook.com
#1
Hey all,

I'm taking a bass I just purchased here in Florida back to my home in the UK. The airline I'm flying with (British Airways) have already said I can store the guitar on board as hand luggage.

If any fellow TB'ers could share any knowledge about any preparations to the bass I should do, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I guess you could be non-specific and this could be something of a resource for taking a bass places by any mode if transport, but no worries either way.
 
#2
From my experience, I bought an AV 62 Precision in California with a hard case and when I flew with Delta I wasn't allowed to take it on as hand luggage. All I could do was loosen the strings, lock the case and pray to God that the bass would make it all the way to Australia.

Everything turned out great though, with the exception of one small nick on the tweed case.

I'd be hard pressed to know if you could take on a bass on an international flight as hand luggage, with people trying to cram everything in their bags. Perhaps, if you flew business or first class... I wouldn't know, I flew economy.

If you have to check it in though, they inspect the case and bass in front of you, where they do the golf bags and surf boards etc. so I was there to watch them swab it down and what not, they also let me lock the case afterwards.

I hope this helped.
 
#4
There are many threads about taking basses on airplanes. The BIG deal is getting them on at all. Don't take what the airline told you as the final word - they can still refuse you at the gate.

Provided you get on the place with it, a stout gig bag is the only rational way to go - I'd much prefer a hard shell case but it's too big.
 
#5
If it fits in the overhead bins, this is typically a good rule. Zon vinny, Status streamline etc all make it.

I'll hold the damn plane up if they try and check it at the gate, scream and do not let them try this. You might get stuck on another flight.

Ain't worth the gorillas tossing up to the owner and just barely missing and watching it fall 8 ft hard onto the tarmac. Been there and seen it. NEVER again.
 
#6
Back the strings off and if the guitar isn't a real snug fit in the case, then pad it out with some soft rags to stop the bass moving in the case at all. I wouldn't even contemplate a gig bag if there's a chance the guitar will be going in the hold.

I just flew to and from the UK with my Rickenbacker in its hard case and it was perfectly fine both ways. I got them to plaster "fragile" stickers all over it and there's wasn't even a mark on the case.

While I was in the UK, I picked up a Hofner violin bass and although it came with a hard case, it's really only one step up from a gig bag - the lightweight vinyl covered case, so I took it on as hand luggage. Although I flew back business class, I could have taken it in board if I was in economy and stashed it in the little wardrobe they hang jackets in.
 
#8
I play in Bahrain from time to time and we take 3 guitars and my bass. All we do is loosen the strings a little and make sure the case is secure. Also make sure you have a really good case!

The first time we went, the guitarists case got battered when we arrived back home and we took it up with the airline and they paid for a new one! Guitar was fine though
 
#9
im curious why people loosen the strings? a change in air pressure wont change the tension, or make the wood weak. i have been flying basses for 13 years and never had a problem. besides, 12 hours with no string tension will change the neck relief. it takes a few days to go back to exactly where it had been. my suggestion would be to tape over the latches so they dont open automatically.
 
#10
BassPlayingCat said:
I play in Bahrain from time to time...
Click to expand...
Quick hijack but where do you play? We played in JJ's a few months ago and had a ball.

staindbass said:
im curious why people loosen the strings? a change in air pressure wont change the tension, or make the wood weak. i have been flying basses for 13 years and never had a problem. besides, 12 hours with no string tension will change the neck relief. it takes a few days to go back to exactly where it had been. my suggestion would be to tape over the latches so they dont open automatically.
Click to expand...
I only back the strings off a bit, not slacken them off completely. Not really sure why any more though,:D. I dunno about the time it takes for the neck relief to go back to where it was though - I tuned my Ric up when I got home and it's the same as before, held tuning etc...
 
#11
I fly a lot with the band that I work with. I used a Reunion Blues Continental Gig Bag that I most always carry onto the plane. I do sometimes gate check it and I have no worries about my bass even gate checked in that bag.

I'll tell you this about string tension...the one time that our guitar player didn't loosen the tension on his Les Paul, he found the headstock snapped off when he got off of the flight. I always loosen my string tension.
 
#13
Brad Hanback said:
I fly a lot with the band that I work with. I used a Reunion Blues Continental Gig Bag that I most always carry onto the plane. I do sometimes gate check it and I have no worries about my bass even gate checked in that bag.

I'll tell you this about string tension...the one time that our guitar player didn't loosen the tension on his Les Paul, he found the headstock snapped off when he got off of the flight. I always loosen my string tension.
Click to expand...

And if that time was also the only time he didn't take sugar with his coffee, would you conclude that low sugar intake causes broken headstocks? :)
 
#14
Brad Hanback said:
I fly a lot with the band that I work with. I used a Reunion Blues Continental Gig Bag that I most always carry onto the plane. I do sometimes gate check it and I have no worries about my bass even gate checked in that bag.

I'll tell you this about string tension...the one time that our guitar player didn't loosen the tension on his Les Paul, he found the headstock snapped off when he got off of the flight. I always loosen my string tension.
Click to expand...

Gibsons are notorious for snapped head stocks. He should have loosened the strings and truss rod. It's a bad idea to just loosen the strings without releasing the tension on the truss rod. I fly acoustic guitars & basses several times a year (12-15) and have never loosened my strings and never had any problem.
 
#15
the broken Les Paul headstock could be because of the string tension. Depending on what year the guitar was made the neck would be one piece and angled 18 degrees (Gibson LP trademark to achieve the break angle at the nut) thus resulting in week wood in the nut region.

I've seen broken LP's this way just falling from the stand
 
#16
playerunk said:
the broken Les Paul headstock could be because of the string tension. Depending on what year the guitar was made the neck would be one piece and angled 18 degrees (Gibson LP trademark to achieve the break angle at the nut) thus resulting in week wood in the nut region.

I've seen broken LP's this way just falling from the stand
Click to expand...
Lol, that's how I came to have a Fenderbird - I picked up a Thunderbird on eBay for uber cheap because it had snapped across the nut :D
 
#17
Did this a lot back in the 90s - I used a slim padded gig bag with no protruding pockets. This allowed me to place the body of the bass across the top of my own hand luggage and the neck on top of the bags next to mine. I stayed close of course in case anyone needed me to move it - never had that happen though. One a few occasions I also asked if I could use the cabin crew's coat closet - they usually allowed it (I imagine you should be able to do this on the surely larger type aircraft on a transatlantic route).

I never loosened strings - no need imho.
 
#18
Just watch out for the dimwit who tries to place a giant carry-on bag on top of your bass. It's happened to me more than once where I've had to stop someone from doing it. Nowadays I check my bass in an SKB Bass Safe, but for a trip home that's overkill. Just make sure your gig bag is decently padded and watch out for other passengers' stupidity.
 
#20
I've got an international flight coming up, Boston to Amsterdam, and was going to use my flight case to check a bass as baggage. Delta classifies anything over 50 lbs. or larger than 62 linear inches (length + width + depth) as oversized. My bass case is 72 inches, even though less than 50 lbs, and Delta would charge $150 each way to check it. Has anyone run up against this lately and what happened?
 

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