Hello All,
I believe I'm the one that Dan refers to below about the link to the
guitar case being thrown off a building and the guitar (actually an
acoustic, non-solid body guitar) surviving intact. Below is my
original post from last August. The name of the company is CaseXtreme
and the video may be seen at
http://www.casextreme.com/newest_video.html. I believe prices have
risen since my original post, but the company now makes a special
edition case in heat reflective white which would be better than the
standard black.
Again, I hope this information is helpful.
Bill Eisele
Just before the LSA workshop at the Vancouver Early Music Festival I
had a custom flight case made for my Kingham lute case by CaseXtreme in
San Diego: [1]http://www.casextreme.com/. It's made with some kind of
corrugated plastic and uses foam pads as cushioning on the sides and
the bottom of the flight case. The Kingham case is held in place
against the pads with a strap and there's about an inch of space
between the lid of the flight case and the Kingham case. The case has
two carrying handles and comes with detachable wheels. All sides of
the case are extremely rigid once the lid is closed and you can stand
on the top without damaging the case. The cost of the flight case with
shipping was about $320.
I checked the flight case through from Albuquerque to Vancouver
(connection in Denver) and return (connection in San Francisco) with no
problems - four separate flights. The lute inside was unscathed. I'm
not sure if it will fit through an x-ray machine, but if it does fit, a
gate check would probably be the best way to go. I just didn't want to
haul it all over the airports before boarding.
The flight case weighs about 12 pounds and it is oversized (37 L x 20
W x 15 D), but no one at check in required that I pay the oversize
baggage fee. It doesn't look as big as it actually is because of the
trapezoidal shape rather than a rectangular shape.
I have posted some photos of the flight case at Flickr:
[2]http://www.flickr.com/photos/41330...@n03/.
The owner of CaseXtreme, Bruce Lamb, is very helpful and he can be
reached at 800-495-8444.
FYI, I have no business interest in CaseXtreme.
Hope this helps,
Bill Eisele
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2010 17:24:45 -0800
To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
From: dwinh...@comcast.net
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Flying with a lute
Thank you, Nancy. Excellent, relevant recent information. Important
that it is post Christmas. Seems to be a don't ask, don't tell
Least said, soonest mended etc. type of modus operandi. That's how
it worked with my old, small vihuela in about 2005 going to the
Amherst event from S.F. Bay area also. For a Cleveland adventure I
was afraid to risk being turned away at the gate with no alternatives
(as Ned is afraid of) with the 13 course Baroque lute so I reinforced
the old case with 4 more sturdy latches- but no extra padding
measures except for lots of socks and underwear inside the case
around the neck and pegbox, and some music pages between the strings
and the soundboard. Totally detuned, of course. It came and went both
directions unscathed, I think by sheer good luck. United hadn't yet
learned how to break guitars, I guess. Hasn't someone this list given
a link to a promo for a new guitar case that was thrown off a
building, and the (but solid body) guitar survived intact? Still an
accomplishment, I would like to see that ad again- couldn't google it
up.
Dan
--
References
1. http://www.casextreme.com/
2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/41330...@n03/
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