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Flying with a CBG

Posted by Devin Thompson on August 10, 2011 at 11:59pm in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts

Does anyone have any experience flying with a CBG? I'm going to be traveling for 2 weeks on business (4 cities in 2 weeks) and thought I'd bring my CBG (beats watching mindless TV in the hotel room). I'm thinking of using my soft gig bag and trying carry-on.

Thanks

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Replies

  • Ice Bob September 24, 2011 at 1:18pm
    i got a electric guitar gig bag an fold the end over with a bungie to make it smaller. cbg's fly good cause there smaler then a guitar . i'd like to find a gig bag closer to a cbg size o and my micro cube just fit in my suitcase
  • Rand Moore September 24, 2011 at 8:48am

    You can carry on short neck CBGs with no problem, but a 39" long banjo has to be stowed in the cargo hold with the rest of the checked luggage. If you make a big issue of it, they can paste on a couple of "FRAGILE" stickers on it and then have the luggage handlers carry the banjo to/from the plane w/o passing thru the regular luggage handling system. You will have to wait longer to receive the instrument at your destination. Singapore Airlines did this for me this past August and the instrument arrived in fine shape and it was only packed in a soft padded banjo bag. In the past, I have traveled with soprano and concert ukuleles, a McNally Strumstick, and a home made cookie tin dulcijo and never was stopped before. I travel with my wife and daughter, so I usually stow my instruments on top of their soft luggage in the overhead compartments.  The only problem I had was with my dulcijo which has no carrying case. The instrument shifted and after we landed, I opened the overhead compartment and it fell out before I could catch it and it fell to the floor, denting the cookie tin sound box. I was able to mostly fix the dent, but you can still see where it hit the floor. So, it's best to have a padded carrying case at the minimum. The nice thing about traveling with home made instruments is that you can fix them if they get broken, or at the worst, build a new one. Have a nice trip, Devin.

    -Rand.

  • Uncle John September 23, 2011 at 1:01pm

    Good luck and I hope to hear how it goes for you. 

     

    I have a juvenile fantasy of being on the plane when terrorists try to take over with box cutters ~ and me with one of my cbgs.  I would do my best to play a tune on their heads, faces hands etc.  It would be shit kickin music.  Would be nice to have a couple more players and gits to help out and form a little band. 

     

     

  • Grease Stains September 23, 2011 at 11:11am
    I've had luck gate checking a 6 string a couple times when i had no bag for it. It was a chinses six string so i wasnt to worried about it. Id say that calling would certinly be your best bet.
  • timothy miller September 23, 2011 at 10:38am
    had to travel all the way around australia with mine in overhead and most of the flight attendants not only were helpful but wanted to hear what it sounded like might end up with a few converts lol
  • Brian Hunt August 13, 2011 at 1:06am

    You could do like Anthony Forder did and build a collapsable guitar.

     

    Brian Hunt

  • Devin Thompson August 13, 2011 at 12:32am
    I thought I'd take Skeesix's advice and tonight I started my travel guitar. It's going to have to go in my checked bag so I figure I can get away with 26 inches max. If I keep everything compact that should give me a 22 inch scale. I'll post pics when I finish.
  • YeahDoIt August 12, 2011 at 7:57am
    Hey Skeesix, nice bass.

    Skeesix said:
    Build a guitar which is 24 inches long and will fit in your suitcase. Check out this bass I did http://skeesixcbgs.com/blog-2/page/2/ (the purple thing about halfway down the page).
  • Roosterman August 12, 2011 at 6:18am

    One of my regular customers travels worldwide with a 34" scale diddly bow, and has had no trouble at all with checking it on as hand luggage.

    The only issue he had was the bullet bridge. The US customs didnt like it much, but unless you can throw a duff bullet really really hard, you aint going to do much damage.....

  • the anonymous pick August 12, 2011 at 1:40am
    luv  that bass man  ;-)

    Skeesix said:
    Build a guitar which is 24 inches long and will fit in your suitcase. Check out this bass I did http://skeesixcbgs.com/blog-2/page/2/ (the purple thing about halfway down the page).
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