LittleGoomba - Posted - 11/27/2023:  12:02:12

My daughter asked me if I'd be up for playing a duet at her wedding. She moved 1000 miles away, so an airplane ride is required, as I don't have the time to drive all that distance. My wife and I are REALLY against the idea of me taking my good banjo anywhere I can't drive to. So I'm looking at options here. This isn't going to be a performance for a large crowd, so I'm not terribly concerned about having the best instrument I can get my hands on. (which happens to be the banjo I play most often)

Buy a Price/Calton caliber case for my estimated $7000+ banjo and fly it out and back with me.
Take my $500 "beater" Alvarez banjo (with it's TDK case) out and back.
Buy a local banjo via my daughter before I get there, and see if I can sell it again after her wedding
Or, give above banjo to my daughter and her husband and hope it takes root there.
See if there's someone in the Boston Area who would be so kind as to loan me a banjo for an afternoon.

I'm kind of leaning toward buying a banjo, but there's been very few times I've gotten hold of a banjo for sale and not thought that it needed some setting up the up. This seems risky. I could throw a few luthier tools in my carry one and hope I got the right ones for whatever I encounter after buying a banjo sight unseen.

What would you fellers do? I'm highly paranoid about leaving even a $500 banjo in the hands of baggage handlers, and I can't assume there will be room on carry on for a TDK case by the time my cheap ticket will be allowed to board.

blazo - Posted - 11/27/2023:  12:21:03

You might want to check with your airline, see if they will sell you early boarding so you can be assured of an overhead bin for your banjo.

Dan Gellert - Posted - 11/27/2023:  12:27:30

Where and when is the wedding to be? There may be someone in the area who'd lend or rent one for the occasion.

Foote - Posted - 11/27/2023:  12:34:38

If you have enough lead time, ship the cheap one. Using Warren Yate's packing method, I've never had a problem. Safer than airline baggage guys.
youtube.com/watch?v=tfqT2m8Rp4I&t=544s

Omeboy - Posted - 11/27/2023:  12:41:42

I once rented two beautiful French Horns for a photo shoot I was doing. You might be able to rent a professional quality banjo in your daughter's city. You'll have to pay a deposit, but you'll get it back when you return the instrument. That would save a lot of hassle. Just be sure to keep all the receipts and only work with a reputable music store or dealer.

tonygo - Posted - 11/27/2023:  12:43:07

quote:

---

Originally posted by LittleGoomba

My daughter asked me if I'd be up for playing a duet at her wedding. She moved 1000 miles away, so an airplane ride is required, as I don't have the time to drive all that distance. My wife and I are REALLY against the idea of me taking my good banjo anywhere I can't drive to. So I'm looking at options here. This isn't going to be a performance for a large crowd, so I'm not terribly concerned about having the best instrument I can get my hands on. (which happens to be the banjo I play most often)



Buy a Price/Calton caliber case for my estimated $7000+ banjo and fly it out and back with me.

Take my $500 "beater" Alvarez banjo (with it's TDK case) out and back.

Buy a local banjo via my daughter before I get there, and see if I can sell it again after her wedding

Or, give above banjo to my daughter and her husband and hope it takes root there.

See if there's someone in the Boston Area who would be so kind as to loan me a banjo for an afternoon.



I'm kind of leaning toward buying a banjo, but there's been very few times I've gotten hold of a banjo for sale and not thought that it needed some setting up the up. This seems risky. I could throw a few luthier tools in my carry one and hope I got the right ones for whatever I encounter after buying a banjo sight unseen.



What would you fellers do? I'm highly paranoid about leaving even a $500 banjo in the hands of baggage handlers, and I can't assume there will be room on carry on for a TDK case by the time my cheap ticket will be allowed to board.

---

Say where you are going and ask if someone has a banjo to loan/rent you. Simple. 

LittleGoomba - Posted - 11/27/2023:  12:52:24

Pretty close to Lowell MA, near the MA/NH state border, on Leap Day 2024.

I didn't think of renting one. I'll take a look at what stores are up there.

jdeluke137 - Posted - 11/27/2023:  13:43:09

quote:

---

Originally posted by LittleGoomba

Pretty close to Lowell MA, near the MA/NH state border, on Leap Day 2024.



I didn't think of renting one. I'll take a look at what stores are up there.  

---

If you could find someone in the area that would lend one , you could invite them to the wedding and they could look after their banjo.  

Alex Z - Posted - 11/27/2023:  15:46:45

As mentioned above, ship the cheap one. Around $80 UPS Ground. 

 

For $160 round trip, problem solved. No set up problems.  No driving to and from retail store rental. No dealing with unknown lenders.  No rental fees. 

 

If the banjo goes in the checked baggage fo the flight, that's $35 one way, or $70 total. How much hassle is worth saving $90?

 

Golfers ship their clubs all the time -- for the same advantages. 

restreet - Posted - 11/28/2023:  04:56:49

The most serious banjo store in the Boston Area is the Music Emporium in Lexington, MA (781) 860-0049) but I've only seen one resonator banjo for sale there in decades and it's a new $7,000 Ome.
themusicemporium.com
Glen Nelson at Mockingbird Music in Berlin, MA (978) 838-2344) might have something. mockingbirdmusic.com
Please send me a message.

NotABanjoYoda - Posted - 11/28/2023:  07:01:13

Buy a 150 rw jameson off Amazon, have it shipped to the bride, then use it as a cricket bat

Culloden - Posted - 11/28/2023:  09:20:53

Personally, I would take the Alvarez "beater" banjo since it's already set up to your liking. A rented or loaned instrument probably will not be.

wrench13 - Posted - 11/28/2023:  11:52:31

Buy a decent one at Guitar center and return it the next day "Sorry, I guess banjo is just not for me".

Alex Z - Posted - 11/28/2023:  12:45:13

Your daughter's wedding.  A duet to remember.  $160 round-trip shipping solves the situation completely.  

How much is your time worth during the visit, away from the family, messing around with music stores for a rental?

The Old Timer - Posted - 11/28/2023:  15:15:52

I agree with calling Glen Nelson (I know him) at Mockingbird Music in Berlin Mass. Ask him how he can help you with a rental. He is located south of Lowell, down near Worcester, more or less. Try to rent a "good" banjo. As long as you return it undamaged you'll be fine, and you'll be more comfortable with it.

Find Mockingbird Music phone # with Google.

Otherwise your best shot is some BHO member who lives near Boston/Lowell might chime in with an offer for you.

monstertone - Posted - 11/28/2023:  16:06:58

My wife (dobro) & I (banjo) used to fly from LAX to JAX, with a stopover @ Dallas/Ft Worth. We dressed Western style & carried our instruments on the plane. The TSA people always gave me a hard time, insisting I remove the resonator to make sure I was not smuggling something inside the banjo. Just make sure you have removed any taboo objects from the case. After they load the 1st class people, they will allow people with boarding issues next. That would be you. We assured them our instruments would fit in an empty overhead, which they did, & that passengers were free to load their stuff on top of ours. The banjo traveled as a guitar in a trapezoid banjo case. As an extra precaution, I stuffed that case, all around the peg head, with socks & T-shirts.

Not sure if that still work, as the over head bins may not be large enough on today's planes. Oh well, shipping the beater one way ain't a bad idea. At least you'd always have a banjo to play, on future visits.