Flying with your guitar overseas.

[PHATSO]

Does anyone have experience with with flying their gear overseas? I am planning on having a custom ATA case made for my V. Can anyone recommend a company for this? Assuming I have a ATA guitar case, should I be worried about the guitar being cargo?

[wetrx95]

Back in 1990 when I got out of the miltary and had no brains and I had to fly my gear home. With my guitar in the same case from which I bought it at the store, it survived flying from San Diego to RI. I don't think baggage carriers have changed much, although security has. That's what I got.

[javert]

I've brought my USA Jacksons on many trips to/from North America and none have suffered any damage but the cases have. I've used the original cases every time.

[ken]

Maybe I was lucky, but I've flown from both Boston and New York to Ireland with several guitars in regular hard cases without them suffering any damage.

[levantin]

I've flown across Europe with an original Jackson guitar case and on occasion, a crappy no name case with the guitars in the cargo hold with no ill effect.

[Bengal65]

The key word here is "V". I would not travel with a standard V case. I definitely would go with a case certified for ATA use with a V. If it is a Jackson case, I trust them only in storing my guitar in the closet. I've had 3 new Jackson V cases damaged by UPS. The ABS and aluminum extrusion design are weak on these SKF manufactured cases. The corners where the points are in a V are not reinforced very well. I'd check with Gator or Calzone for a ATA case.

[darrellm]

Depending which airline you use, they may let you take it on as hand luggage - British Airways certainly do, I checked when I came over to the USA in Nov. as I intended picking up a Charvel....then our currency crashed....but I got one in the UK when I got back

[ken]

The key word here is "V". I would not travel with a standard V case.

One of the guitars I've taken trans-atlantic was a KV2 in a standard Jackson case. It wasn't damaged, but it's certainly better to be safe than sorry.

[javert]

I've brought my Vs in Jacksons cases on my trips and haven't had any problems. With respect to bringing the guitar into the cabin as hand luggage, I've tried that several times and the only time I was allowed to do that was when I had the guitar in a gig bag. With all the new rules and strict enforcement of those rules, I wouldn't count on being able to do that again.

[wilkinsi]

I once had a BCR Warlock bass trashed by baggage clerks. They wwere supposed to put it in the fragile compartment. When I got back to the UK, the bass arrived on the same conveyor belt as all the heavy suitcases. Wankers. Thank god I can't fly as I would never trust an airport with one of USA Jacksons, be it with case or gigbag.

[iced_earth]

I've flown a bunch of guitars as cargo in factory hard shell cases with cardboard shipping boxes (2 neck-through LTDs, a bolt-on LTD, a bolt on G&L, a bolt-on Caparison, a bolt-on EBMM Petrucci, 2 neck-through Jackson RRs, 2 neck through Jackson Kellys). All of them survived the trip. In terms of packing, here is what I did. Some of it might be overkill/unnecessary, but it has worked for me so far.

-Make sure the body cannot move at all in the case. I use styrofoam peanuts. I also use some peanuts to make sure the headstock cannot touch the edge of its cavity.
-Add some support under the neck/body joint, but just enough to cushion it, not too much that the support is pushing on it. Same for the under the headstock.
-Detune the strings. You'll see a lot of discussion on this, but I feel less tension = safer.
-Pad the case in the shipping box with some bubble wrap all the around. Make sure the case is secure in the box, but not bulging out.
-If you are really worried, wrap bubble wrap outside the cardboard box and seal it with shipping tape for extra protection.

All of this might be overkill, but I feel better to be safe than sorry. When I took my Caparison home from Japan, all the salesman did was fold some bubble wrap and put it on top of the guitar body in the case so the guitar would not slide around (normally the guitar is fairly loose in the case). The shipping box barely had enough room for bubble wrap on the ends. The guitar survived the short flight to Taiwan, where I was living at the time.

[Learn Guitars]

You guys may want to try flying a plane and not your guitar. You will get further.

[PHATSO]

I've flown a bunch of guitars as cargo in factory hard shell cases with cardboard shipping boxes (2 neck-through LTDs, a bolt-on LTD, a bolt on G&L, a bolt-on Caparison, a bolt-on EBMM Petrucci, 2 neck-through Jackson RRs, 2 neck through Jackson Kellys). All of them survived the trip. In terms of packing, here is what I did. Some of it might be overkill/unnecessary, but it has worked for me so far.

-Make sure the body cannot move at all in the case. I use styrofoam peanuts. I also use some peanuts to make sure the headstock cannot touch the edge of its cavity.
-Add some support under the neck/body joint, but just enough to cushion it, not too much that the support is pushing on it. Same for the under the headstock.
-Detune the strings. You'll see a lot of discussion on this, but I feel less tension = safer.
-Pad the case in the shipping box with some bubble wrap all the around. Make sure the case is secure in the box, but not bulging out.
-If you are really worried, wrap bubble wrap outside the cardboard box and seal it with shipping tape for extra protection.

All of this might be overkill, but I feel better to be safe than sorry. When I took my Caparison home from Japan, all the salesman did was fold some bubble wrap and put it on top of the guitar body in the case so the guitar would not slide around (normally the guitar is fairly loose in the case). The shipping box barely had enough room for bubble wrap on the ends. The guitar survived the short flight to Taiwan, where I was living at the time.

Cool thanks, this is very helpful!

[Tim_B]

I've only needed to do this once, back in the late 80s ...

The trick then was take the neck off, wrap neck and body in a towel, put another towel round them, slip it all into a gym bag, and take it on board as hand luggage. It worked a treat back then, but I don't know you could do that these days.

[wilkinsi]

Wonder if that would work when buying a bolt-on USA, or would it show up on the x-ray machine...